Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/416739
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2014 THIS WEEK 36 St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 NT Live – Skylight Encore 20:30 Bjork – Biophilia Live 18:30 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Interstellar (PG) 10:00, 13:34, 17:15, 20:50 Fury (15) 17:30, 20:50 The Imitation Game (12A) 10:15, 13:15, 16:00, 18:40, 21:15 The Best of Me (12A) 13:00, 15:45, 18:30, 21:10 The Maze Runner (12A) 10:20, 13:30, 16:05, 18:35, 21:05 Dracula Untold (15) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 The Imitation Game (12A) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:45 The Book of life (U) 14:05, 16:15, 18:25, 20:30 Mr Morgan's Last Love (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:05, 23:30 Interstellar (PG) 14:15, 17:45, 21:15, 22:30 Two Days, One Night (15) 14:20, 16:25, 18:40, 20:50, 23:00 Let's be Cops (15) 14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:55, 23:10 Fury (15) 14:30, 18:20, 21:05, 23:40 The Equalizer (15) 14:25, 18:00, 20:45, 23:30 Dracula Untold (15) 14:25, 16:30, 18:45, 21:05, 23:10 The Maze Runner (12A) 14:05, 16:25, 18:50, 21:10, 23:40 Gone Girl (18) 14:20, 17:55, 20:50, 23:45 The Best of Me (12A) 14:30, 18:25, 21:00, 23:35 The Giver (12A) 21:10, 23:30 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Book of Life (U) 11:00, 13:35, 18:05 Interstellar (PG) 10:30, 14:00, 17:45, 21:05 The Best of Me (12A) 11:00, 14:05, 17:50, 21:45 Let's be Cops (15) 15:50, 20:55 Imitation Game (12A) 11:00, 13:55, 17:45, 20:55 THE trending power of vampires may be fading somewhat now that both the Twilight franchise and HBO's True Blood have re- ceded from view, but if anyone is going to restore a sorely needed coolness factor to the bloodsuck- ers it's Jim Jarmusch. The very-much-a-New-Yorker director of 'hangout' films in which articulate bums do very little except converse and puff cigarettes helped define the be- loved '70s aesthetic of American cinema – eschewing plot in fa- vour of dryly humorous dialogue delivered by lovable deadbeats from the fringes of society. A musician himself, Jarmusch has employed the likes of Iggy Pop and Tom Waits (the latter more than once) in a number of films – rounding off an eclectic way with casting that also in- cludes unknown actors as well as the likes of Roberto Benigni – which not only ups his cool- ness factor: it secures his status as a cult icon with a finger on the pulse of fringe-culture. This gives way to an urbane and effortless counterpoint to a 'rock and roll ' stance – an outlaw sexiness that still finds time to indulge in classical music, high literature and – crucially – world cinema. So never mind the fact that Only Lovers Left Alive, his stab at the trendy vampire f lick, is remark- ably dry on gratuitous bloodshed and vampire hunter chasing. In the place of sex, gore and gothic affectation, Jarmusch works a subtler seduction: our leads – charismatic but not show y – are the custodians of culture, and they're here to remind us that im- mortality is about tedium first, glamour second. Detroit-based and deliberately obscure musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a centuries-old vampire whose faith in both the world and humanity itself ap- pears to be thinning out with each passing day (or rather, night). He insists on playing the recluse – the only company he'll allow is that of his wide-eyed ad- mirer and drug pusher Ian (An- ton Yelchin) – who dismisses the rest of humanity as 'zombies', Adam nonetheless pines for the company of the love of his life, Eve (Tilda Swinton). Heeding to his desire, she f lies over from Morocco to keep him company. A luminous presence, she views his misanthropy as an amusing confrontation: for her, eternal life should be savoured and used to spread kindness. But just as happens in Jara- musch 's Stranger than Paradise (1984), an interloper steps in to interrupt our protagonist's lan- guid bliss – this time in the form of Eve's little sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska), a young vampire with a reckless streak. Reactions to the film have been mixed, but given that we've got it late enough in our cinemas to be able to compare it to its main- stream counterpoint du jour – Dracula Untold – I think we can have some fun. Compared to the expensive polished turd that is Dracula Un- told, the pleasures of Jaramusch 's film are increased a thousand- fold. It's almost like you get all the pleasures of vampire cinema with none of the tacky excess. Jarmusch was always a masterful director of actors – in the sense that he picks talent he's clearly comfortable with and lets them to their thing. Separately, the androgynous charm of both Hiddleston and Swinton is obvious. Swinton has been an art house queen for quite some time now, while also man- aging to transition into the main- stream with ease when the role is right. Her quirky features cer- tainly mark her out, and her pres- ence is theatrical in the original sense of the word: she commands attention with bare, focused art- fulness, not shrill histrionics. She can be both a lover and a mother and, happily, in this par- ticular film Jarmusch allows her to be both, as Hiddleston's whiny, occasionally suicidal Adam needs both coddling and tough love. Hiddleston, the product of the same posh British drama boot camps that have given us the likes of Benedict Cumber- batch, managed to lend a sneak- ily transgressive edge even to a sneering-and-scheming super- villain role as Loki in the Marvel 'Avengers' franchise. If he seemed like a fish out of water there, he's a duck in water here: his wan frame and bearing being perfect for the world weary vampire he's made to inhabit. That said, though Jarmusch eschews juvenile indulgences of- ten found in more commercially familiar vampire features, the – deeply ingrained – cultural snob- bery gives way to some cringe- worthy rhapsodising over poetry and art that makes the film feel affected in a less obvious way. A sub plot involving Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt) is shoe- horned in to make a point about the lengths one should go to se- cure posterity for their art, but it's not really felt. Still, accompanied by a superb soundtrack by Jarmusch 's own band SQURL, the film remains a f lawed but idiosyncratic gem. Gliding over clichés to present its unique take on the vampire mythos, it gives us an irresistible pair of lead performances nestled in a beguiling, haunting twilight world. For once, it's a twilight world that truly lives up to the name. Only Lovers Left Alive was screened at Eden Cinemas as part of the Side Street Films initiative. FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic Life after twilight ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ VAMP ★ ★ ★ ★ CHAMP ★ ★ ★ LAMP ★ ★ CRAMP ★ TRAMP YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt Love never dies: Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are effortlessly cool as an erudite vampire couple in Jim Jarmusch's high- concept atmospheric drama ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE ★ ★ ★ ★