My Night with Jim Jarmusch

It’s been a while since my last post. Well, it has been an interesting few days...

Last Wednesday (4/9/14) I had the pleasure of viewing one of film director Jim Jarmusch's films, "The Dead Man" starring Johnny Depp at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, followed by the Q&A session with the director afterwards.

What I've enjoyed about the movie the most was the pace. I thought it was perfect that it was slow, taking its time for the audience to get to know the characters, their intentions and understanding the layers of the plot which revealed itself throughout the film. Despite the movie being released in 1995, I don’t want to spoil the plot for those who haven’t seen the film. If you really want to know though, Wikipedia explains the movie in excellent detail. ;)

Johnny Depp was fantastic as “William Blake”, the meek accountant whose life turned into a different direction that he didn’t expect and had to make some hard decisions which ended in a dark, but peaceful outcome. Some scenes were hilarious; some scenes were heartfelt and meaningful. And some scenes were just out there, in a good way. Overall, I enjoyed the movie!

After the film the Q&A began. Jarmusch explained that financing the film was difficult due to the chosen locations he wanted to film the movie. Eventually it all worked out, but it took a long time to make the movie happen. He shared a funny story about his music collaboration with Neil Young, who recorded the soundtrack for the movie. Neil explained to Jarmusch he would record the music while watching the movie scenes, with and without dialogue and that it was going to be great. After Neil left the recording room they were in, Jarmusch spoke with his cinematographer (or possibly it was the producer?) about Neil’s music recording style. He was concerned if he decided to edit or remove a scene from the film, it would also remove Neil’s music. Unbeknownst to Jarmusch, the recording room had speakers outside of the recording room and Neil and other film staff heard Jarmusch’s conversation, lol! Neil assured Jarmusch once again that his recording would work. And it truly it did in the final film. Thank you, Mr. Young!

One of the questions an audience member asked Jarmusch was did he have any advice for aspiring writers/directors. Jarmusch felt he wasn’t the right person to ask but his answer felt very genuine and actually, felt it applied to everyone no matter of their profession (and I’m paraphrasing here): “Don’t limit yourself. Follow what feels right for you and go with it. In filmmaking, there shouldn’t be any restrictions.” I like that advice very much. Thank you, Mr. Jarmusch.

xx

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