Synopses & Reviews
When it was released in 1995,
Dead Man puzzled many audiences and critics. Jim Jarmusch's reputation was for directing slick, hip contemporary films. And
Dead Man was a black-and-white Western. As time has passed, though, the number of its admirers has grown considerably. Indeed
Dead Man, with its dark and unconventional treatment of violence, racism and capitalism, may be Jarmusch's finest work to date.
This is Jonathan Rosenbaum's view. For him, Dead Man is both a quantum leap and a logical next step in Jarmusch's career, and it's a film that speaks powerfully to present-day concerns. Starring Johnny Depp as the uprooted accountant William Blake and Gary Farmer as his enigmatic Native American companion, Nobody, and with startling cameos from Robert Mitchum, John Hurt and Iggy Pop, Dead Man is by turns shocking, comic, and deeply moving. This book explores and celebrates a masterpiece of 1990s American cinema.
Synopsis
When it was released in 1995, Dead Man puzzled many audiences and critics. But with its dark and unconventional treatment of violence, racism, and capitalism, the film may be Jim Jarmusch's finest work to date.
Jonathan Rosenbaum views Dead Man as both a quantum leap and a logical next step in Jarmusch's career, and as a film that speaks powerfully to present-day concerns. Starring Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer, and with startling cameos by Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, and Iggy Pop, Dead Man is by turns shocking, comic, and deeply moving. This book explores and celebrates a masterpiece of 1990s American cinema.
Synopsis
When it was released, "Dead Man" puzzled many audiences and critics. Here, the author argues that the film is both a quantum leap and a logical step in the director's career, and it's a film that speaks powerfully of contemporary concerns.
About the Author
Jonathan Rosenbaum is film critic for the Chicago Reader, and the author of many books on cinema.