OLLA (don't you just love that!) opens with a close-up of a spinning vinyl record to the background of period music, followed by crane shots of two separate scenes each with a protagonist lying in languid comfort, also spinning round and round. These two locations are then revealed as Tangier and Detroit. Tracing the nocturnal outdoor activities, the camera for the former meanders along exotic streets and alleyways and finally follows Eve (Tilda Swinton) into a small café where she hangs out with Christopher Marlow (John Hurt), now 450 years old (if my Googling is accurate), and eventually receives from him a grocery bag with some containers in it. In the latter city, half-way around the globe, we see Adam (Tom Hiddleston) disguised as a "Dr. Faust" (complete with surgical cap and mask so that only his eyes are showing) conducting a transaction of receiving from a Dr. Watson (Jeffrey Wright, criminally underused) drink-size cylinders which were immediately put into a super-secured looking bag. The conclusion of this series of scenes comprises alternating montages of Adam, Eve and Marlow, all comfortably in the security of their homes, sipping from elegant glasses the way a connoisseur would enjoy a vintage wine. Then, each tilts back, allowing the camera to focus on their gradually protruding canine teeth. Mission accomplished for these exceedingly stylish establishing scenes: these three are vampires, high-class vampires that don't condescend to biting any Tom, Dick or Harry, but instead purchase pure, uncontaminated, quality blood from reliable sources.
By this time, it becomes quite evident that OLLA is very much an exercise in style, reflected in the first half of my summary line. The second half is a theme that you would find readily in works of George Bernard Shaw or J.R.R. Tolkien. While you may argue that vampires are not totally immortal (indeed, Adam had contemplated killing himself with a special made-to-order wooden bullet) you can sense the wearing boredom, even when they still deeply love each other, as the title of the movie suggests. The initial scene in fact has a measure of hilarity showing how the two lovers communicate between Detroit and Tangier using state-of-the-art video equipment of i-phone and TV hooked up to video camera. If the dialogue has reviewed how long it was since they were physically together, I missed it. Anyway, Eve with some difficulty overcomes her inertia and flies to Detroit (departure and arrival carefully scheduled to be at night time). They each have things to occupy themselves when they are apart, things artistic and cultural. Adam composes modern music while Eve reads in just about every known language, not to mention hobnob with Marlow. When they are together, other than sex (which is only implied and never explicitly shown), they talk about things artistic and cultural, over the last four or five hundred years. Yet, the sense of boredom is palpable. There isn't very much by way of story but there is a trajectory towards a sort of crisis: source the elite, pure blood that sustains them is running out.
The cast is top-notch. Those who have seen the vast variety of roles Swinton has played will understand that she is a whole acting universe all by herself. Launching through Loki, Hiddleston has become an icon that is synonymous with "cool". Hurt is another perfect choice. Two younger actors complement well this exceptional cast. Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the successful reboot of "Star Treks", with the funny Russian accent, if you need a reminder) plays Ian the gofer who supplies Adam with everything from vintage electric guitars to the aforementioned wooden bullet. Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland" followed by a streak of character movies) is Ava, Eva's younger sister that one critic describes as "wild" but actually more normal as a vampire, one that does not make an agonizing effort to shun a human neck (guess whose it is in this movie?) Auteur Jim Jarmusch is not exactly prolific in terms of main stream (albeit still artsy) movies and the only movie I've seen of him is "Broken flowers" (2005) which won Cannes Grand Prize of the Jury (sort of silver medal) but that one well defines him and his work. By the way, it has Swinton too although you'll be hard pressed to recognize her.
By this time, it becomes quite evident that OLLA is very much an exercise in style, reflected in the first half of my summary line. The second half is a theme that you would find readily in works of George Bernard Shaw or J.R.R. Tolkien. While you may argue that vampires are not totally immortal (indeed, Adam had contemplated killing himself with a special made-to-order wooden bullet) you can sense the wearing boredom, even when they still deeply love each other, as the title of the movie suggests. The initial scene in fact has a measure of hilarity showing how the two lovers communicate between Detroit and Tangier using state-of-the-art video equipment of i-phone and TV hooked up to video camera. If the dialogue has reviewed how long it was since they were physically together, I missed it. Anyway, Eve with some difficulty overcomes her inertia and flies to Detroit (departure and arrival carefully scheduled to be at night time). They each have things to occupy themselves when they are apart, things artistic and cultural. Adam composes modern music while Eve reads in just about every known language, not to mention hobnob with Marlow. When they are together, other than sex (which is only implied and never explicitly shown), they talk about things artistic and cultural, over the last four or five hundred years. Yet, the sense of boredom is palpable. There isn't very much by way of story but there is a trajectory towards a sort of crisis: source the elite, pure blood that sustains them is running out.
The cast is top-notch. Those who have seen the vast variety of roles Swinton has played will understand that she is a whole acting universe all by herself. Launching through Loki, Hiddleston has become an icon that is synonymous with "cool". Hurt is another perfect choice. Two younger actors complement well this exceptional cast. Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the successful reboot of "Star Treks", with the funny Russian accent, if you need a reminder) plays Ian the gofer who supplies Adam with everything from vintage electric guitars to the aforementioned wooden bullet. Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland" followed by a streak of character movies) is Ava, Eva's younger sister that one critic describes as "wild" but actually more normal as a vampire, one that does not make an agonizing effort to shun a human neck (guess whose it is in this movie?) Auteur Jim Jarmusch is not exactly prolific in terms of main stream (albeit still artsy) movies and the only movie I've seen of him is "Broken flowers" (2005) which won Cannes Grand Prize of the Jury (sort of silver medal) but that one well defines him and his work. By the way, it has Swinton too although you'll be hard pressed to recognize her.