Ghost Dog

[yendi]

I watched Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai this weekend on IFC. I'm still not sure what I think of it, to be honest. It's a slow film, much slower than you'd expect from a crime/mafia film. It's also got a lot more comedy than I expected (including some wonderful moments with Forrest Whitaker's lead character and his best friend, neither of whom can speak each other's language, but both of whom manage to come up with the same thoughts), a dark as hell ending, and some great underacting by Whitaker (a skill that goes under-appreciated nowadays). But half of the so-called Mafia in this movie was ludicrous, and some of the tragic moments just seemed very disjointed. But scenes from the movie keep going through my head, which I guess is a good sign.

Comments

[queenofstripes.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. First thing I do when I see something that seems out of joint in a film is ask why the director might have done it. My take on the Mafia's portrayal as cheap comic relief in Ghost Dog is that it was entirely intentional -- Jim Jarmusch doesn't strike me as normally the Cheap Laffs kind of guy. :) I took it as an exercise in contrasts. Ghost Dog and his employers are both, very clearly, obsolete and not long for this world. Ghost Dog is a philosopher, a hero, a thinker -- a man who knows exactly where he stands with the world, so he can face his death with grim poise and dignity, riding his doomed fate like a wave. The mafiosi aren't thinkers, they're doers. They have the ethics and goals of shady businessmen, and no great sense of pride in their own tradition, so they scurry around like silly animals and make it easy for a greater man to cut them down...

[kungfoogirl.livejournal.com]

Personally, I *loved* that movie.

The way he approached his art with unquestioning acceptance was amazing. He knew that his destiny was to die in service to his master. He knew exactly what his next step should be, and how it would end.

Once that man saved his life, he knew that he was living on borrowed time. He was dead already, but he was just waiting for the physical death to finally happen. A truly samurai way of looking at things.

I suggest that you watch "Dead Man" with Johnny Depp as a counter part to this movie. That has a character that seems to be the opposite of Ghost Dog. He is physically dead, but he continues on waiting for his task to be completed.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for both samurai AND mafia movies, and hence, Ghost Dog is one one my faves.

[yendi]

I'll have to check that out -- the only other movie by this director that I've seen is Mystery Train.

Good point about his outlook. I think what moved me most was the reaction of the little girl during the climactic sequence and afterwards. At some point, I need to watch the film again in one sitting, without interruptions.

[yendi]

There's no question about the not-long-for-this-world side of things (hence the line the one mafioso has about being happy that Ghost Dog is taking them out the old fashioned way). I'm not familiar enough with Jarmusch to really have a style associated with him, and this film toed the line so nicely between overdoing the ameteurishness of the mafiosos and keeping them a threat that I really couldn't tell if it was art or accident.

[fings.livejournal.com]

Ghost Dog is one of those movies that I enjoyed ok when I saw it, but found it stuck with me longer than many see-and-forget films. As you mentioned, it is a slow film, and so it takes some effort to get into, but I think ultimately it was well worth that effort.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. I was impressed by parts of it when I saw it, but several pieces have really stuck with me, much longer than I would have expected.

For the record, I'm indifferent to samurai films and actively dislike mafia ones. :)

one more "yes" vote

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

I've been a huge Jarmusch fan since "Stranger than Paradise" - even though my original reaction to that movie was "huh?"

Like everyone says, his movies stick with you... I adore Ghost Dog - way of the samurai and agree that it's kind of the opposite of Dead Man (too lazy for proper grammatical HTML) which is an astounding film as well.

If Ghost Dog was too slow for you, be patient with Dead Man too; it is also almost painfully slow but in Dead Man the cinematography is so beautiful and some of the scenes are so 'surprise! weirdness!' from left field that it is totally worth it.

If you want to watch either one, borrow from me - VHS on my shelf. I plan to eventually have all the Jarmusch films on DVD eventually. Another one to savor is Down By Law which is almost a precursor to Mystery Train (one of the characters in Mystery Train is a character that appears in the end of Down By Law). Jarmusch's humor is subtle and at the same time outrageous - I don't think anyone accomplishes that as well as he does.

Kudoes and mondo respect for watching and liking Ghost Dog!

Re: one more "yes" vote

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

at the very least you have to watch Dead Man just to see Iggy Pop in a ruffled turn-of-the-century dress and bonnet explaining what a Philistine is to Billy Bob Thornton right before Billy Bob gets shot in the foot arguing over who "gets" Johnny Depp.

Re: one more "yes" vote

[bassfingers.livejournal.com]

And for some reason I was strangely drawn to Neil Young's minimal acoustic guitar soundtrack to Dead Man.

[vill.livejournal.com]

I also have mixed feelings about that film...but it is particularly sucktacular in that the edition of the Hagakure now found in most bookstores says "Now a major motion picture" on the cover.

[yendi]

You're kidding!?

That's just in-fucking-credible.

Then again, it was a more accurate adaptation than Forest Gump or The Lawnmower Man.

[sir-alf.livejournal.com]

The people who commented before said most of what I would have said, but one moment in that movie sets the tone for what the mafia is like in the movie: when they are arguing over rent. This is the Mafia, they should be able to tell the landlord to get lost, not be telling him to wait and they'll have his money.

Until I read a synopsis of the movie (in an rpg manual no less) I hadn't really thought about it in terms of two traditions that are dying out, and the contrast and comparisions between the two of them... I mostly look at the humourous aspect of the mafiosos as a sign they've become corrupt. Look at what legacy each leaves: The Mafia's legacy seems lateral, while Ghost Dog's successor (maybe) seems to be improving herself.

My ill thought out 2 bits. Peace.

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Ghost Dog's successor- the girl to whom he gave the book? I also recall a point where he acknowledged a kind of warrior of a new generation; there's a point when he meets this guy in the streets, dressed in fatigues. It seemed that he was saying that this kind of warrior was taking over. I thought the girl was pretty much going to be, in a way, a record-keeper. One who wouldn't allow the way of the samurai to pass out of memory.