Seemingly Inconsequential by Brooke Barttelbort

DESIGN AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY BROOKE BARTTELBORT

BY BROOKE BARTTELBORT

01 JARMUSCH

p. 6

02 films

p. 18

03 event

p. 46

04 interviews

p. 60

jarmusch

“I have no desire to make films for any kind of specific audience,” the independent and uncompromising American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has declared. “What I want to do is make films that . . . tell stories, but somehow in an new way, not in a predictable form, not in the usual manipulative way that films seem to on their audiences.” In 1984 Jarmusch emerged from the New York art scene with Stranger Than Paradise, a picaresque film, made in blackand-white on a shoestring budget, that won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and he followed up two years later with another picaresque fable, the critically acclaimed Down by Law. In 1989 Jarmusch rounded off his first cinematic trilogy with the release of Mystery Train, a film that prompted Vincent Canby of the New York Times to call him one of the if not the “most adventurous and arresting filmmaker to surface in the American cinema in this decade.” Jarmusch has explained that he looks at the United States “through a foreigner’s eyes” and that his ambition is to create a new cinematic language shaped by two major influences: the world cinema of Europe and Japan, and Hollywood. “I’m interested in finding a bridge between these,” he has said. I’d like to embrace both sides without negating one or the other.”

“the idea was you didn’t have to be a virtuoso musician nahave icisua mband. osoutthe riv a eb otwas evamore h t’ndimportant id uoy saw than aedi eht“ to spirit nahttechnical tnatropm i e r o m s aw tirthat ips eh t .dnab a eava h ot having expertise, and influenced lot ol a decneulfni taht dna ,esitrepxe lacinhcet gnivah oftfilmmakers.” ”.srekammlif fo Jim Jarmusch was born near the industrial city of Akron, Ohio, not too far from Cleveland on January 22, 1953. He has characterized his father, a businessman on the payroll of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Company, as a kind man who worked hard to support his family. Before her marriage, Jarmusch’s mother was a newspaperwoman on the staff of the Akron Beacon-Journal who covered show business and movies, among other assignments. One of his grandmothers, a lover of modern art and literature, encouraged her grandson in his literary pursuits. “The only beautiful thing about growing up in Akron,” Jarmusch told Paul Attanasio of the Washington Post, “was the Blimp. You’d be taking a walk and you’d see the blimp. I love the blimp, it’s so beautiful.” Soon realizing that his future did not lie in Akron, Jarmusch escaped by enrolling in the School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1972, but, believing that “poets are the lifeblood of any culture” and having wanted to become a poet since childhood, he transferred in 1973 to Columbia University on New York’s Upper West Side. There, he majored in English and American literature under such teachers as David Shapiro and Kenneth Koch, prominent figures in the so-called New York School of avantgarde poets. He also began to read “post-post-structural fiction and the deconstructed narrative and all that stuff,” as he recalled in an interview with Jane Shapiro of the Village Voice (September 16, 1986), and to write “little . . . seminarrative abstract pieces.”

jim jarmusch on set filming

broken flowers released in 2005

While growing up in Akron, Jarmusch saw Japanese horror

Back in New York, Jarmusch applied to the prestigious

films and James Bond movies, but two black-and-white

graduate department of film studies at New York University.

American films that starred Robert Mitchum made a

Since he had no hands-on experience in film, he was sur-

deeper impression on him. Those movies were The Night

prised when he was accepted on the strength of an essay

of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton, in which

about film and some still photographs that he had submit-

Mitchum memorably played an implacably evil “preacher”

ted. At New York University he became a teaching assistant

with “love” tattooed on the knuckles on one hand and

to the venerable American auteur Nicholas Ray, the direc-

“hate” on the other, and Thunder Road, a B-movie about

tor, among other films, of In a Lonely Place, Rebel without a

hillbilly moonshiners that has since gained a cult following.

Cause, and Johnny Guitar. He also met the noted German

“Before that time,” Jarmusch told Jane Shapiro, in refer-

director Wim Wenders and worked as a production assis-

ring to Thunder Road, “I didn’t know movies could be this

tant on Lightning over Water, Wender’s documentary film

dangerous and this seductive.” In 1975, during his final

about the dying Ray’s last years. “When I . . . began learning

semester at Columbia, Jarmusch went to Paris, where he

technically how to make films,” Jarmusch told Lawrence

discovered world cinema through the vast archives of the

Van Gelder, “I decided that’s what I really wanted to do.”

Cinémathèque Française. In an interview with Lawrence Van Gelder of the New York Times, Jarmusch said, “That’s where I saw things I had only read about and heard about— films by many of the good Japanese directors, like Imamura, Ozu, Mizoguchi. Also, films by European directors like Bresson and Dreyer, and even American films, like the retrospective of Samuel Fuller’s films, which I only knew from seeing a few of them on television late at night. When I came back from Paris, I was still writing, and my writing was becoming more cinematic, more visually descriptive.”

During the four years that he studied at New York University, until 1979, Jarmusch also entered enthusiastically into the post-punk scene that was flourishing in the East Village. He frequented the arty Mudd Club and joined a No Wave band called the Del-Byzanteens, for which he played keyboards, sang, and helped to write numbers like “Atom Satellite,” with lyrics made up entirely of tabloid headlines. “At the time, everybody in New York had a band,” Jarmusch told Paul Attanasio. “The idea was you didn’t have to be a virtuoso musician to have a band. The spirit

was more important than having technical expertise, and

film stock, largely because he framed each scene as one

that influenced a lot of filmmakers.”

extended shot, with no cutting away to different camera

Encouraged by Nicholas Ray and by Amos Poe, an underground New York filmmaker, Jarmusch decided he really wanted to make movies. “Nick told me,” he said

angles within the frame. “I personally thought he was out of his mind,” Lurie has commented. “If anybody had gotten the flu during the shoot, that would’ve been the end of the film.”

to a reporter for People magazine, “‘If you really want to

While editing his footage in his small downtown apartment,

make a film, don’t talk about it. Do it.” Using money from

Jarmusch decided that it could be a feature film in three

a fellowship grant that was supposed to pay for his tuition,

chapters, and by the time he had the film edited, he also

Jarmusch set about fulfilling the program requirement

had a script for the feature. In 1983 the short version of

of a student film by starting work on Permanent Vacation

Stranger Than Paradise won the international critics prize at

in 1979, about two weeks after Nicholas Ray died. As he

the 1983 Rotterdam Film Festival, and Jarmusch traveled

explained to Lawrence Van Gelder, Permanent Vacation was

around Europe trying to drum up financial backing for a

about “two and a half days in the life of a young guy doesn’t

full-length version of his film. His efforts were to no avail

really have any ambitions or responsibility. He doesn’t live

until he met Otto Grokenberger, a young West German who

anywhere specifically. He doesn’t go to school. He doesn’t

aspired to become a film producer.

work.” Frowned upon by New York University officials because of its “excessive” eighty-minute length, Permanent Vacation (1980) was distributed by the art circuit in Europe, where it gained a small cult following, but “it really didn’t do anything” in the United States, as Jarmusch pointed out to Van Gelder.

