Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai

Starring: Forest Whitaker, John Tormey Director: Jim Jarmusch Original UK Premiere: 2000 Dvd Release: 12th June, 2002 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding

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Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a 1999 film directed by Jim Jarmusch. It takes place somewhere in the present day United States. In the film Forest Whitaker plays an African American hitman working for the Mafia, named Ghost Dog, who follows the ancient code of the samurai as described in Yamamoto Tsunetomos book, Hagakure. Ghost Dog sees himself as a retainer of Louie, a local mobster, who Ghost Dog believes saved his life years ago. When Ghost Dog kills the man sleeping with the mafia bosss daughter in the presence of the girl, the mafia decide to get rid of him. Not knowing anything about him but that he communicates by carrier pigeon, they start by tracing all pigeon-keeping loners, in the end finding his cabin atop a building & killing his pigeons, after which Ghost Dog realizes he is forced to kill them, or otherwise they will kill him & his master. During the day, Ghost Dog takes cares of his pigeons & frequently visits the park to see his best friend, a Haitian ice-cream salesman named Raymond who speaks only French.

Forest Whitaker makes an unlikely modern samurai with his laser-sighted pistols, shabby street clothes, & oddly graceful gait, but then Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is an unusual film. Quirky, contemplative & at times absurd, it is just the kind of offbeat vision we have come to expect from the fiercely independent Jim Jarmusch . Whitaker is Ghost Dog, a mysterious New York hit man who lives simply on a tenement rooftop & follows a code of behaviour outlined in : Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai . When the local mob marks him for death in a complicated code of Mafiosi-style honour, Ghost Dog sends a cryptic message to his foes. Thats poetry. The poetry of war, remarks mobster Henry Silva, with sudden respect upon reading the verse. He could be describing the ethereal beauty of Jarmuschs vision, full of wonderful imagery & off-centre humour. Though it briefly stalls in a series of assassinations , it settles back into character-driven drama in a quietly epic showdown, equal parts samurai adventure, spaghetti western & existential crime movie. The film is likely too unconventional & offbeat for general audiences, but cult-movie buffs & Jarmusch fans will appreciate his idiosyncratic vision. He finds a strange sense of honour in the clash of Old World traditions, & salutes his heroes with a skewed but sincere respect.

Jim Jarmusch is a noted film director. Following years of artistic success & critical acclaim in the American independent film community, he achieved a new level of mainstream notoriety with his far-East philosophy-themed Western movie set in New Jersey, Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai, starring Forest Whitaker, which also featured a soundtrack by the Wu-Tang Clan s Rza. One of his major projects is an ongoing series of short films called Coffee & Cigarettes. The original six-minute film appeared in 1986, featuring filmmaker Roberto Benigni & comedian Steven Wright. Three years later, he released Coffee & Cigarettes - Memphis Version, with actor Steve Buscemi, which was eight minutes long. The next 12-minute installment was in 1993, Coffee & Cigarettes - Somewhere in California, featuring musicians Tom Waits & Iggy Pop. In 1993, Jarmusch said, I’ve shot two more which are waiting to be edited & I’ve scripted two or three more. Although the intention is for them to work separately as short films, I plan to shoot around 12 to 14 & put them together for a video release. Posters Of Mystery Train

Editors Choice: Night On Earth, Mystery Train, Down By Law, Dead Man, Permanent Vacation, Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, Mika Kaurismaki, View DVDology

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