The Kasturi/Files: Episode 18: Vampires Using Their Time Wisely

Welcome to Day 18 of The Kasturi/Files at Speculative Chic, where Gemma Files and Sandra Kasturi discuss things filmish, things bookish, and things cocktailish. Today we look at Jim Jarmusch’s elegant little vampire comedy-drama, Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as extremely long-term significant others, and Mia Wasikowska as a kind of bratty younger sister. Also . . . spoilers. Probably.

Gemma: Considering that they supposedly live forever — or can, if they survive long enough to get careful — you just don’t tend to see a lot of films about older vampires, ones in whom the initial thirst for blood has been replaced by a similarly passionate appetite for experience. I’m an autodidact myself, so the idea of having that much time to play with has always seemed intoxicating; you could educate yourself on any given interest from top to bottom, develop new ones, and never have to pick and choose. Plan things out wisely and you could, in fact, quite possibly never stop learning.

Sandra: That’s exactly what always appealed to me about immortality — sure, your mortal friends would die off, and that would be sad, but you’d get to read everything you ever wanted to! I suppose, practically speaking, you’d have to find a way to get money? Glamor a succession of wealthy partners, I suppose, and get them to leave you their dough? Because working for a living might become difficult, what with all the paperwork and checks and balances — you’d end up leaving a trail that would be difficult to eradicate. Hmm. I’m talking about this like becoming a vampire just to read books all the time is a career change I am legitimately considering making!

Anyway! The basic storyline of Only Lovers Left Alive is that Tilda Swinton (Eve) and Tom Hiddleston (Adam) are married vampires who have a radically different approach to living. Or, I suppose, to being undead. Eve is off swanning about, enjoying herself, while Adam mopes around his house, becoming increasingly disaffected, despite the fact that he’s a renowned musician. That in itself seems dangerous — wouldn’t it be smarter to stay off the radar as much as possible, so you don’t risk being outed and killed? Regardless, the two vampires don’t exactly hunt people any more, they procure blood in much more clinical ways (literally) — by buying it off the books from a blood bank doctor (the wonderful Jeffrey Wright). Adam becomes increasingly morose and suicidal, so Eve decides to come back and step in. In the meantime, Adam is getting a young music fan, Ian (the late, lamented Anton Yelchin) to procure antique musical instruments for him; it’s like he’s becoming the immortal version of a hoarder. Eve wants Adam to enjoy the rich bounty that life has to offer, the way she does. Adam just doesn’t see it that way, and Eve scolds him for wasting his life. They cruise around Detroit at night, listening to music and getting reacquainted, falling into old habits of companionship. This applecart is upset when Ava (Mia Wasikowska) shows up and starts acting out, becoming a perpetually hungry, unwelcome, fifth wheel in the household. Ava has poor impulse control and accidentally kills Ian while drinking his blood, causing Adam to kick her out of the house. Ah, family. Always a problem! Other monkey wrenches get thrown into what was a relatively quiet existence, and Adam and Eve have to figure out how they’re going to go on — gently into that good night? Or embracing it like the predators they are.

Gemma: The value of using your time wisely may seem an odd idea to get while watching what’s ostensibly a horror film, but that’s just the sort of strange-ass philosophical cocktail of a movie Only Lovers Left Alive is… a vampire movie in much the same way that, say, Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai is a martial arts/gangster film, or his Dead Man is a western. The foreground of Jarmusch’s genre films is always crowded with all sorts of weird shit, pretty much whatever he’s most interested in at the time — soul music, Morocco, Detroit, antique instrumentation, physics concepts like quantum entanglement, jokes about Christopher Marlowe — while the background constantly remains fairly clearly focused on the existential, cosmic side of things. It’s sort of like the way all his movies are funny in a deadpan way, but depending on the given narrative stakes involved, that way might be either a little less Buster Keaton and a little more Cormac McCarthy, or vice versa.