In January 1984, in New York, Jarmusch resumed the shooting of Stranger Than Paradise, and what had been an $8,000 short subject was in the process of becoming a $120,000 ninety-minute film. In March Jarmusch showed his movie to Cannes Film Festival official, who selected it for inclusion in the program of that much -publicized film

It was in about 1981 that Jarmusch began to work on the

competition. At Cannes he lost the Palme d’Or, or grand

script for a short film with Stranger Than Paradise as its

prize, to his old friend Wim Wenders for Paris, Texas, but

working title, but which is now known as The New World.

he was awarded the coveted Camera d’Or for best [first]

Impressed by Permanent Vacation, Chris Sievernich, the

feature film.

executive producer of Wim Wender’s films, gave Jarmusch about forty minutes’ worth of unused film stock, from which experienced directors could expect to get about five minutes’ worth of finished film. Having learned from Nicholas Ray that if the “scene is there, the movie is there,” Jarmusch filmed his story over a single weekend in February 1982. Casting his friend John Lurie, the saxophonist in an arty jazz band called the Lounge Lizards, as the “cool,” taciturn Willie, the actor Richard Edson as the gregarious Eddie, and the Squat Theater’s Ezster Balint as the tenacious Eva, Jarmusch got a thirty-minute film out of the donated

above : jarmusch working closely with his actors on the set of coffee and cigarettes left : jarmusch on the set of stranger than paradise with eszter balint

music videos 2012

Only Loves Left Alive

2009 the limits of control 2005 broken flowers 2003 coffee and cigarettes 2002 ten minutes older: the trumpet 1999

ghost dog: the way of the samurai

1997 year of the horse (documentary) 1995 coffee and cigarettes iii (short) 1995

dead man

1991

night on earth

1990 red hot and blue (tv movie) 1989 mystery train 1989 coffee and cigarettes ii (short) 1986

down by law

1986 coffee and cigarettes (short) 1984 stranger than paradise 1983 stranger than paradise (short) 1980

permanent vacation

FEATURE FILMS 1986

"The Lady Don't Mind"

Talking Heads

1987

"Sightsee M.C!"

Big Audio Dynamite

1990

"It's All Right With Me"

Tom Waits

1992

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up"

Tom Waits

1995

"Dead Man Theme" Neil Young

2006

"Steady as She Goes"

The Raconteurs

2009 "Purple People Eater" Bob Hemberger and The Door Shakers

films

john lurie , eszter balint , and richard edson on the set of

than paradise

stranger

stranger than paradise (1984) Willie JOHN LURIE • Eva ESZTER BALINT • Eddie RICHARD EDSON • Aunt Lotte CECILLIA STARK • Billy DANNY ROSEN Written and directed by JIM JARMUSCH • Executive producer OTTO GROKENBERGER • Producer/Production manager SARA DRIVER • Director of photography TOM DICILLO • Music by JOHN LURIE • Edited by JIM JARMUSCH and MELODY LONDON • Sound GREG CURRY and DREW KUNIN

SOME NOTES ON STRANGER THAN PARADISE By JIM JARMUSCH NYC MARCH 1984 The STORY : Stranger than Paradise is a story about America,

strengths.) Carl Dreyer, in one of his essays, wrote about

use realism as their foundation), and Richard Edson is also

as seen through the eyes of ‘strangers’. It’s a story about

the effect of simplification, saying that if you remove all

a musician/composer/performer. But these actors were

exile (both from one’s country and oneself), and about con-

superfluous objects from a room, the few remaining objects

able to create realistic characters, hopefully without ever

nections that are just barely missed.

can somehow become ”psychological evidence of the

calling attention to themselves as ‘actors’. Nick Ray used

occupant’s personality”. Instead of applying this idea just to

to insist that if you even stop to think about the ability of a

physical objects in Stranger than Paradise, it is applied to the

given actor in a film, then you have lost the character being

formal way the story is told. Simple scenes are presented,

portrayed, and the acting is useless.

The STYLE : While shooting the film someone outside the production asked me what kind of film we were making. I wanted to tell them that it was a ”semi-neorealist blackcomedy in the style of an imaginary Eastern-European film director obsessed with Ozu and familiar with the 1950’s American television show The Honeymooners”. Instead I mumbled something about it being a minimal story about Hungarian immigrants and their view of America. Neither answer is right, but the question made me aware that its easier to talk about the style of the film than ‘what its about’, or what happens in the story. I wanted the film to be very realistic in its style of acting and the details of its locations, without drawing much attention to the fact that the story takes place in the present. The form is very simple : a story told in fragments, with each scene contained within a single shot, and each separated by a short period of black screen. (This form was originally ‘inspired’ by financial limitations, and limitations in our shooting schedule—but these were known before the script was written, and we wanted to turn these limitations into

in chronological order, but often independent from one another. Only selected moments are presented, eliminating, for the most part, points of ‘dramatic action’. Films must find new ways of describing real emotions and real lives without manipulating the audience in the familiar, maudlin ways, and without the recently fashionable elimination of all emotion.

The CINEMATOGRAPHY : Once again, because of the style of this film, each shot had to be choreographed, in terms of the action and the camera. Many shots are static, while others follow the characters, changing compositions and perspective within a given shot. It was also important to us to create a kind of uniform atmosphere throughout the film. Stranger than Paradise includes three sections (or

The ACTING : Given this style, the acting becomes even

‘chapters’)— each filmed in a different par of the U.S. : The

more critical. In this form, every shot is a master shot.

New World (filmed in New York), One Year Later (filmed

Cutting cannot improve the performances through selection

in Cleveland) and Paradise (filmed in Florida). Even though

or elimination. If mistakes are made by the actors, the scene

these locations each have a very different feeling, we

must be completely reshot. Scenes were carefully scripted

accentuated the sameness through lighting, filtration, and

and rehearsed in advance, but with freedom for the actors

composition of shots. In the end, the effect of the cinema-

to bring their own ideas to the characters while rehearsing.

tography and the form of the film, suggests a photo-album,

The central actors are not highly trained ‘dramatic’ actors :

where individual photos are surrounded by black spaces,

John Lurie is a musician/composer/performer/actor, Eszter

each one on a different page.

