Entertainment
Tom Hiddleston's Vampire Movie With Tom Holland Is Guaranteed To Break Your Heart
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Even if you love vampire movies like a good little child of the night, it can be difficult to find a modern film featuring these monsters that doesn’t, well, suck. A few years ago, though, we got a heartbreaking vampire drama from an iconic indie director, one that started two Marvel icons. The movie in question is Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and you can now stream this underappreciated Tom Hiddleston/Tilda Swinton classic for free on Tubi.
The premise of Only Lovers Left Alive is that two vampires who have been married for centuries now live two very different lives on opposite sides of the world. However, dark, destructive ennui has begun to take hold in Tom Hiddleston’s character, and he’s pondering shuffling off the mortal coil of a world he has grown increasingly tired of. Tilda Swinton’s character comes to help him find the joy diminished by years of empty existence, but whether she succeeds will come down to how much they can rekindle the passion that originally brought them together.
A Cast Of Undead Excellence
The cast of Only Lovers Left Alive includes some major genre names, including Tom Holland (best known for playing Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe). It also includes Jeffrey Wright (best known for The Batman) and the late, great Anton Yelchin (best known for the Star Trek reboot). It even includes the legendary John Hurt (best known for Alien) who, in an inspired bit of casting, plays William Shakespeare’s contemporary Christopher Marlowe.
Mostly, though, Only Lovers Left Alive revolves around Tom Hiddleston (best known for The Avengers) and Tilda Swinton (best known for We Need To Talk About Kevin). Each of them individually does an excellent job of portraying a supernatural creature who is at once both more and less than human, and their natural chemistry helps lend this movie its passion and its pathos. Trust me: if you’re only used to these actors in Marvel movies, seeing them in a heartbreaking indie where they get to chew scenery as they see fit is quite the revelation.
Dead And Not Loving It
When Only Lovers Left Alive premiered, it didn’t make the box office feel all that likely. Against a budget of $7 million, the film only earned $7.9 million; however, it received a surprising amount of acclaim despite lackluster earnings: for example, it was nominated for the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Festival, and it rightfully took home that prestigious film festival’s award for Best Soundtrack. Seriously, this combination of the director’s favorite songs and his own band’s score helps give this quirky classic a surprisingly authentic and almost shockingly autobiographical vibe.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that it was completely different from other vampire media, Only Lovers Left Alive cast quite a hypnotic spell on everyone who saw it. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 86 percent, with critics praising director Jim Jarmusch for pumping some new blood into a genre that felt drained long ago. They also singled out Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton for giving performances that effortlessly pivot from heartbreaking pathos to gallows humor and back again, fully selling us on the unexpected treaties and quiet triumphs that come from a love that can literally never end.
Who Wants To Live Forever?
Now, here’s the rare admission from a critic: I had to watch Only Lovers Left Alive twice before I really understood and appreciated it. The first time, the movie felt a little too slow for me, and it clashed with my expectations of a genre tale full of blood and betrayal. On the second watch, though, I realized that the movie was all about answering the question first put forth by Queen all those decades ago: “who wants to live forever?”
While it makes for a tear-jerking watch at times (it’s not a question of if you’ll cry but when), Only Lovers Left Alive very provocatively asks what eternal love looks like for a man and a wife who can never die. How does that transform the traditional wedding promise of “till death do us part,” and how do you keep a spark alive when the weight of untold eons weighs on your chest like the rock of ages? For anyone who has ever loved someone with their whole heart, Only Lovers Left Alive forces you to consider how you might sustain that passion over the centuries and what its sudden absence could mean for both you and your relationship.
A Monstrous Mirror
In this way, Jim Jarmusch created a vampire movie that isn’t really a vampire movie; rather, its supernatural protagonists are metaphors for the monstrous urges and creeping loneliness that threaten to tear even the strongest unions apart. It’s not exactly a scary movie, especially for those hoping to see plenty of blood, gore, and other staples of monster movie mayhem. But in holding up an unflinching reflection to both the impermanence of passion and the undying fire of true love, this may be the scariest vampire movie of them all.
Will you agree that Only Lovers Left Alive is slow-burn genre perfection, or is this one vampy movie you’d rather drive a stake into? The only way to find out is to stream it for free on Tubi today. Come for the Marvel stars and stay for the eye-opening meditations on life, love, and the forbidden attraction of death!
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE REVIEW SCORE
Entertainment
Get $600 off the Bluetti Elite 400 portable power station and stay prepared for emergencies
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If you live somewhere where you deal with power outages often, you probably get tired of being without electricity. It’s frustrating to say the least, especially when it starts to stretch into longer periods of time. That’s where a portable power station can come in. If you’re ready to invest in one so you can stop dealing with these situations, now’s the time to buy, thanks to this discount.
