Seen: Streaming over Discord | Condiments: None

What better time to see Jim Jarmush’ vampire drama than in October? For my third watch of this movie I was joined by a good friend of mine. What a blast!

You know a movie has been well received when everyone quiets down to absorb the movie properly instead of coming up with quips, and that’s exactly what happened.

Even on a third viewing I picked up things I didn’t on my second viewing. For example, how the vampires touch some form of jewlery before taking their first sip of blood. This reads to me as some sort of ritual, of which Jarmusch’s vampires have many. And it’s exactly this intricate vampire lore crammed into just a little over two hours (!!) I find myself coming back to. It’s wonderful getting to lose yourself in a world that seems so vast, even if you only get a two hour glimpse of it.

I find myself wondering if Ava was turned accidentally. And what happened in London? Do the vampires wear gloves and sunglasses to avoid overstimulation? And is Soul Dracula “vampire racist”? (Credit goes to my friend for this observation). I could go on.

Not only is the vampire mythos entertaining. I find it a fascinating meditation on lasting (perhaps even eternal) love. Beautifully woven into the theory of entanglement, love and bloodlust become inevitable, even at opposite parts of the earth.