|
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch Starring: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton This gem of a film is overlooked, I think. It is black and white, and came out in 1995. Johnny Depp plays a man named William Blake from Cleveland, who has lost his parents and fiancée, and has traveled to the far western frontier of the United States to fulfill an accounting job he had been promised in writing by the owner of a metals shop. On his long, surreal train ride to Machine (the city of the metal shop--somewhere in hell, the movie hints), Blake appears bored and lost. A cameo by Crispin Glover livens things up in a creepy way. Once in Machine, nothing goes as Blake plans. He is surrounded by harsh frontier people, freaks on the edge of society. There is one scene where Blake is taken aback when he sees a woman giving head to a man in an alley, in broad daylight; the man points a gun at Blake's head. Such is the tone of this movie. After a series of surprising events, Blake is alone in the wilderness (possibly Purgatory) suffering a gunshot wound and hunted by three outlawish characters, when he meets "Nobody," a pretty hilarious Native with mannerisms and dress of a cliché Indian but who has a lot of sage words to give and some knowledge of worldly affairs (he thinks Blake is the actual poet and recites parts of "Auguries of Innocence"). Together Blake travels with Nobody through a desolate desert/wilderness area to a river where there is a canoe; this follows an earlier foreboding from the train about Blake being on a boat. The movie is surreal and interesting; metaphorically it is about not only a physical but spiritual journey--and the metamorphosis of Blake after losing everything he had loved. The combination of his cruel fate and bad luck force him into being someone else, just to survive. There is one scene where Blake is lost in the wilds and is calling out to Nobody over and over. The music, mostly just strange guitar by Neil Young, adds to the out-there and lonely feeling of the movie. It is something many people can identify with. I shouldn't say much more than that without spoiling the movie, but I really recommend it. Voted 4.5/5. I'd vote more, but there are a few parts of the movie that are too drawn out. RATING: 4.5 PROS: Great acting, interesting plot, cool sountrack CONS: A little drawn out and slow in places Ed: Oops, next time I'll sort the movie titles by more days than the forum default. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/ Jenny of Oldstones fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Nov 12, 2004 |
#
?
Nov 10, 2004 05:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 11:21 |
|
|
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1166936 Already reviewed. As an aside note, the BFI book on this by Jonathan Rosenbaum is excellent, and I would recommend it to fans of the film.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2004 04:03
|
|
|
This is up there as one of the best movies of all time in my opinion. I'm locked in this existential nightmare of a life and this movie just taps right into my very own madness. No, i wouldn't jack off to Johnney Depp though.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2004 23:44
|
|