Sandra: I wish I’d been the props person or the set decorator on this movie, simply so I could go through all the fascinating objets littered everywhere on-screen. And speaking of music, after seeing the movie, I immediately ordered the soundtrack for Only Lovers Left Alive. It’s a beautiful thing, and Jarmusch clearly thinks through the effect that a score and songs will have on his narrative, like he has a playlist running in his head the whole time he’s shooting. Of course, given that one of the main protagonists is a musician, it’s impossible to not consider the music itself as a kind of character in the film. But it’s often surprising how many directors don’t really fully consider the effect that poorly chosen music will have on a film. Famously, The Shining, recut as a romantic comedy, shows you what a change music will have on a film — what a charming movie about a lonely man finding a boy he can be a father to! Throw in jaunty music and Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” and suddenly one of the creepiest movies ever made is a joyful romp about a family finding each other. Ditto for Mrs. Doubtfire recut as a horror movie — change the music and you change the atmosphere, and suddenly a silly comedy becomes the cousin of Silence of the Lambs. Which is to say: listen to, or buy, the soundtrack of Only Lovers Left Alive!

And yes, regarding the humor of the film, it’s a quieter kind of satire than, say, What We Do in the Shadows, which covers similar material, but is much more gleefully (and hilariously) sticking the knife in. Or the fangs, I suppose. But Only Lovers approaches humor in the same way Hiddleston’s Adam approaches his undead life — with a kind of melancholy where even the laughter takes a beat before hitting you, and everything has taken on a sepia- or blue-tinged existence. A wry smile, rather than a belly laugh.

Gemma: The other thing about Only Lovers Left Alive is that it’s genuinely romantic, and not just with a big R. The two protagonists, Adam and Eve, care deeply for each other, maintaining an affinity that always gives rather than takes, a surprising turn of events for two eternal parasites. Though they’ve been separated for a while, Adam’s increasing disaffection brings them back together, as Eve tries to teach him that even though they’ll always be predators, the love they have for each other must be worth something.

Sandra: The movie’s about family, about love, about how to fill your days when they are unending. About the power of music, and of melancholy, loneliness, long marriages, the shorthand communication we have with people we have spent a lot of time with. The power that finding the thing (or person) that keeps you moving forward can bring. Immortality as time management and psychological adjustment. And the different shapes love can take if it lasts centuries.

Gemma: Both Hiddleston and Swinton are employed to great effect, unsurprisingly in her case, considering how alien she’s always seemed. But his fine-boned physicality is somber and languid here, about as far away from the MCU’s Loki as possible — he looms, he broods, his bush of black-dyed hair meeting her white explosion of a mane in the same way that his Elizabethan melancholy intersects with her fierce pagan joy. Swinton is an absolutely captivating creature here, an undead bon vivant for whom everything appears to be a form of pleasure. When her “little sister” Mia Wasikowska shows up, we get a hint of how Eve might have been in the past, brittle and fascinating and utterly selfish, wasteful in her inability to admire something (or someone) without consuming it (or them). But her love for Adam, sad lunk that he is, has mellowed Eve into somebody whose almost maternal instinct to comfort and uplift, now almost seems to extend towards the whole universe. They’re like demigods, clownish and glamorous by turns, impossible to interact with without feeling like you want to hand them your soul; Adam claims to be done with that, but the minute Eve re-enters his life, you know he’s only been fooling himself.

Sandra: I find it hard not to watch Tilda Swinton, whatever she is doing, in whatever movie she’s in. Because of her physical stature and presence, she seems ideally suited to play roles where she isn’t in fact human — both the demonic and the angelic (like in Constantine). She owns every second she’s on-screen, and it would take a lot of fierce acting to keep up with her. Luckily Hiddleston, Wasikowska, and the rest — including a delightful John Hurt as Christopher Marlowe (yes, that one) — are up to the task.

As you said at the start, Gemma, it’s wonderful to see a vampire film involving older vampires — this is a middle-aged romance (if middle ages means you are 400, not 40), and watching two people who know each other well navigate the pitfalls of their eternal lives is fascinating. And often very (quietly) funny. Only Lovers Left Alive is a movie worth watching several times, just so you can catch its nuances. And it sure beats the hell out of Twilight.

