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Ghost Dog - The Way of the SamuraiRating:
Release Date: 21 October, 2003 Retail Price: $9.98 OUR Price: $9.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Complete Cast (8 total) |
Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai Reviews
Thoughtful, Serene, Original....
'Ghost Dog' is by no means a conventional movie. People who dislike it are probably expecting something a little more along the mainstream format. Whitaker masterfully downplays the eponymous role, his physical bulk offset by graceful movement and deadpan cool. Excellent performances are also given in all the supporting roles, including the excitable ice cream van owner and some crazy mafioso. The movie combines the philosophical with the absurd to great effect. It's true strength lies in its originality - the contrast between Samurai, Gangster and Hip-hop culture is fantastic. Having said this, the slow paced style is not to everyones taste and if you're going to get hung up about realism or miniscule detail then don't bother. The point of the film is the exposition of themes and character. Personally I loved this movie. It is not really, despite the title, a Samurai movie. Although it is a major theme, people looking for a Samurai film should look elsewhere. If you are looking for an original and thoughtful movie, which puts a new twist on various old ideas, then i can give no higher reccomendation.
Teaching old dogs some new tricks !
If you think its virtually impossible to create an original film about a hired killer working for the mafia, you have not seen Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai. It's an imperfect film which will probably require about 20 minutes of patience before it absorbs you into its off-beat charms. Sticking with Ghost Dog will reward you with a quirky, original, and at times very funny, dark comedy. It's a film written and directed by indie film iconoclast Jim Jarmusch, and you'll find he remains very fond of fading out of scenes and creating interesting but not overly complicated visual motifs to play off of. He of course finds some quirky characters and relationships to amuse us with-particularly a french speaking Haitian ice-cream vendor who speaks only a few English words, but is mostly perfectly understood by Forrest Whitakers' Ghost Dog. Jarmusch also over-plays an interesting amusing idea (mobsters are always watching cartoons on t.v.) through repetition.
Forest Whitaker plays Ghost Dog, a character who lives by a strict Samurai code and is ready to accept-even embrace death at any moment without fear. Whitaker's sleepy eyes and demeanor always add warmth to any character he plays, but what's surprising is how (like Hong Kong's Sammo Hung) Whitaker despite his size is able to move with a ballet dancer's grace. It's his balance, centeredness and grace that makes the outbreaks of violence somewhat surprising throughout the film.
According to the samurai tradition, Ghost Dog has decided to live his life by, when a small time mobster (John Tormey) saves his life, Ghost Dog pledges utter loyalty to the mobster and is used as a contract killer by the mobster. Ghost Dog only communicates with his mobster master through messages sent via the pigeons G.D. cares for. The mobster contracts Ghost Dog to wipe out a made mob guy who's girlfriend is the mobster's boss' daughter. The daughter is present when Ghost Dog kills her boyfriend. The mobster Ghost Dog kills is the uncle of another under-boss (Cliff Gorman) who demands from boss (Henry Silva) that his uncle's killer be eliminated. Cliff Gorman really shines in his role as the under-boss who enjoys rapping to ten year old hip-hop hits by Public Enemy and Flavor Flav. Ghost Dog has been such a loyal, efficient contract killer for Tormey however this creates a dilemma. In one of the films' best scenes, Ghost Dog's master (Tormey) pleads for his servant's (Ghost Dog's) life and must try to explain the odd arrangements involving sending messages via Pigeon he has with the contract killer.. Tormey's mobster is told; "Better Ghost Dog than you, right?" and the simple plot of the film is set. What happens is not always what you expect. For instance, except for a couple of voice-over, Forest Whitaker doesn't speak any dialogue for the film's first forty-five minutes. He is a loner who keeps almost entirely to himself but calls the French-speaking ice-cream vendor (Isaach DeBankole) his best friend and befriends a curious little girl (Camille Winbush) he meets in a local park. At times the film erupts into brutal violence.
I was reminded many times throughout the film of one of Jarmusch's idols, Sam Fuller (the great,under-appreciated director who's best films were in the late 50's/early 60's and include Pickup on South Street and Shock Corridor). Fuller would also find fascinating, original and somewhat experimental ways to present rather familiar plot lines to his audience.
There's also a reverance and appreciation of the contexts Jarmusch draws upon. He does not do this in the somewhat plagiaristic fashion of a Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction specifically) but in a way that utilizes ideas in very diverse material (like Seijun Suzuki's 1967 film Branded to Kill, books like Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon and Other Stories, Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, and most surprisingly Mary Shelley's Frankenstein). All of these are combined with GoodFellas set in urban setting with a hip-hop soundtrack by Wu Tang Clan's RZA.
Hagakure in fact serves as Ghost Dog's bible and is quoted (in English) with quiet voice-overs and inter-titles 13 times throughout the film. It's a risky thing for a film to include it's own annotated footnotes, but Jarmusch pulls it off.
The balancing act only fails when it turns in on itself and concludes in a classic Western showdown. Even so, it's not an unsatisfying compromise, but a willingness of Jarmusch to submit to audience expectations and keep things within a defined conventional narrative.
If you're looking for an original, but still entertaining crime thriller, Ghost Dog should more than satisfy.
Chris Jarmick Author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder - A steamy cyber thriller...
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