Jim Jarmusch’s cinema is very much its own thing. Influenced by Aki Kaurismäki, Wim Wenders and Yasujirō Ozu, the director from Akron seems drawn to those dead moments and empty spaces that others leave out or turn into ellipsis. He is without doubt one of the few genuinely independent directors in American cinema.
Paterson (2016)
Trailer for one of Jim Jarmusch’s latest features. While it is neither his best nor his most representative work, it shows many of the traits that have accompanied his career.
Down by Law (1986)
This scene from Down by Law, in which Roberto Benigni, Tom Waits and John Lurie play cards in a prison cell, is both brilliant and hilarious. As in many of Jarmusch’s films, the camera barely moves and the scene consists of only two shots. The purely documentary aesthetic and the naturalistic lighting place the viewer right there; the performances do the rest.
Dead Man (1995)
A western written and directed by Jarmusch, starring Johnny Depp, with a score composed by Neil Young. Depp plays “William Blake”, a wounded white man on the run who meets a Native American who takes him for the reincarnation of the English poet and helps him escape. These nods, weaving poetry into his films, reveal Jarmusch’s interest in literature as well as cinema.