Balint is a member of Squat Theater (whose plays do not

’c a u s e yo u ’r e m

Yo u b e t t e

I ai

I put a spell on you

’c a u s e yo u ’r e m i n e

Yo u b e t t e r s t o p t h e t h i n g s y o u d o

mine

I ain’t lyin’

er stop the things you do

No I ain’t lyin’

n’t lyin’

Yo u k n o w I c a n ’ t s t a n d i t No I ain’t lyin’ Yo u k n o w I c a n ’ t s t a n d i t

Yo u ’ r e r u n n i n ’ a r o u n d

Yo u k n o w b e t t e r d a d d y

Yo u ’ r e r u n n i n ’ a r o u n d

Yo u k n o w b e t t e r d a d d y

I can’t stand it cause you put me down

DOWN BY LAW (1986) Zach TOM WAITS • Jack JOHN LURIE • Roberto ROBERTO BENIGNI • Nicoletta NICOLETTA BRASCHI • Laurette ELLEN BARKIN • Bobbie BILLIE NEAL • Gig ROCKETS REDGLARE • Preston VERNEL BAGNERIS • Julie TIMOTHEA • L.C L.C. DRANE Written and directed by JIM JARMUSCH • Producer ALAN KLEINBERG • Production manager RUDD SIMMONS • Executive producer OTTO GROKENBERGER • Director of photography ROBBY MÜLLER • Music by JOHN LURIE • Songs by TOM WAITS • Edited by MELODY LONDON

"Independence Within Limits" by Steve Barnes While Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law are certainly

on his work, however, and this is what differentiates his

of the possibilities of those parameters, so does slapstick

not strictly conventional films, they are never bluntly

work from that of more conventional feature filmmakers.

consist of the initial framing of a situation, followed by its

assertive or confrontational in their divergences from the

The formal devices of structural filmmaking allow Jarmusch

rigorous decomposition. One of the strongest arguments in

mainstream. They are friendly, comfortably “off-beat”

to put a new spin on the traditional format of film comedy,

favor of including Jim Jarmusch in the avant-garde camp is

films that, for all their charm, are not unusual in any way

making that format seem totally new by stripping it down

that he seems to be aware of this connection in a way that

that challenges the assumptions of mainstream narrative

to its most basic elements.

a filmmaker like Seidelman is not.

Jarmusch’s reliance on a straightforward narrative structure

However, Down by Law brings its various narrative threads

becomes even more pronounced in Down by Law. In spite of

together quite early and has a far more closed narrative

this, it remains stylistically diverse compared with the rules

structure than does Stranger than Paradise. The prison

of Hollywood filmmaking. The editing structure of Down by

escape provides Down by Law with a source of plainly

Law, while obviously less idiosyncratic than that of Stranger

explainable narrative motivation that the earlier film does

than Paradise, is still quite different from what one could

not exhibit. It is a smoother, altogether less idiosyncratic

consider the norm of mainstream narrative. Sequences are

film than its predecessor and indicates a step by Jarmusch,

rarely photographed from more than two camera set-ups,

although perhaps not a large one, toward the mainstream.

filmmaking. The sequence shots of Stranger than Paradise (in which every scene is one shot long) can be related to the tradition of 1950s television comedy as easily as they can to the stylistics of a filmmaker like James Benning. An audience attuned to late-night reruns of The Honeymooners should have little trouble dealing with what is essentially the blackout structure of Jarmusch’s film. This is not a condemnation of the film, but rather serves to indicate the reason for its success and the inappropriateness of placing it totally within the realm of avant-garde filmmaking.

and the placement of cuts is not cued to dialogue or shifts in character point of view. The lack of subjective camera

Even though Jarmusch’s first film Permanent Vacation, is

angles, while less pronounced than in the earlier film, still

closely akin to the work of the New York “punk” filmmakers

gives most of the film a distanced, deadpan air. Down by

(Amos Poe, Scott and Beth B, etc.), it displays little of the

Law also exhibits connections to traditions of mainstream

aggression of these other filmmakers. Jarmusch, in spite of

film comedy as seen in Stranger than Paradise. Both films

his differences from someone like [Susan] Seidelman, still

underscore certain similarities between the rules of struc-

seems guided by the rules of feature filmmaking more than

tural filmmaking and those of slapstick comedy. Just as the

by the aesthetic aims of the structural or the avant-garde

structural film consists of the initial assertion of a set of

film. Those aesthetic aims do form a significant influence

parameters followed by the highly materialist working out

above : radio disc jockey ( waits ) who goes by the “ on air ” pseudonym lee “ baby ” sims , doesn ’ t have a care in the world , except for his expensive shoes . left : hopelessly lost and with a simmering hatred almost causes the party to split up , they are brought together by bob ' s ability to provide food .

Edna Million in

a drop dead suit

Dutch pink on a downtown train

Tw o d o l l a r p i s t o l b u t t h e g u n w o n ' t s h o o t

I'm in the corner in the pouring rain

16 men on a deadman's chest

And I've been drinking from a broken cup

2 pairs of pants and a mohair

vest

I'm full of

bourbon; I can't stand up.

owntown train

but the gun won't shoot

r in the pouring rain

a deadman's chest

And I've been drinking from a broken cup

2 pairs of pants and a mohair

vest

I'm full of

bourbon; I can't stand up.

above : three stories are connected by a memphis hotel and the spirit of elvis presley . johnny â&#x20AC;&#x201D; known , much to his chagrin , as elvis â&#x20AC;&#x201D; drunk enly brandishes a gun in a bar before leaving with his friend will robinson ( aviles ).

MYSTERY TRAIN (1989) Mitzuko YOUKI KUDOH • Jun MASATOSHI NAGASE • Night clerk SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS • Bellboy CINQUE LEE • Luisa NICOLETTA BRASCHI • Dee Dee ELIZABETH BRACCO • Johnny JOE STRUMMER • Will Robinson RICK AVILES • Charlie STEVE BUSCEMI • Man in diner TOM NOONAN Written and directed by JIM JARMUSCH • Producer JIM STARK • Executive producer KINIJIRO HIRATA • Director of photography ROBBY MÜLLER • Music by JOHN LURIE • Edited by MELODY LONDON

"Communication Breakdown: Reboarding Mystery Train" by Alan Jacobson In a scene from Coffee and Cigarettes (2004) that could

perhaps the most mythically "American" city. Depth-adding

Yokohama for the couple's native city, suggesting some-

be described as actors acting like they are actors acting

motifs also occur visually and through repeated situations,

thing of a whole other film behind Mystery Train and love

like bad actors, Meg and Jack White give long-overdue

scenes, and characters such as the crazed rock pioneer

of one of our culture's true pioneers, who coincidentally

recognition to Alfred Tesla, a man who felt there was

Screamin' Jay Hawkins' grumpy night manager and Cinque

wrote a song called "Memphis." Chuck Berry's 1956 hit,

electrical energy perpetually throbbing from the earth. Later

Lee's youthful bellboy.

