"It is preferable to not travel with a dead man."
My relationship with Johnny Depp is a complex one. One one hand, I respect his considerable range as an actor, his ability to shift between varied roles and infiltrate the sometimes complex psyches of his characters. He's been in some pretty good movies. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a phenomenal adaptation of a visceral, unapologetic novel with a ridiculously talented cast and Terry Goddamn Gilliam at the helm. Edward Scissorhands was a colourful, entertaining film, though it never covered any ground that hasn't been thoroughly trodden before. But among these hits are several misses. The abhorrent reboot/sequel of Alice in Wonderland is one of the worst films I've seen in a long time. His portrayal of Willy Wonka was a bit better, but still wholly unremarkable considering the massive shoes he was trying to fill. Pirates of the Caribbean started off innocently enough as a decent, mindless Hollywood pirate movie but has turned into a cash cow that keep pumping out unnecessary sequels. Additionally, for the past several years Depp and director Tim Burton have been working together far too much. It seems like Burton wants to typecast Depp as the same eccentric character in film after film and it was funny at first but now the joke is old and no one cares except the delusional fans. Sweeney Todd was alright though I guess. OK. Enough about Depp. Every bad film he has ever starred in is redeemed by Dead Man because it is absolutely incredible and he TOTALLY KILLS IT in this one.
I suppose Dead Man could be classified as a western. I mean, it takes place in the west and there's outlaws and guns and stuff so I suppose that's the easiest label to stick on it. But instead of being about cowboys and indians (even though those things do appear in the film) the movie is about the main character, William Blake. Like many of Jim Jarmusch's other films, Dead Man is about the journey of the individual, the experiences and evolutionary arc of a person as they go through life. William Blake is a clean, well dressed, city-bred accountant, on his way to a job promised to him out west. Suffice it to say that things don't work out as well as he hopes, and after committing a murder he finds himself on the run from bounty hunters. After being shot early on in the film, Blake learns that he has shrapnel in his chest that cannot be removed, effectively sealing his own death in a matter of time. He meets an Indian named Nobody who takes him on a journey that ultimately leads to his death with him sailing out in a canoe to the spirit world, the way people from Nobody's tribe leave this earth. As I said before, one of the most remarkable things about this film is the progression of Depp's character. He goes from being a normal person to a cold-blooded, poetic killer. He effectively learns to live as a dead man, or the dead man he knows he will become shortly. These motifs of death start right at the beginning of the film, on the train to his new job a mysterious stranger shows up and tells him that he is likely to find his death where he is going. He sees skulls and coffins immediately after arriving in the town. Nobody essentially treats him like he is dead (or will be soon) for the entire film. Dead animals, dead plants and dead people dominate the imagery of the film, accentuating the theme of mortality that runs throughout the entire plot. And as I mentioned before, Johnny Depp is excellent in this lead role. He plays the uptight city accountant and the apathetic unemotional murderous husk of a man equally well. It just goes to show that with the right director he can really excel.
On that note, Jim Jarmusch did an incredible job with this movie. At this point in his career he already had a few solid films under his belt, and that experience definitely shows. I really, really like his choice to shoot Dead Man in black and white, as opposed to colour. It gives the film an older feel, and makes the use of light and shadow that much more important. It's also more visually restrained, allowing us to focus more on the emotion of the story than the visuals. That's not to say the camerawork is lacking however, it's the same level of quality anyone familiar with Jarmusch's work would expect. Not overly showy or complex, but perfect for its context. There are certainly some great shots here. Another thing that Jarmusch is famous for that he injects into this movie is his love for music. All of his films contain music that is absolutely brilliant, perfect for the mood of the scene. Dead Man is no exception, the music in this film is completely original, a hallucinatory, haunting electric guitar soundtrack recorded by none other than Canadian rock icon Neil Young. Jarmusch is also known to cast musicians themselves in his films, Down By Law's two main characters were played by musicians Tom Waits and John Lurie, who created the music for the film as well. Iggy Pop makes a guest appearance in Dead Man.
It's also been said that Dead Man is one of the few films ever made that very accurately portrays the culture and personality of First Nations people. There are conversations in native languages that aren't even subtitled, which keeps us as in the dark and as confused as William Blake, a technique I rather like. It was smart of Jarmusch to cast an actual Aboriginal actor (Gary Farmer) as Nobody to keep it as realistic as possible. Farmer frequently says the line "stupid fucking white man" in English, a line he reprises in a cameo in Ghost Dog, another phenomenal Jarmusch film I'll write about another time.
Above all, what I love and respect most about Dead Man is the emotion it evokes. At the end when Blake floats away in a canoe dying, I feel connected to him, having witnessed his entire journey and the events that brought him there. There's a real sense of progression and development in the character that not a lot of films can really achieve. William Blake is an entirely different person at the end than he was in the beginning, and you can't help but feel what he feels. There's a lot to be said about this film, and I may post a more in-depth analysis in the future.
That's it for now though.
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