My friend Chris, who has just contributed to the meaty symposium on Jarmusch over at Reverse Shot, has made the nice point that this film neatly disproves the old film criticism chestnut that no Westerns are possible after Unforgiven. Certainly as long as our politcians continue to exploit the mythology of the Western in their rhetoric, the cinema will have plenty of opportunities to revise the form.
Jarmusch’s take is characteristically meandering and sardonic, with Robby Müller’s floating, shimmering camerawork, a catalog of witty cameos, and one of the most beautiful modern film-scores I know. As in a number of Jarmusch’s films, there are allegorical elements that at first seem to smack you in the face with obviousness, only to recede into the formless tableau of the narrative. I have never been fully convinced by the incorporation of William Blake into the film’s text, but it is nonetheless a rife point of association, particularly in this context.
It should also be noted that Dead Man contains one of the more interesting depictions of Native Americans in recent film, emphasizing details of culture and language that usually fall by the wayside. The film remains fully cognizant of a certain tendency to exoticize these characters, and even occasionally embraces this romanticization, but this serves to preserve the protagonist’s naïve, bewildered encounter in a way that is refreshingly unironic. This is a tack that Malick has taken, but it is not one that is immediately expected of Jarmusch.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Buena Vista DVD
15 Aug 2005 4:32 PM | Submit Comment
