Diary entries forDead Man
Dead Man
it was good! i liked the constant guitar riffs
Dead Man
Like the movie, HATE the score. LOVED the performances, HATE that every scene fades to black. Good movie though.
Dead Man
Jim Jarmusch takes audiences on a slow-burning journey into the last chapter of Bill Blake, a man from Cleveland in the wrong side of the country. Played by Johnny Depp, his character is thrown into an array of unlucky and spiritual circumstances that usually peak with a quick, violent and exhilarating shootout. A gritty, funny, and all around mesmerizing film, Dead Man is perhaps Jarmusch's greatest achievement, and one that I have appreciated more over time. Straight off the bat, the cinematography is the best; hard-hitting, yet subtle and curious. Black and white fits this film perfectly, it's probably one of the finest instances of modern made black and white films I've seen. The roaring and clunking of the train's wheels, to Crispin Glover's black-as-coal (because it is) face, to the Native Americans examining Johnny Depp in his point of view. All is fantastically shot. Depp captures the frailty and out of contact behavior of Bill Blake through his performance. Thrown into a world he didn't know existed and forced to comprehend with what's given to him, Blake is tossed up and down shit's creek. "Stupid white man", Nobody, the Native American he meets on his journey regularly tells him. And it's true. Each white man in the film is represented either outrageously or stupidly. Robert Mitchum for that matter is a tough looking boss of a metal works company, but hilariously over-the-top, especially when he glances up at the giant stuffed bear in his office. It's almost rural for Jarmusch to make a film set in this backdrop and time, but he adapts to it brilliantly, heaving his usual antics in place and adding a few firearm battles. At the moment, this stands as my favorite creation from the director. Its two hours fly by, just like they typically do with his films.
Dead Man
Physical Media #17 DEAD MAN (1995) dir. Jim Jarmusch Darkly comedic and poignant, Dead Manchronicles the tale of a man in purgatory being ushered through hell, having to confront and understand his violent past. This neo-western takes a reflective, almost spiritual, approach at viewing and acknowledging the dark history of America during the early 1800’s. Nobody (Gary Farmer) is our guide into this journey, not to criticize, but to keep us aware where we come from. The film as a whole has a dream-like atmosphere, engulfing us in lush and contained landscapes that seems to drone on and on endlessly. Accompanying the gorgeous imagery is Neil Young’sphenomenal score, whose echoes can be heard in other mediums such as Red Dead Redemption. It’s 30 minutes too long and meanders at times, but after a couple more rewatches I’m confident my rating will go up.
Dead Man
Film School Drop Outs Weekly Challenge (https://letterboxd.com/goghaliens/list/film-school-drop-outs-weekly-challenge-2019) Week 25: Acid Westerns Things which are alike, in nature, grow to look alike. It is lowkey funny, perfectly scored & stylistically wonderful (props for featuring Aspen trees –they look like they have a set of eyes, which is so cool!!!! Underrated 10/10 trees!!). William Blake's natural progression from a bland start to getting a personality is appreciated Glad that I ultimately didn't give up on this, after switching my choice to The Wild Bunch. My initial skepticism combined with a general distaste for westerns & this film being distant, in every which way possible, to my perception of the genre & its conventions, did contribute to me being impressed with Dead Man. Not to limit myself but it's the closest to me digging 20th century westerns? (3.75 rn, might increase to 4)
Dead Man
"𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥" The Clay Theater up on Fillmore used to have a blown up poster of this in the lobby. I was always allured by the black and white, Depp's deep face, the title alone. Years after, I've finally gotten around to it. I've always loved Jarmusch for the poetics in mundanity, but here he takes it in the genre form of an anti-western. And though I always note that my favorite western is El Topo (https://letterboxd.com/film/el-topo/), this is my yang in my yin-n-yang favorite in terms of westerns. (Does anyone else do this? Having a second favorite to compliment the absolute favorite? To balance things out?) Bleak. Stark. And even more so in black and white. I've always thought of Jarmusch's black and white to portray a classic tone to his films, but here it strips life away even further from the very little life in the film. We see bones, lots of them. People dying. All deaths ruled ruthless. But here, most notably, genre bends his poeticism into allegory and metaphor. Decay is apparent. It's everywhere in the way landscapes are captured. In the way Depp becomes so unsure and drifty in action, but understands self a lot more. Our anti-hero is at the end of life and we are left to question, What is he to do? What is there left to do? Though I think it loses steam in its last act, it's an interesting picture from Jarmusch in genre. Understated and gritty.