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Since the backup is a bit on the larger side, it features a hardy shell with wheels, making it easy to maneuver and get where you need to go, and to take your electricity with you. You can toss it in the garage, keep it in your car, or anywhere you think it could be useful in a pinch.
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Entertainment
The Insta360 Flow 2 Pro gimbal is back at a record-low price at Amazon: Save over $30
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These days, you don’t have to be a professional content creator to share great clips on socials. We have tons of free tools that help us capture video to share on our feeds, whether it’s your dog being silly or your latest trip to Europe. If you’ve been grabbing these videos by holding your phone in your hand, it might be time for an upgrade. Check out this deal at Amazon.
As of Feb. 4, the Insta360 Flow 2 Pro foldable gimbal is on sale at Amazon for $126.98, marked down from the list price of $159.99. That’s a 21% discount that shaves $33.01 off the normal price. It also matches the record low at Amazon.
Insta360 packed the Flow 2 Pro with features that make filming much more convenient. For starters, there’s the active zoom tracking, which can follow subjects even at 15x zoom. The multi-person tracking is also great for filming several subjects, and the 360-degree Infinite Pan Tracking is a standout highlight. This function allows for continuous rotation. Of course, it can also serve as a tripod for still recording.
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Entertainment
A Fully Loaded Potato Salad for Dinner
I love potato salad. I love the creamy kind, the vinegar-y kind; I’ll take a warm one with dill, whatever you’ve got. And yet, I’m about to make a bold claim: this potato salad might be my favorite. Why? Because it’s decidedly not a side dish. It’s the whole damn meal.
This recipe comes to us from Melina Hammer, who calls it a “Niçoise-ish” potato salad, because it’s souped up with tuna, eggs, and other classic Niçoise elements. “You get those bright, bold flavors,” says Melina. It adapts easily for the season, she adds, suggesting winter radishes — like purple daikons or watermelon radishes — if you make it this month. “You can also swap the green beans for two cups of chopped escarole or Napa cabbage, and I’m always a fan of thawed frozen peas. No need to cook them any further — just toss ’em in!”
Here’s the full recipe, plus some pointers from Melina:
Niçoise-ish Potato Salad
by Melina Hammer
Serves 4
3 eggs
salt
1 dry quart small red potatoes (approximately 2 lbs), any larger ones sliced in half
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp (or more) freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp capers, strained
2 1/2 oz thin green beans, stem ends trimmed and sliced into 1 1/2-2 inch segments on a diagonal (or swap for peas, cabbage, etc)
1 5-ounce can albacore tuna
3 radishes, ends trimmed and sliced in halves, then thinly sliced
2 tbsp finely sliced chives
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Bring a medium saucepan with enough water to cover the eggs by an inch to a boil. Lower refrigerator-cold eggs into the water and cook them on a simmer for 8 minutes, then plunge the eggs into an ice bath until they are cool enough to handle. Peel and then slice the eggs into six wedges apiece and set aside.
Bring the potatoes to a simmer in well-salted water. Cook for 8 minutes or until they yield easily when pierced with a sharp knife. Strain them into a colander with a slotted spoon, reserving the cooking liquid. Transfer the potatoes to a mixing bowl and add the oil, mustard, black pepper, and capers. Gently toss to fully coat.
Blanch the green beans in the potato water for 30 seconds to 1 minute — just long enough for them to turn bright green. Strain, and add to the potatoes. Add the tuna, flaking the fish into the bowl, followed by the radishes and chives. Toss to incorporate, then add the eggs and lemon juice. (Note: “If you’re making this a day or more in advance, hold the lemon juice and add it just before serving,” says Melina. “Otherwise, it will dull the color of the green beans.”) Gently toss once more. “I like to use a silicone spatula and work up from the bottom of the bowl, folding the ingredients together with a light hand so the yolks remain mostly intact.”
As you serve the potato salad, make sure to scoop up all the last bits of custardy egg, straggler chives, and mustardy goodness clinging to the sides of the bowl. Enjoy.
Melina Hammer is a chef, food stylist, recipe developer, and the award-winning author of A Year at Catbird Cottage. Her recipes have appeared on Bon Appétit, Food52, and Edible. You can follow her newsletter, Stories from Catbird Cottage.
What other dinner salads do you love? And do you have a house salad?
P.S. Five ways to upgrade a regular green salad, and white bean soup, because it’s February.
(Photos courtesy of Melina Hammer.)
Get $600 off the Bluetti Elite 400 portable power station and stay prepared for emergencies
The Insta360 Flow 2 Pro gimbal is back at a record-low price at Amazon: Save over $30
