Kosher Kid: 1/4 Banana Peels
Review by Ryan
Dead Man is Jim Jarmusch's quirky take on the western genre. Johnny Depp plays an accountant, William Blake, from Cleveland who is on the run after an accidental murder. He befriends an indian named "Nobody" who mistakes him for the famous writer, William Blake, and prepares him for his journey to the spirit worlds. The cast also includes many starrs like Crispin Glover, John Hurt, and Billy Bob Thornton.
The Western genre is one that conjures up images of outlaws, horses, saloons, and epic gun battles at the OK Corral. One can virtually smell the gunpowder during a western. Jim Jarmousch, however, decides to take the genre a different direction. While no shortage of outlaws, horses, and saloons, Jarmousch's tale lacked any gun fight of substance (and really action for that matter). The film was extremely slow and at times hard to watch. The "cut-to-black" transition was used way too much and got to the point where it was annoying.
Oddly enough, there was something charming about this movie that I can't really put a finger on. The film is entirly shot in black and white, and Neil Young's score of searing guitar chords worked well with the film. The dialogue was quirky but worked for the film. The intro to the film was very nice, a philosophical metaphore for the journey west. Johnny Depp did extremely well in a somewhat challenging role.
This film was filled with eerily quirky metaphors for life and journey to the end. It was a nice change from today's fast paced, no holds barred, in your face movies a-la Transformers. However, I'm not sure I would recommend it to many people.
Looking for a challenge? Rent Dead Man!
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