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Cocktail: Vampire Kiss Martini

Sandra: Well, clearly this is the drink that was meant to be sipped while watching Only Lovers Left Alive!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 ounces vodka
• 3/4 ounce raspberry liqueur (Chambord; divided)
• 1 1/2 ounces sparkling wine or champagne
• Garnish: red sugar (for rim) — white sugar & red food coloring

Directions:

Make red sugar: Put 1/2 cup of sugar in large resealable plastic bag. Add 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring. Seal bag and massage sugar until color is evenly distributed. Spread colored sugar on large rimmed baking sheet. Let stand 25 to 30 minutes or until sugar is dried. Store in airtight container.

Make your drink: Wet the rim of a cocktail or martini glass with vodka or water or something liquid, then dip the rim into the sheet of red sugar. Swirl around a bit, so sugar adheres to the wet rim of the glass. Pour the vodka and half of the Chambord into the glass. Top with champagne. Pour the remaining Chambord over the back of a spoon so it floats on top of the drink.

Sip slowly, having already drained the blood of your mortal enemies.

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Book Recommendations

Sandra: I have to recommend Nancy Baker’s elegant and eloquent A Terrible Beauty (Beauty and the Beast meets vampires) and Victoria Dalpe’s Parasite Life (queer gothic teen vampire romance). Both of them are available right now as part of StoryBundle’s Spooky Spectacular as we speak! Pay what you can, plus donate to charity. And you get a baker’s dozen of horror books, not just these two awesome and romantic vampire novels. And I feel I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books. They’re huge bestsellers and of course were made into the HBO series True Blood, but I really feel the series did the books a disservice. At heart, they’re romantic mystery novels, and each one has at its core a mystery to be solved, as well as furthering the relationship(s) of the heroine. They’re well-written and engaging, and frankly, addictive. Highly recommended if you haven’t tried them out yet. Start with Dead Until Dark, the first one, and keep going, second book to the right, and straight on ’til morning.

Gemma: Todd Grimson’s Stainless (1995, reprinted in 2012 by Schaffner Press) is a vampire book I wish more people knew about, so I’m going to take the opportunity to sing its praises here. Written in present tense, it introduces us to Justine and Keith — she’s a vampire, old enough to have forgotten huge portions of her life, aside from retaining a general dislike for aristocrats and a pride in her French peasant background, while’s he’s a former rock star whose life and hands ended up shattered in the wake of his girlfriend’s suicide. Their relationship begins as pure transaction, with Keith playing Justine’s lover/Renfield in return for her blood in order to kick the heroin addiction that almost killed him, but ends up turning into a true partnership just in time for one of Justine’s old cast-offs to attack them. Their love changes them both, making Justine want to remember her sins and Keith want to help her die for them, if that’s what she decides is proper. Needless to say, it’d make a pretty awesome movie.

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Sandra Kasturi is the publisher of ChiZine Publications, winner of the World Fantasy, British Fantasy, and HWA Specialty Press Awards. She is the co-founder of the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium and the Executive Director of the Chiaroscuro Reading Series, and a frequent guest speaker, workshop leader, and panelist at genre conventions. Sandra is also an award-winning poet and writer, with work appearing in various venues, including Amazing Stories, Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales, Prairie Fire, several Tesseracts anthologies, Evolve, Chilling Tales, ARC Magazine, Taddle Creek, Abyss & Apex, Stamps, Vamps & Tramps, and 80! Memories & Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin. She recently won the Sunburst Award for her short story, “The Beautiful Gears of Dying,” in the anthology The Sum of Us. Her two poetry collections are: The Animal Bridegroom (with an introduction by Neil Gaiman) and Come Late to the Love of Birds. Sandra is currently working on another poetry collection, Snake Handling for Beginners, a story collection, Mrs. Kong & Other Monsters, and a novel, Wrongness: A False Memoir. She is fond of red lipstick, gin & tonics, and Idris Elba.

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Formerly a film critic, journalist, screenwriter and teacher, Gemma Files has been an award-winning horror author since 1999. She has published two collections of short work, two chap-books of speculative poetry, a Weird Western trilogy, a story-cycle and a stand-alone novel (Experimental Film, which won the 2016 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and the 2016 Sunburst award for Best Adult Novel). Most are available from ChiZine Publications. She has two new story collections from Trepidatio (Spectral Evidence and Drawn Up From Deep Places), one upcoming from Cemetery Dance (Dark Is Better), and a new poetry collection from Aqueduct Press (Invocabulary).