patriciasmaynard
In Dead Man we have Jarmusch's trademark sense of humour and he's on top form here. I must confess that I initially watched this film to see Mr Depp in action. These days I'm a little tired of watching him, so if you find the energy to turn back to the best days of Johnny when he acted in great films then this is an ideal example.The tobacco line is as legendary as anything written by the Coen Brothers. Then there's the STupid White Man lines from the fake Red Indian and their references to William Blake the poet. It's all very funny in a light way. What makes Dead Man better than Jim's other movies is the stunning, rocky soundtrack and the brilliant black-and-white visuals. It's not a movie to learn the meaning of life, but it's a real memorable experience, almost psychedelic at times. You'd expect that when he enters Red Indian territory. And this time, you couldn't cast anyway as perfect as Johnny Depp for the role.
Robert J. Maxwell
The plot is familiar enough. An innocent accountant in the old West is accused by the local strong man of killing his son and stealing his fine, spirited pinto horse. The head honcho is played by a magnificently coiffured Robert Mitchum, ably assisted by my one-time co-star John Hurt. Which reminds me -- what a cast. Half a dozen famous names showed up for one day's work. The accountant is injured and wobbles across rivers and over mountains at the timberline until he is discovered by an all-knowing and endearing Indian. The Indian is pretty weird but then, if the plot is familiar, perishing white man saved by Indians, the treatment is like nothing much you've ever seen before.Lance Henrickson, whose work I've always enjoyed, is a heartless killer who shoots comrades in the back of the head on a whim. Gary Farmer is the plump Indian whose people are slowly being wiped out by the white eyes. He can smell them a mile away. They sell blankets smothered in the variola virus -- smallpox, which is a bad way to go unless you enjoy the sensation of your pustular skin sloughing off. Yet the Indian doesn't make a speech out of it. He's not a figure of pity. There's just a passing mention of these goings on.As the Indian, Farmer was captured by while people as a child and sent in a cage from one city to another so the citizens could pay to take a look at the barbarian. At one point he found himself in England, where they forced him to go to school,. The name of the protagonist's character, played by Johnny Depp, is William Blake and Farmer adores the work of THE William Blake and gets his protogé mixed up with the author. He quotes the original Blake at odd moments, and not just "Tiger, tiger, burning bright," but the mystical stuff that nobody understands.It ends on America's Northwest Coast, all rain, mist, decay, and sea scent. The viewer ought to take note of the art work. It's pretty distinctive and, if I can say so, quite beautiful in its own way, as stylized as the film itself. I don't think I'll spell out the end. It objectifies James Joyce's observation: "We'll meet again, we'll part once more."
Nobody
When I first heard the strum of a distorted guitar ten minutes into the movie, I thought "wow, that was annoying, I hope that never happens again'... If only I knew that the entire score was the same f***ing sound repeated for every literal beat of this movie.Nothing about this movie works:-the editing was so poorly executed that I thought my Wifi went down.-Every transition is just a fade to black as if it was made for TV in the 70's-The writing feels like a flower child wanted to write about his inner workings, but was too pretentious, high, and incompetent that it comes off as such. Any symbolism or spiritual undertones are so incredibly flat and obvious that it's ridiculous to even be labeled as 'cerebral' on Netflix.-the acting (aside from the young Depp) was so poor that it felt like a soap opera. everything from the stuck up, angry old man in his office, to the stereotyped Indian cut-outs to the shoot-out at the very end of the movie that made me burst out laughing at how lazy, stupid, and melodramatic it was.-there's no reason to film in black and white, nothing else was ever attended to in cinematography because it looked semi-artsy enough to hold over a regular audience without making anything original or coherent.-every act of violence in this movie appears to be baby's first SFX, the man's head getting crushed looked like f***ing clay. the child getting hit with a rifle didn't even come close to contact. The makeup of Depp's face looks like it was made of crayola wax.Don't watch this movie unless you have a hard-on for style over substance. but even then, there is no style to this movie, it's garbage. the only way this kind of laziness could be accepted is if it was made in the 30's. This came out the same year as Braveheart, 12 Monkeys, Heat, Se7en, and The Usual Suspects...This is 2 hours of your life that not only will you not get back, but they will be forced out of you like a f***ing laxative.
SnoopyStyle
William Blake (Johnny Depp) is a meek accountant traveling to the American west frontiers from Cleveland. He is welcomed by the train boilerman. He arrives at Dickinson Metal Works. Manager John Scholfield tells him that he's too late. The owner John Dickinson sends him packing with a shotgun. He befriends former prostitute Thel Russell. John's son Charlie Dickinson is her jealous ex and kills her. Blake kills Charlie in return. He is helped by a native American named Nobody. John Dickinson sends a posse of Cole Wilson, Conway Twill and Johnny 'The Kid' Pickett to go after him.I really like some of the odder surreal touches from Jim Jarmusch. The movie starts well with the train trip and the muddy town. The movie loses steam after the killings. Gary Farmer is a little funny but I get a sense that he's meant to be much funnier. Jarmusch's indie camera work lacks style. I can sense where this movie is trying to go. It's trying to subvert the western with a lot of weird takes. It doesn't really succeed as a movie.
AD
