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In his
previous films, writer/director Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man)
seemed to take great pride in fusing different cultures
together, and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is
certainly no different. The
picture stars Forest Whitaker (Light it Up) as the
titular Ghost Dog, a stealthy hit-man that follows an ancient
Samurai code while working for New Jersey mobsters. Ghost Dog gives its protagonist a best friend that
can’t speak English and features a blistering hip-hop score
from Wu-Tang Clan's RZA.
While that
description may make Ghost Dog sound like a mess of a
film, it remains pleasantly simple. Ghost Dog is a withdrawn, ninja-like loner that lives in a
shack on the roof of a Jersey apartment building with his
pigeons. He makes
homemade weapons and burglary devices, and follows a strict
ethical code that he follows to the letter.
Constantly reading and referring to “Hagakure: The
Way of the Samurai,” an 18th century Japanese
code for warrior discipline, Ghost Dog insists on
communicating with his bosses solely through carrier pigeons
and is paid annually on the first day of autumn for the
previous year’s work.
How does a
guy this quirky get hooked up with the mob, you ask?
Years ago, a young Ghost Dog was saved during a
beat-down by a gangster named Louie (John Tormey, Kiss Me
Guido), who took the pup under his wing (in this scene,
Ghost Dog is played by Damon Whitaker, Forest’s younger
brother) and slowly entrusts him with bigger and bigger tasks.
On one
particular job, Ghost Dog is told to “take care of” a
mobster named Handsome Frank (Richard Portnow, Howard
Stern’s dad in Private Parts), who is boffing Louise
(Tricia Vessey, The Alarmist), the red-hot daughter of
Vargo (Henry Silva, The End of Violence), the
family’s Don. Ghost
Dog follows through on the hit, but is caught off-guard by
Louise’s presence at the scene.
Louise’s cool demeanor and the fact that she’s
reading “Rashomon” momentarily unnerves Ghost Dog and he
quickly splits, becoming a target of the Mafia’s wrath for
leaving a witness to the hit.
Throw in
Ghost Dog’s odd relationships with a French-speaking ice
cream hawker and a young girl from the projects that shares
his fondness for a good read, and you’ve got…well,
you’ve got a Jarmusch film.
His work is generally geared much more toward character
development than they are plot-driven, and Ghost Dog is
no exception. His
Mafia characters are almost cartoonish in nature, a point that
the director emphasizes by having the Don watch Felix the
Cat, Woody Woodpecker, Itchy & Scratchy
and Betty Boop.
Jarmusch
also uses quotes from “The Hagakure” as title card bumpers
between scenes. The
idea seems okay, but some of them are particularly absurd . Imagine you’re enjoying a film and are hit with something
like “There is something to be learned from a rainstorm.
When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and
run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing
under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are
resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though
you still get the same soaking.”
Dude, if I wanted to use my brain, I would have stayed
home and read a book.
Still,
Jarmusch does wonders with the culture clash between gangster,
samurai and hip-hop. One
of the goons admits that Flava Flav is his favorite rap star,
quoting the Public Enemy second-fiddle with his tough Jersey
accent. Cinematography wiz Robby Müller, who also worked on Dead
Man, gives Ghost Dog a dark, seedy look, and
RZA’s score is likely to be one of the year’s best.
1:55
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for strong violence and language
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