"Too Much Monkey Business": "Been to Yokohama/Been

in the film, Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina have difficulty meeting each others' needs and end up parting with as little reconciliation as the friends and family who never share a moment of joy in Jarmusch's appropriately stark and minimalist Stranger Than Paradise (1984).

But a closer read reveals more because with a work of art as at once compelling and obfuscated as this film, clues offer rare help in discerning meaning. Since it is a film taking place in and using as its mythical center Music City USA, the tunes provide a good jumping-off point. "Mystery Train"

fighting in the war.") Train sounds against black establish this inexorable multiperson vehicle as the first and, as such, possibly most important character. After a short, pointless conversation, the Japanese tourists, Mitsuko (Youki Kordu) and Jun (Masatoshi Nagase), load their walkman, share headphones in a rare display of intimacy, and hit play, the

Jim Jarmusch makes films that focus on the subtle nuances

is a song about an unearthly yet commonplace vehicle

of communication. Whether an amusing moment of hurt

that may just as easily give or take away. In just nine lines

feelings between hilariously oversensitive rock stars Iggy

of lyrics: "that long black train got my baby and gone . . .

Pop and Tom Waits in Coffee and Cigarettes or Ghost Dog

it's bringin' my baby, 'cause she's mine all, all mine." "Blue

The first vignette focuses on this fascinatingly mismatched

(1999) plugging a bullet into his master in a misunder-

Moon" haunts the film, brilliantly reiterating the theme of

couple. Mitsuko is over-expressive, unable to stay quiet and

standing stemming from an ages-old tradition, the failure

loss as well as the Elvis mythos. The broken-down elegance

still. A tougher James Dean to her superCOOL babydoll,

for human beings to connect and then spark and the

of Memphis resonates. Most powerfully, though, the train

Glum Jun seems incapable of showing any emotions. One

consequences of this typical human failure to communicate

works as a heavy metaphor in Jarmusch's brilliant examina-

pregnant minute of the film focuses on a two-shot of their

is not only a running concern through one of America's best

tion of connection, disconnection, communication, and the

longest conversation and most passionate argument —

filmmakers' work, but it is his strong suit.

innate ability and need to focus on escape rather than the

Jun arguing "Carl Perkins" to Mitsuko's "Elvis." Jarmusch

On the surface, each of the three vignettes of the richly

simple yet daunting task of discussion.

is renowned (and reviled) for his ability to take his time

complex Mystery Train (1989), Jarmusch's first foray into color, is connected in being about aliens making their way in Memphis, trying to reconcile their foreignness with

Mystery Train and the Far from Yokohama chapter of the trilogy begin, ironically, lacking the music one would expect. (Jarmusch's love of rock may have influenced choosing

titular tune's ghostly reverb oozing through the balance of Mystery Train.

and extract the most from a situation. Here, the emphasis works twofold. The viewer finds the pair's mispronunciation of such entrenched icons amusing and cute. Later,

after Jarmusch's razor script plainly establishes that no one

Charlie (Steve Buscemi) to help rein him in. Chekhov's rule

seems to understand anyone, and as we watch Mitsuko

of drama deems that the gun must be used and once it is,

struggle to be as nice and communicative to everyone as

the trio flees on a seemingly eternal drive through the inky

possible, we come to understand — or perhaps, feel —

wasteland. The same lyrical shot of the train passing over

that this plain, seemingly pointless argument is actually

the bridge reappears, but in this disturbing part of the story,

emblematic of deeply entrenched (cross) cultural problems

an ugly, old pickup peels underneath to imply the similarity

with communication.

of time and place but difference in character — that which

Nicoletta BraschiIn episode two, A Ghost, Luisa (Nicoletta

fills time and place.

Braschi, right) is on layover due to complications with her

The same gunshot we heard in A Ghost brings the bellboy

husband's coffin. As a single woman with no relationship,

to the room. An electric and highly memorable three-shot

utter freedom for better or worse, more happens to Luisa

of Charlie, Will, and Johnny reacting to his reaction charge

to make her a surrogate for the viewer than any other

the story and add energy to the getaway, which seems to

character in Mystery Train. Theaters being temples for the

work out okay — the classic riding into the sunset image is

cowards of life, we can identify with her from the safety

turned on its ear as we see the cops headed in one direction

of the 14th row as she treads the sparse landscape of

while the truck heads in the other.

depressed Memphis, with its heavily symbolic abandoned gas stations; decrepit landmarks like the Stax studio, signified sadly by mere spray-painted boards; and lone cowboys passing her by. This is all filmed in viewer-involving profile, adding a perspective and feel of passing in a car, windows rolled up and air conditioner competing with the blasting Rufus Thomas (who has a cameo in the first vignette). Invading the interiors of Memphisians proves equally fas-

The train, meanwhile, has its own trajectory to fulfill. In an epilogue that further unites the film and truly drives Jarmusch's case home, Dee Dee asks perfect stranger Mitsuko if this is the train to Natchez. She replies with "ohhhh . . . matches!" Frustrated, Dee Dee ends up taking a seat directly behind the Japanese couple and a wide profile shot shows all three of them, granting the viewer plenty of time to chew on this cinematic illustration of how the

cinating and frustrating for Luisa. One thing Jim Jarmusch

women share so much in common — disappointing boy-

is never given enough credit for is his writing. A few years

friends, obsessive chattiness, yet a stark inability to effec-

back, when Tarantino's stiff, unnatural, yet undeniably

tively communicate when necessary. Varying shots of trains

amusing and larger-than-life screenplays were hogging

fill out the credit sequence and end the film, suggesting that

all the press, Jarmusch's little Mystery Train should have

this problem is universal, beautiful, mighty, complicated,

picked up at least 5 percent of that for a line such as this

old, possibly unstoppable, and most of all respected as a

from a pushy news-vendor (Sy Richardson) trying to thrust

thing of deep human beauty by Jim Jarmusch.

