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UPtimist · 03-21-2009, 08:35 AM

A few Jim Jarmusch movies: Down By Law, Night on Earth (well, half of it) and Ghost Dog

Perhaps my favorite of at least current directors, sort of Kaurismäki meets Tarantino (in the oddness, not so much the violence).

Let's see... Down By Law, first part of the movie was just OK, I'm not too into the whole low-class realism thing (although that wasn't exaclty my point, but I'm talking about the scanty settings and things going bad or something like that

) but once the movie starts rolling, especially after the prison part, it's got that Jarmusch pull that's just got something that makes you watch it all the way. It's somehow at the same time so realistic and so out-there (like all of Jarmusch's work), with excellent easy tempo (some say this one is even too slow, I liked it a lot though) and a constant back-drop (is that even a word?) of comedy.

Night on Earth follows five taxi-drivers during one night (one story at a time) in LA, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki (which of course seems like a really bleak town in this, as usual

). As I said, I dindn't see all of them but seemed to be the usual, with this time an especial emphasis on dialogue, as you can't really have much more going on in a taxi. The end, with Helsinki, was a bit more depressing than the others I saw and the ending wasn't exactly cheerful (although I'm not sure if it ties to the beginning or something or not, as right now it's a bit loose from the earlier, often humorous other stories) but aside from that I believe this still was more comedic than Down By Law, at points just hilarious. And of course it's all cleverly psychological. It's one of those movies that's really hard to pinpoint what the deal is. I probably liked it a bit more than Down By Law.

And finally, Ghost Dog, one of my favorite movies of all times. Simply put: cool and elegant. I mean, the premise sounds silly: an assassin in New Jersey (?) who follows the way of the Samurai. And actually when I first saw very short glimpses of this movie (not really knowing what it's about), I didn't think much of it (seemed very silly, actually)

But then when I really saw the movie it just blew me away. It's really funny, and yet has a deep and meaningful story, with some of the best characters ever in movies (at least in this area). And it's all crowned by music by the Rza, really great stuff, works just so well. Won't say too much, as I think it's pretty much a must-see (well, most of Jarmusch's movies are) and there's just so much great stuff going on, with all the good stuff I said about Jarmusch before true here too. Forest Whitaker does an excellent job as the protagonist, keeping a low-key and cool performance. And the way the Way and philosophy is incorporated is really deep (as usual) and the dialogue is just marvellous (as usual)

Pretty much all is just right in the movie.

03-21-2009, 08:35 AM	#3454
UPtimist Life and times of... Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Up there in the mist Posts: 6,025	A few Jim Jarmusch movies: Down By Law, Night on Earth (well, half of it) and Ghost Dog Perhaps my favorite of at least current directors, sort of Kaurismäki meets Tarantino (in the oddness, not so much the violence). Let's see... Down By Law, first part of the movie was just OK, I'm not too into the whole low-class realism thing (although that wasn't exaclty my point, but I'm talking about the scanty settings and things going bad or something like that ) but once the movie starts rolling, especially after the prison part, it's got that Jarmusch pull that's just got something that makes you watch it all the way. It's somehow at the same time so realistic and so out-there (like all of Jarmusch's work), with excellent easy tempo (some say this one is even too slow, I liked it a lot though) and a constant back-drop (is that even a word?) of comedy. Night on Earth follows five taxi-drivers during one night (one story at a time) in LA, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki (which of course seems like a really bleak town in this, as usual ). As I said, I dindn't see all of them but seemed to be the usual, with this time an especial emphasis on dialogue, as you can't really have much more going on in a taxi. The end, with Helsinki, was a bit more depressing than the others I saw and the ending wasn't exactly cheerful (although I'm not sure if it ties to the beginning or something or not, as right now it's a bit loose from the earlier, often humorous other stories) but aside from that I believe this still was more comedic than Down By Law, at points just hilarious. And of course it's all cleverly psychological. It's one of those movies that's really hard to pinpoint what the deal is. I probably liked it a bit more than Down By Law. And finally, Ghost Dog, one of my favorite movies of all times. Simply put: cool and elegant. I mean, the premise sounds silly: an assassin in New Jersey (?) who follows the way of the Samurai. And actually when I first saw very short glimpses of this movie (not really knowing what it's about), I didn't think much of it (seemed very silly, actually) But then when I really saw the movie it just blew me away. It's really funny, and yet has a deep and meaningful story, with some of the best characters ever in movies (at least in this area). And it's all crowned by music by the Rza, really great stuff, works just so well. Won't say too much, as I think it's pretty much a must-see (well, most of Jarmusch's movies are) and there's just so much great stuff going on, with all the good stuff I said about Jarmusch before true here too. Forest Whitaker does an excellent job as the protagonist, keeping a low-key and cool performance. And the way the Way and philosophy is incorporated is really deep (as usual) and the dialogue is just marvellous (as usual) Pretty much all is just right in the movie.