The bloodsucker genre is given a discerning, literary minded makeover by German director Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive. Void of the usual gory teen-horror movie tactics that make vampire movies so unappealing, Jarmusch’s film appeals to the philosophical as opposed to the morose.

First and foremost a love story about reclusive musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and his enigmatic wife Eve (Tilda Swinton) the film is an ode to untold centuries of hipsterism; love, art, science and philosophy. The alluring chemistry between Hiddleston and Swinton is reason enough to see this film. Eve is the Ying to Adam’s Yang – the spirited silver lining to his dark rain cloud and the pair remains deeply infatuated with one another because of their differing perspectives.

Unhurried and self-conscious Only Lovers Left Alive contemplates what it means to live as opposed to survive with elegant ease.

Jarmusch illustrates the pitfalls of humanity through the eyes of depressed Adam and simultaneously reflects our potential to create rather than destroy via the tender Eve. Even as Adam points to the downfall of abandoned, decimated Detroit as evidence of civilization's downfall, Eve counters with a belief it will rise again, with history as her witness.

Unexpected, deadpan humour balances out the deep and meaningful, poking fun at the complexities of being a modern vampire. Eve’s O-neg icy-pole experiment is a particularly comical notion as opposed to the “15th century practice” of drinking from a human – something that should be resorted to only out of necessity according to these pasty aristocratic lovers.

A fierce and stylish argument for life and a very positive outlook for a film about O-neg drinkers, this film will suck you in from the moment Adam's darkly beautiful music touches your ears. Don’t call a moratorium on vamp-flicks just yet, give Only Lovers Left Alive a whirl first - Jarmusch may have just saved the entire genre.