a worker's paper on the bewildered Luisa: "You only need one leg to get around. Sure helps to have two." The final part of the trilogy, Lost in Space, begins in Shades, a dive that appears in each story. The actively trouble-making Johnny (Joe Strummer, right) produces a gun. His friend Will Robinson (Rick Aviles) gathers Elizabeth's brother

Tr a i n n u m b e r o n e i s g o n e

Tr a i n n u m b e r t w o i s g o n e

Tr a i n n u m b e r o n e i s g o n e

Tr a i n n u m b e r t h r e e i s b e e n g o n e

Tr a i n n u m b e r t w o i s g o n e

Tr a i n n u m b e r t h r e e i s b e e n g o n e

Now how long must I wait for you

Uh, all right

han

Time I laid my

Uh, all right

Time I laid my

flo

handkerchief on the

floor

I'm getting ready to crawl, yeah

I'm getting down on my knees

I'm getting ready to crawl, yeah

NIGHT ON EARTH (1991) Victoria Snelling GENA ROWLANDS • Corky WINONA RYDER • Helmut ARMIN MUELLER-STAHL • YoYo GIANCARLO • ESPOSITO • Angela ROSIE PEREZ • Paris driver ISAACH DE BANKOLÉ • Blind woman BÉATRICE DALLE • Rome driver ROBERTO BENIGNI • Priest PAOLO BONACELLI • Mika MATTI PELLONPÄÄ • Helsinki man no. 1 KARI VÄÄNÄNEN • Helsinki man no. 2 SAKARI KUOSMANEN • Helsinki man no. 3 TOMI SALMELA Written and directed by JIM JARMUSCH • Executive producer JIM STARK • Director of photography FREDERICK ELMES • Music by TOM WAITS • Edited by JAY RABINOWITZ

"The Passenger", interview in Details magazine 1992 “I’m not a real director,” says Jim Jarmusch. “I’m sort of a

But Night on Earth has a less obscure feel than his other

Lee isa friend, and Jarmusch looks hurt just recalling the

fake one.” Jarmusch, considered to be of the artiest, most

films. Its cast includes Winona Ryder and Gena Rowlands,

remark. “Because it means that I can’t make a movie about

iconoclastic directors in the country, is trying hard to dispel

and its story line—five trips made by five cab drivers and

Finnish people.” This is when he finally gets to the story

some of the myths about himself in a New York City bar.

their passengers in five cities around the world one night—

about nearly killing his actors in Helsinki.

“I could never work with 150 technicians on a set and I

has five setups and five payoffs. It’s still focused on small

couldn’t possibly spend more than $12 million on a film.”

moments, buts its ratio of dialogue to film is high. Jarmusch

Still, Jarmusch, thirty-nine, has managed to make five: Permanent Vacation, Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, Mystery Train, and his latest, Night on Earth. Spending less than $12 million on them all combined, he’s won the Camera d’Or at Cannes (for Stranger) and the festival’s Artistic Contribution Prize (for Mystery Train). His is a suitably offbeat blessing: he is unknown enough so people

says this wasn’t done for any reason other than that multiple takes of a cab interior were too heavy, even for him. He smiles when asked about his seemingly Herculean threshold for monotony. After all, plots don’t matter much to a man who says that one of the high points of the last few years was when a bike messenger stopped on a street to give him a light. “I got such a buzz off that.”

He was shooting the last segment of Night on Earth, which takes place in a Finnish cab. Four Finnish actors were packed into it, and Jarmusch was riding in front of them in a tow vehicle, which was pulling the cab along as he shot out the back window. Suddenly, he says, “the actors’ car broke loose from the towline, and it just came to a dead stop.” Right in the middle of a cable car track, just as two cable cars were coming from opposite directions. “And,” says Jarmusch, “the actors were locked in by the light rigging.”

think they’re in the know if they know him, yet he is also

While drams may not be Jarmusch’s first priority in movies,

Today, they lift another Finlandia only because Jarmusch

world famous.

it sometimes attracts him in real life. Clarence Thomas?

managed to flag down the oncoming cable cars.

“Life has no plot, no real conclusion,” even though his own story is that of a dyslexic boy who battled unpopularity at Akron’s Cuyahoga Falls High School only to become a famous movie director. He tells of his jobs as a moving man (he was fired for dropping a glass coffee table out a window), a landscape artist (he once felled a tree on a friend’s house), and an art gallery driver (his truck made tracks over

William Kennedy Smith? Mike Tyson? “Guilty, guilty, guilty,” he says, “and Don King ought to go to jail, too, even though I do like his hair.” Can our children save the planet? “They’ve done wonders for Tom Waits.” Should they be protected from rap lyrics. That’s a complicated issue,” he says. “I loved N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police”. I can get behind Public Enemy’s assassination video politically, but artistically it’s agitprop.

an impressionist work). “What the fuck,” he says. “The guy

“Like when Spike Lee said that only a black director can

who owned the painting never even noticed.”

make a movie about Malcolm X—that really upset me.”

“See what I mean? I’m not a real director.”

tomboy cabby corky ( ryder ) picks up hot - shot hollywood executive victoria snelling ( rowlands ) from the airport . despite their extreme differences socially , the two develop a certain connection .

There's a blue eyed girl

with a red bow tie and a string of pearls with one

good eye in a rainy town the chimney smoke

will curl no one likes clowns on the other

side of the world and the children know

she'll never let me go.

T h e r e ' s a b l u e e y e d g i r lT h e r e ' s a b l u e e y e d g i r l

w i t h a r e d b o w t i e a n d aw si tt hr i an gr eodf bp oe w a r lt si ewai nt hd oa nset r i n g o f p e a r l s w i t h o n e

g o o d e y e i n a r a i n y t o w ng otohde ec yh ei mi n eay rsam i noyk et o w n t h e c h i m n e y s m o k e

i l nl sc uo rnl tnhoe oonteh el irk e s c l o w n s o n t h e o t h e r w i l l c u r l n o o n e l i k e s c lw ow

ld and the children know s i d e o f t h e w o r l d a n d t hsei dceh iol fd rt eh ne kwnoor w

she'll never let me go. she'll never let me go.

above : cate blanchett plays herself and a fictional and non - famous cousin named shelly , whom she meets over some coffee in the lounge of a hotel . left : jack and meg white of the band the white stripes having some coffee and cigarettes . they play them selves , although the scene seems to perpetuate the band ' s former pretense that they are indeed siblings .

