Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Jarmusch studied poetry and a significant number of his films in some way thematise poets or their works, but Ghost Dog is his most poetic film. The director and screenwriter lets his cinematic poem sail on a flow created by remixing and combining entirely disparate genres and cultural traditions, as well as the present and history. Together with his previous Dead Man, Ghost Dog marked a fundamental transformation in Jarmusch’s work that corresponded with the time of its creation. Out of the post-Cold War enchantment with the ideal of freedom enabling people and cultures to come together, which was typical of his previous work, in both of these films he presents us with a vision of a then nascent and now fully formed world where the most bizarre cultural and historical traditions mix and enrich each other as if in a melting pot. Characteristically for Jarmusch, however, in this brave new world he highlights history and its artefacts and relics, admiring the antique patina that radiates melancholy while also coming across as bizarre or ridiculous in the modern world. As such, he approaches not only genres and traditions, but also characters, or rather people generally, with junk-shop love for all things old and a hipster’s enthusiasm for setting them in a new time and context. Just as he puts gangster flicks, samurai movies and animated slapstick into a mutually reflective and harmonious dialogue, he shows us how the mix of such contradictory influences and inspirations shapes us. Jarmusch’s poeticism and warmth are definitively manifested in the fact that he reveals the paradoxical harmony in opposites and shows us that behind all of the Babylonian chaos of different individualities and tribes, which seems impenetrable at first fleeting glance, there remains a common core of humanity that transcends the boundaries of race and language. Culture, or rather the sharing of stories, characteristically remains the bonding agent. Because those stories resonate with us, they allow us to mature and broaden our horizons, but they also connect us with others, either by enabling us to find a common language or by passing them on. The shared library of characters in Ghost Dog contains the whole spectrum, from canonical classics to rousing pamphlets to superficially likable trash, but mainly also types that few people know but that have played or will play an absolutely essential role in shaping particular people. And that is exactly what Ghost Dog itself has become and it was wonderful to see this timeless gem again after many years (again at Aero) and, in the spirit of the film, to hear how much it was liked after the screening. (07/12/2022)

Another piece of Jarmusch-esque crap. When he makes a western, it's a draggy B&W hipster movie with Johnny Depp. When he decides to make a vampire movie, Tilda and Tommy are so happy to be there. Alternatively, he likes to research Billy Murray's former loves, so why not make fun of the fact that a black man would be involved with the Samurai Code? It's fun. (06/26/2017)

Fars recommended Ghost Dog to me and, after reading his great review, I decided to set out on the Way of the Samurai. Too bad that Fars fell asleep and didn’t watch to the end, because I think that he would have liked the movie much more. Forest Whitaker slipped hand into glove into his role and he truly is one of the most charismatic killers I have ever seen. The quotations from the code of honor were deep and I already know what I don’t ever want to be. A Samurai. It’s just not the life for me. Even though they could certainly give me a couple of tips. The picture is also full of snappy lines and also the methods of “executing contracts". Such precision is hard to find these days. Bourne would certainly be jealous. (09/20/2007)

A great example of how Jim Jarmusch is versatile when it comes to genre, and even though it's not a frantic action spectacle bursting with money poured into it, it's all the smarter for it. And of course, there will be action, make no mistake about it. There's a lot of shooting here, and it's quite inventive at times, you'll be surprised. Plus, it's really smart. (03/29/2017)

I’ve been too manhandled by extremes like Romeo Must Die or The Last Dragon to find the fusion of African-American and East Asian culture all that refreshing anymore. Apart from the atmosphere of a tidy American ghetto, what I enjoyed most was the notion that all the characters in the film – the mobsters, the samurai, and the ice cream vendors – are so passionate and exaggerated in their roles that the whole inner universe is kind of a perpetual LARP or, better still, a children's game where kids pretend to be adults. The film proves, among other things, that we simply choose what we are and no one can assign it to us unless we want it. (10/05/2022)