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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 14 June 2019
Jarmusch’s zombies aren’t as sexy as his vampires

By JOCELYN NOVECK Now Jarmusch has made
Associated Press an actual zombie movie,
Six years ago, Jim Jar- and sorry to say, they’re a
musch made a movie lot less sexy. In fact they’re
about vampires. “Only Lov- pretty standard-issue zom-
ers Left Alive” was beauti- bies, straight from any
fully textured, ingeniously zombie movie you’ve seen
detailed and intoxicatingly before, not to mention the
moody. Plus it had the sexi- “Thriller” video.
est vampire couple you’d This isn’t to say “The Dead
ever meet — Tilda Swinton Don’t Die” , a hipster zom-
and Tom Hiddleston, the bie comedy if ever there
latter of which hated hu- was one, has nothing go-
mans and referred to them ing for it. Jarmusch’s cast is
as “zombies.” a veritable embarrassment

This image released by Focus Features shows Bill Murray, from left, Chloë Sevigny and Adam
Driver in a scene from “The Dead Don’t Die.”
Associated Press
of riches: Bill Murray, Adam tumbling down, in a way Murray-ness), Ronnie (Driv-
Driver, Chloë Sevigny, that perhaps only he can er, the true master of dead-
Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, pull off. pan here), and Mindy (Se-
Danny Glover, Selena Go- Oh, by the way: Swinton’s vigny, a nervous Nellie in
mez, Rosie Perez and Iggy here, too. Not as a vam- nerdy glasses).
Pop, for starters. pire, nor a zombie — but as As we begin, Cliff and Ron-
It’s also drily funny, and a Scottish samurai warrior nie are investigating a sto-
raises the director’s dead- mortician. Yup, a Scottish len chicken claim lodged
pan aesthetic to a new samurai warrior mortician, by the town’s resident
level of, well, dead (or un- and Swinton’s probably the racist farmer (Buscemi)
dead). “This strange film,” only actor on (or off) the against its resident hermit
Jarmusch has called it af- planet who can pull THAT in the woods (Hermit Bob,
fectionately, and that it off. aka Jarmusch stalwart Tom
is — but couldn’t it have The locale is a small town Waits).
been much more? It’s a called Centerville, popula- But it soon becomes clear
trifle compared to much tion 738 and “a real nice that something more seri-
of his other work, and with place,” according to the ous is happening.
all that talent, you wish the roadside welcome sign. Wristwatches stop working.
aim had been a bit higher. It’s the kind of town where Daylight is refusing to cede
Still, if you’re a Jarmusch there’s one gas station, to darkness. Cell phones
fan, you’ll surely have a one diner, one police sta- fail. “This isn’t going to end
good time — especially tion — and three cops. well, Cliff,” says Ronnie, a
when things get really zany That would be the chief, line he will utter more than
and the fourth wall comes Cliff (Bill Murray, at peak once.q
Juanes named Latin Recording

Academy Person of the Year

By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Colom-
bian rocker-activist Juanes
has been named the 2019
Latin Recording Academy
Person of the Year.
The academy will honor
the 22-time Latin Grammy
Award winner and two-
time Grammy Award win-
ner on Nov. 13 at the MGM
Grand Convention Center
in Las Vegas, on the eve of
the Latin Grammys. In this May 5, 2018 file photo, Juanes performs at the New
Juanes made his debut Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans.
in 2000 with “Fijate Bien.” Associated Press
Since then, he has sold sia Cara. It will be included Past honorees include Sha-
over 20 million records. He in his next album. kira, Plácido Domingo, Glo-
recently released a single Mexican rock band Maná ria Estefan, Ricky Martin,
“Querer Mejor” (kay-rer won the same award last Alejandro Sanz and Julio
may-hore), featuring Ales- year. Iglesias.q