Cannes Day #8: Nebraska & Only Lovers Left Alive

Nebraska

There is not a whole lot that goes on in Nebraska, similar to the small towns that are featured in it, but this is a road trip/family bonding film that is extremely entertaining. Nebraska is not perfect, but it may end up being the year’s best road trip film. Payne keeps the camera rolling a bit too long in the final scenes, resulting in an ending that should have been shortened by about five minutes or so. Nonetheless, Nebraska is finally a Payne film that I can confidently stand behind.

RATING: 7.8

Read my full review of Nebraska

Only Lovers Left Alive

Perhaps the reasoning for not having a morning press screening of Jim Jarmusch’s new film here at the Cannes Film Festial is an obvious one, Only Lovers Left Alive is a midnight film and should not be seen during the day. Considering this film is about vampires, darkness is the overall theme of the film. In fact, there is not even a single shot of the film that shows daylight. Only Lovers Left Alive has fun with itself and the genre by modernizing to present day; where vampires too can have iPhones and YouTube.

The biggest problem for me about the film is how redundant it gets after the first hour. The very beginning starts off with a record spinning shot that is layered over top of a shot the main characters (Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton). This exact same layered record spinning effect is done about two or three more times after the opening. It also reiterates the punch line of the vampires being centuries old so many times that is becomes too repetitive to be funny. I also found the characters spending a great deal of time drooling over vintage guitars and other musical instruments. Yes, I may be nitpicking a little bit and yes, there are some good parts about the film too. But for me, the bad significantly outweighed the good in Only Lovers Left Alive.

RATING: 5.7