Jim Jarmusch

Ok well Australian Television station SBS is running a Jim Jarmusch Retrospective with one of his films every week. So each week I will come in here and review the one I saw, of course this is not some weird exclusive thread for my reviews. I just want to talk Jarmusch. Personally I love Jarmusch's style, his slow moving considered approach is so effective and interesting.

Ok so to the first film Down By Law.

Three men all end up in the same jail cell for varying reasons. Zack(Tom Waits) is set up for murder, Jack(John Lurie) is framed for being a pedophile and Roberto (Roberto Benigni) claims to have killed a man in self defence. The three are reborn in prison and well, I won't say much more.

From the opening scene's tracking shots it is obvious that this will be an excelent film. Jarmusch's camera work is amazing, he swaps between using long amazing tracking shots and completely still scenes running for a long time with out a single cut. The film is slow moving and quiet, but never once does it drag or does interest faulter. I found the characters captivating, original and interesting. I loved Waits and Lurie in subtle understated performances that expanded their characters well and added great dimension to them. Benigni acts as a polar opposite to these two, while Benigni can get a little over the top and well...annoying, Jarmusch has always used him so well and this is no exception. His character is great and Benigni is great as him.

The soundtrack is excelent, this is perfectly shown in the opening sequence where the music compliments a series of tracking shots of New Orleans perfectly. It also helps to ad a beautiful dimension to the slow moving style of the film.

In whole I really liked Down By Law.

Yeah, I very much agree with you, C. especially about the way Jarmusch captures certainly aspects of New Orleans . . . some of which are probably gone forever. :(

I want to see a lot more of his stuff... I'm fairly unversed, but like what i've seen.

I want to see a lot more of his stuff... I'm fairly unversed, but like what i've seen.
Same here. Haven't seen much, but am interested.

Same here. Haven't seen much, but am interested.
You should definately check on some of his other films . . . though his movies are pretty idiosyncratic, most more so than Broken Flowers.

What's next week's film, C?

In truth E, the film has already been on and it was Night on Earth I just don't have time now to write up anything or even really do more than a couple tiny posts like this. Any way I will write it up this weekend hopefully.

Night on Earth is an excellent one, and probably Jarmusch's most mainstream film. Unfortunately, you still can't get it as an R1 NTSC DVD.

Ok Night on Earth.

The basic plot surrounds the stories of 5 different cab drivers in 5 cities around the world all at the same time. Each story with its own window of time and each centred around a single cab fair. There's no real connection between each story, except for the time of night and the interaction.

The shots in the film are all pretty stationary shots either looking into the cab or just watching the fairs as they leave. This mostly means that the film is entirely based around the interaction between the people. It really is an excelent succes at pulling this off as well. Few films really capture interesting and seemingly genuine human interaction, but I think Night on Earth does this very well(though Benigni pushes the realism some what).

Having each story play out and then move on with no real connection makes the film very interesting and strangely compelling. However it also means if you do not like the set up of one of the stories then you will have to wait. Personally I enjoyed all the stories, though some I deffinately liked more than others. I really enjoyed the New York story that involved Helmut a Czecheslovakian cab driver that was the only person who would pick up a black man named Yo Yo at 4 in the morning. It is revealed Helmut can barely drive and Yo Yo convinces Helmut to let him drive and so a great scenario is created. I found the character of Helmut incredibly endearing without getting too soppy or corny like he easily could have. Another aspect I found interesting is that my mother also watched it and was not interested at all until Roberto Benigni came on. She is Italian and when he started she practically laughed for 25 minutes straight at his section of the story. I must admit I found the story loop in Paris about the Ivory Coast taxi driver and the blind fair a little less interesting.

Also the music through out the film is great. So in total I really enjoyed Night on Earth, probably not as much as Down By Law, but it was excelent none the less.

Next film Dead Man.

I found a £20 note in one of my books earlier so promptly went out and spent it. I picked up a Jarmusch double bill (Night on Earth and Down By Law - Sorry Matt) for a tenner, which I may watch tonight. I also got the new Iron Maiden album... which is a bit naff.

Next film Dead Man.
Now we're talking! :)

Ooh...Dead Man is really good.

Amazing cast, too.

Definitely a film that's hard to forget.

That maybe something to do with having Iggy Pop in a dress, I don't know...

Oh yes, a very good off-beat movie...

Yeah, I think Dead Man is Jarmusch's best film . . . although it's also his most demanding.