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (2003) ROBERTO BENIGNI • STEVEN WRIGHT • JOIE LEE • CINQUÉ LEE • STEVE BUSCEMI • IGGY POP • TOM WAITS • JOE RIGANO • VINNY VELLA • VINNY VELLA JR. • RENÉE FRENCH • E.J. RODRIGUEZ • ALEX DESCAS • ISAACH DE BANKOLÉ • CATE BLANCHETT • MEG WHITE • JACK WHITE • ALFRED MOLINA • STEVE COOGAN • GZA • RZA • BILL MURRAY • BILL RICE • TAYLOR MEAD Written and directed by JIM JARMUSCH • Produced by JOANNA VICENTE, JASON KLIOT • Director of photography FREDERICK ELMES • Edited by JAY RABINOWITZ

"Short Cuts" by Tom Carlisle “It’s not a very healthy lunch, just the coffee and ciga-

malaise; an hour and a half of concentrated caffeine and

Bankolé and Alex Descas skirt around some unnamed, and

rettes.”—one of the several lines repeated throughout

nicotine use leaves one feeling slightly dizzy and perhaps

possibly nonexistent, issue that De Bankolé is convinced is

the 11 short films that make up Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and

a bit bored.

troubling Descas while the ambient sounds of the Skatalites

Cigarettes, and it stuck out in my mind when I thought back to my first experience with the movie. It was opening weekend, and the crew I was with was eager for their first taste of Jarmusch in quite a long while. Going in, expectations were unrealistically high, but nevertheless, after the end credits rolled, I knowingly and foolishly made the mistake of asking my companions what they thought of the film. But after talking about how much they disliked the movie, and after enumerating the ways in which many of the shorts disappointed them, they finally got around to enthusiastically praising two or three episodes.

Ultimately, Jarmusch is working with such a thin premise—two to three people having a conversation over, well, cigarettes and coffee—that it seems perverse to have any expectations at all beyond what is promised out of an encounter at a café: some pleasant conversation, an interesting anecdote, a quiet moment away from the hustle and bustle of daily responsibilities. But Coffee and Cigarettes courts higher expectations than it can meet not only because of its status as a feature film but because of the high profile stunt casting Jarmusch engages in—Tom

play quietly in the background; in “Cousins” Cate Blanchett does double duty as herself and her cousin, Shelly, the latter full of resentment over the former’s celebrity status which is met with the frustrating false humility that celebrities use to counter that inevitable reaction; and in “Cousins?” Steve Coogan, over the course of a cup of tea and a cigarette, makes a masterful journey from egotism to bald opportunism to embarrassment in the face of Alfred Molina’s giddy excitement over the shared bloodline he’s discovered between Coogan and himself.

Waits meets Iggy Pop in the “Somewhere in California”

Each one of these shorts is remarkable in its own right, and

This would occur again, over the weeks and months since

episode, Bill Murray meets Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA and RZA

each, individually, successfully explores the overarching

that initial viewing, when Coffee and Cigarettes came up in

in “Delirium,” rock stars du jour Meg and Jack White show

themes that Coffee and Cigarettes as a whole tries (and

conversation. It seems that most people were compelled

up in “Jack Shows Meg his Tesla Coil.” It’s no wonder that

often fails) to expound upon—paradoxically made all that

to simply write the movie off, even if again and again they

these shorts are some of the least enjoyable, especially

much more powerful when taken alone, standing outside

found the same two or three shorts to be particularly

considering that even when they do show sparks of

of the repetitiveness that hampers the feature. Each one,

enchanting. And therein lies the problem: Just like the often

potential they are overwhelmed by a quirkiness that keeps

when considered by itself, tells us something about the

delightful substances they use as connective tissue, the

genuine engagement firmly at bay.

way in which human relationships and their dependence

shorts that stand out in Coffee and Cigarettes are beneficial only in small doses. Too many small, seemingly inconsequential moments can lead to a sense of overwhelming

The shorts that stand out from the lackluster pack in Coffee and Cigarettes have a natural flow and sublimely unspool at a lackadaisical pace. In “No Problem” old friends Isaach De

upon ritual works; the uncomfortable, forced qualities of first time meetings or reunions; the rampant egos we often try to mask with politesse; and the desire, and seeming

impossibility, of communicating your position to others. “No Problem,” “Cousins,” and “Cousins?” are memorable because they avoid the more forced qualities of the shorts that surround them, favoring instead a strong sense of reality. In fact, the one concession to unreality they do make is in the service of the other major theme of Coffee and Cigarettes: nostalgia for a time when you could conceivably have a cigarette with your coffee in New York or LA.

“...the service of the other major theme of coffee eeffoc fonostalgia emeht rojfor am raetime hto ewhen ht fo you ecivrcould es eht...“ and cigarettes: dluoc uoyhave nehwa ecigarette mit a rof with aiglayour tson coffee :setterin agnew ic dna conceivably wenornilos eefangeles." foc ruoy htiw etteragic a evah ylbaviecnoc york ".selegna sol ro kroy

The juxtaposition of great filmmaking with substandard fare

In many ways Coffee and Cigarettes and Jarmusch’s other

is a common problem in the omnibus films of Jarmusch.

short film collections remind me of much of the work of

The first short film in the triptych Mystery Train, “Far From

songwriters like Ryan Adams or Guided by Voices’ Robert

Yokohama,” in which a young Japanese couple explores

Pollard, who are by any definition masters of their craft

Memphis in search of the roots of either Elvis Presley or

yet almost completely without the ability to tell their

Carl Perkins, depending who you ask, is by far my favorite

masterpieces from their toss offs, and as a result put out

Jarmusch film. The wistful romanticism of being in a

one disappointing album after another, where the good

foreign land, the poses of cool that dominate the youthful

to bad ratio leans inevitably towards the bad, and whose

demeanor, the beautiful shots of the couple trudging

great songs are destined for mixes where the fans separate

around Memphis hit me every time. But the second two

the wheat from the chaff for them. Perhaps the best way

episodes fall completely flat. (And considering that Joe

to take this strain of Jarmusch’s filmmaking, then, is as

Strummer appears in the final part, that’s saying a lot.) In

inadvertently ahead of its time, best suited for the age of

fact, the arc from great promise to sullied disappointment is

bit torrent file sharing and DVD burning. One could make

so pronounced that I’m reluctant to even pony up the $3 to

a pretty great DVD mix of the best of Jarmusch’s shorts,

rent Mystery Train again, even if this means denying myself

separating them from the clumsy features they once were

the pleasure of “Far From Yokohama.” This pattern repeats

part of, freeing them from the unwieldy sandbags of need-

itself in Night on Earth, where each film follows a cabbie and

lessly repetitive overarching themes. That way you wouldn’t

a passenger in a different city. There seems to be less con-

just have the coffee and the cigarettes but a complete and

sensus as far as which of these shorts are the stand-outs

balanced meal.

