10/26/2023 0 Comments Resonate hero state of survival![]() Though cagey about its location-license plates announce only “The Industrial State” or “The Highway State”-much of Ghost Dog was shot in Jersey City, where the boarded-up storefronts and decomposing car lots frame a character as obsolete as his surroundings. Whether tracking its hero on nighttime sidewalks or daytime rooftops, Robby Müller’s camera makes neon and sunlight as evocative, and as integral to the narrative, as the smoky New York streets of Stranger Than Paradise or the etched Louisiana landscapes of Down by Law. I used to think a Jarmusch film should always be in black-and-white, but Ghost Dog convinced me his particular brand of poignant heroism could still resonate in color. Less often, though, is he praised for his visual flair, for the images of urban desolation his characters understand and embrace. This is also evident in the pungent, often absurdist dialogue he gifts equally to the men and women in his films and for which he is rightly celebrated. Like Altman and Scorsese, Jarmusch maneuvers his actors around one another with a precision that’s as casually symmetrical as the music they move to. ![]() Ghost Dog ignores them, and his stride never falters but the physical choreography of those four seconds of screen time-so fluid we barely notice-are a perfect example of the painstaking focus Jim Jarmusch brings to even the most seemingly inconsequential moments. ![]() Two men emerge randomly from different doorways and cross his path from left to right. Jeannette Catsoulis on Ghost Dog:The Way of the SamuraiĮarly in Ghost Dog:The Way of the Samurai, Forest Whitaker’s titular protagonist is walking purposefully along a dark, deserted street.
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