(the episodes with Winona Ryder and Gena Rowlands in L.A. and Isaach De Bankolé and Béatrice Dalle in Paris come to mind), but very few people are inclined to praise the film as a single piece. A cynic couldn’t be faulted for suspecting that Jarmusch has cobbled together more than one of these themed shorts in order to package some of his better shorter work for distribution as a full length feature film.

louie louie

oh baby i gotta go

the communist world is fallin apart

the capitalists are just breakin hearts

money is the reason to be

it makes me just

wanna s

louie l

wanna sing

louie louie

event

DINING 1. Fantino

2. Burger Joint at Le Parker

3. Rue 57

A hotel restaurant serving delicious Italian food in a lush

Located inside the lobby of the Le Parker Meridien Hotel,

Rue 57 offers French and Japanese cuisine and even func-

setting that includes chandeliers and Louis XV-style chairs.

the Burger Joint boasts the best burgers in New York City.

tions as a Steakhouse.

Address: 119 W 56th St

Address: 60 West 57th St #1

4. Malaga

5. Sarabeth's

6. 21 Club

A bit further from Central Park than others on this list, a trip

Known for its delicious brunch, Sarabeth's is a great place

American cuisine served in a setting that's both sophis-

to Malaga is worth it for this restaurant's intimate, romantic

to bring kids..

ticated and fun. Dine in the famous Bar Room or the

Specialties include boccancini mozzarella, grilled tournedos of beef, and Maine Cod filet. Address: 112 Central Park South

atmosphere and authentic Spanish cuisine.

Address: 40 Central Park South

romantic Upstairs at 21. Address: 21 West 52nd St

Address: 406 E 73rd St #1

7. Le Caprice

8. Met Roof Garden Cafe & Martini Bar

Classic London brasserie serving up modern European

A rooftop garden that overlooks Central Park with a small

favorites through locally sourced seasonal ingredients at

but adequate food and drink menu for such amazing views.

the Pierre Hotel.

Open May through late fall, weather permitting.

Address: 795 5th Avenue

Address: 1000 5th Ave, Fl 5

ATTRACTIONS 1. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

2. RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL

3. times square

The Empire State Building was considered as the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located

Times Square is located in the heart of New York City's

tallest building for more than 40 years, from its completion

in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the

Midtown Manhattan District. Times Square is home to

in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s North

Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading

some of the most famous Times Square Hotels, Stores,

Tower was completed in 1972.

tourist destination in the city. Its interior was declared a city

Restaurants and Times Square Activities. As a Tourist

landmark in 1978.

Attraction, Times Square attracts over 26 million visitors

Address: 5th Avenue and West 34th Street

Address: 1260 Avenue Of The Americas

each year, including the hundreds of thousands who come to Times Square on New Year's Eve. Address: 42nd Street at Broadway

4. grand central station

5. st. patrick's cathedral

6. statue of liberty

Grand Central Terminal (often inaccurately referred to as

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of New

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French people to

Grand Central Station) is a beautiful Beaux-arts building in

York, His Excellency Timothy M. Dolan. It is the largest

the people of the United States as a symbol of the interna-

midtown Manhattan. First opened in 1913, Grand Central

decorated gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United

tional friendship forged during the American Revolution.

Terminal underwent a massive restoration to restore it to its

States and has been recognized throughout its history as a

The Statue was designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and

former glory, and is now both a transportation hub, as well

center of Catholic life in this country.

the pedestal by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.

Address: 460 Madison Avenue

Address: Liberty Island

as a destination in itself for visitors to New York City. Address: 100 East 42nd Street

7. ground zero museum

8. central park

The Ground Zero Museum Workshop gives visitors the

With 843 acres of lush landscaping, gardens, a Zoo, picnic

opportunity to view 80 photos taken during the recovery

areas and famous horse drawn carriage rides and more.

efforts at Ground Zero and to view select artifacts collected

Central Park offers a variety of things to do; Central Park

during the recovery.

concerts and Shakespeare in the Park to Central Park

Address: Vesey-Liberty-Church-West Streets

Carousel rides and bird watching, check out our list of great things to do in Central Park. Address: 59th to 110th Streets

9. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN Opening on February 11, 1968, it is the longest active major sporting facility in the New York Metropolitan area, and is the fourth incarnation of the arena in the city. One Penn Plaza stands at its side. Several other operating entities related to the venue that shares its name. Address: 2 Penn Plaza

LODGING

1. hudson hotel new york

2. LE PARKER MÉRIDIEN

3. bentley hotel new york

Central Park: 1.5 mi

Central Park: 1.7 mi

The Hudson Hotel New York enjoys a privileged location

Occupying an enviable spot just moments from Fifth

Bentley Hotel is a sleek and upscale establishment, con-

steps from Central Park. Surrounded by the sights of the

Avenue, Central Park and Broadway, Le Parker Méridien

verted in 1998 from a 21-story glass and steel office build-

city, it stands close to the Rockefeller Centre and Fifth

New York is perfectly positioned at the epicentre of one of

ing into a chic new hotel. The 62nd Street entrance to the

Avenue, not far from the theatre district and Times Square.

the world’s most exciting cities.

boutique-style hotel features a large steel awning with the

Easily accessible, the hotel is just a short distance from Grand Central Station and J.F.Kennedy International Airport.

Hotel Website: www.parkermeridien.com Address: 119, West 56th Street, 10019

Hotel Website: www.hudsonhotel.com

Telephone: (212) 245-5000

Address: 356, West 58th Street, 10019

Neighborhood: Midtown

Telephone: (212) 554-6500 Neighborhood: Midtown

hotel´s street number proudly displayed. The hotel offers breathtaking cityscape and East River views from guestrooms and the rooftop restaurant and bar. Contemporary dark leather couches grace the hotel lobby and custom designed furniture in restful colors of taupe and moss-green are carefully arranged in each guestroom. Hotel Website: www.bentleyhotelnyc.com Address: 500, East 62nd Street, 10065 Telephone: (212) 644-6000 Neighborhood: Upper East Side

4. the michelangelo

5. w new york

6. room mate grace

Central Park: 1.8 mi

Central Park: 1.9 mi

Central Park: 2.1 mi

Surrounded by spectacular sights, shops and skyscrap-

Situated just a short stroll from the iconic sights, glamorous

Set in the heart of Times Square, the stylish Room Mate

ers, The Michelangelo occupies an early 20th century

Fifth Avenue shops and buzzing nightspots of the city, the

Grace caters to those who yearn to experience all the fun

building that sits in the hub of Midtown Manhattan, a short

W New York fuses art, design, music and cuisine to offer

and sophistication New York has to offer. A short distance

New York walk from Central Park, Times Square and Fifth

guests a truly luxurious experience in east Manhattan.

away from Broadway and Rockefeller Center, the hotel

Avenue.

Hotel Website: www.wnewyork.com

meets the varying needs of business and leisure travelers seeking comfort and convenience in a relaxed setting.

Hotel Website: www.michelangelohotel.com

Address: 541, Lexington Avenue, 10022

Address: 152 W, 51st Street, 10019

Telephone: (212) 755-1200

Hotel Website: www.room-matehotels.com

Telephone: (212) 765-1900

Neighborhood: Midtown

Address: 125, West 45th Street, 10036

Neighborhood: Midtown

Telephone: (212) 354-2323 Neighborhood: Midtown

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS TUESDAY AUGUST 25 2015 opening 6: 30 pm

gates open

7:00 pm–7:15 pm

"The Lady Don't Mind", Talking Heads (1986)

7:30 pm – 7:45 pm

"Sightsee M.C!", Big Audio Dynamite (1987)

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Stranger than Paradise (1984)

10:00 pm – 12:00 am

Prohibition Afterparty: 503 Columbus Ave

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 26 2015 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

A Celebration of Music in Films of Jim Jarmusch

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Press and Filmmaker Cocktail Party

6: 30 pm

gates open

7:30 pm – 7:45 pm

"It's All Right With Me", Tom Waits (1990)

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Down by Law (1986)

THURSDAY AUGUST 27 2015 12:00 pm–1:30 pm

TimesTalks at Cinema Café: Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, and Roberto Benigni

6: 30 pm

gates open

7:30 pm – 7:45 pm

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up", Tom Waits (1992)

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Mystery Train (1989)

FRIDAY AUGUST 28 2015 12:00 pm–1:30 pm

TimesTalks at Cinema Café: Cast of Coffee and Cigarettes

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Mixer with Jim Jarmusch

6: 30 pm

gates open

7:30 pm – 7:45 pm

"Dead Man Theme", Neil Young (1995)

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Night on Earth (1991)

SATURDAY AUGUST 29 2015 closing 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Brunch with the cast of Stranger than Paradise

6: 30 pm

gates open

7:00 pm–7:15 pm

"Steady as She Goes", The Raconteurs (2006)

7:30 pm – 7:45 pm

"Purple People Eater", Bob Hemberger and The Door Shakers (2009)

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

10:00 pm – 12:00 am

Closing night party: E. 72nd St. & Park Drive North

2 3

THE VENUE 1. lasker rink & pool 2. museo del barrio 4

3. museum of the city of ny 4. tennis courts 5. jewish museum

6. cooper hewit museum 7. guggenheim museum 8. metropolitan museum of art

9. obelisk

10. delecorte theater 11. belvedere castle 12. hayden planetarium 13. boat house 14. bethesda fountain & terrace 15. strawberry fields

16. tavern on the green 10

17. sheep meadow 18. bandshell

19. zoo 20. wollman rink

17 16

19 20

INTERVIEWS

If success is a pressure cooker, then Jim Jarmusch isn’t letting the heat get to him. His last movie, Stranger Than Paradise, walked off with the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 1985 and snagged Best Picture of the Year from America’s National Society of Film Critics. Produced on a hundredgrand shoestring, Stranger wound up grossing ten times that and demonstrating—like the ballooning real-estate values of its setting, New York’s Lower East Side—the overground viability of underground property.

“here was a movie with no sex, no violence, no car rano c ospecial n ,ecneleffects; oiv on ,xthe es ominimal n htiw eidialogue v o m a s aw ereh“ chases, was saw eand ugoldeadpan; aid lamineach im ehscene t ;stcconsisted effe laicepof s oanlong, ,sesahc laconic ,gnoshot l a fofrom d e t sa isn oc enecscamera hcae ;nangle.” apdaed dna cinocal single solitary ”.elgna aremac yratilos a morf tohs elgnis Stranger Than Paradise resolves around two bohemian

On the eve of the prestigious premiere of his new movie,

deadbeats, Eddie (Richard Edson) and Willie (John Lurie,

Down by Law—it was chosen to open the New York Film

the saxophonist-composer with the Lounge Lizards and a

Festival in September—Jarmusch, 33, looks cool, calm and

longtime friend of Jarmusch’s). Their lives are an aimless

collected. An authentic underground American film artist

shambles of chain-smoking and card playing until the

who still prefers the declasse comfort of white V-neck

arrival from Hungary of Willie’s cousin Eva (played by the

T-shirts to trendy unstructured pastels, he seems curiously

Squat Theatre’s emigre ingenue Estzer Balint). Though ini-

unaffected by the anticipation surrounding his new movie.

tially resented by Willie, the unexpected newcomer upsets

“While making Down by Law, I wasn’t thinking at all about Stranger Than Paradise,” he claims. “I never even thought of the consequences of having to follow up that film until

the balance of Eddie and Willie’s shiftless world. Through Eva, they find themselves in a crazy quilt of trenchant comic detail, an American vision that is stranger than paradise.

I went to Cannes [this year] and suddenly realized that

The commercial success of the film took everybody by

people had some expectations.”

surprise. Here was a movie with no sex, no violence, no car chases, no special effects; the minimal dialogue was laconic and deadpan; each scene consisted of a long, single shot from a solitary camera angle. But Stranger had its own rhythm, centering on the almost imperceptibly varying intervals between its punctuating blackout frames and the impeccably droll delivery of its principal characters. The film announced the arrival of a new American comic sensibility that acknowledged pulp while dispensing with camp. Stranger’s success revealed the artistic and commercial potential of independent cinema, and of course people had expectations.

Down by Law takes place in an abstracted New Orleans, a

the foreigner, and it is through his machinations that the trio

bayou of the mind that, according to Jarmusch, “came from

escapes and flees through the Louisiana swamps.

pulp fiction or Tennessee Williams, films from the Thirties and Forties, your classic prison-break movies where guys run throught the swamps pursued by dogs.” First Jarmusch introduces Jack (John Lurie), a third-rate pimp, and Zack (Tom Waits), an unemployed disc jockey: men whose lives are on a parallel descent. “They’re not really able to step back from themselves and really understand themselves,” Jarmusch says. “They’re just going down.” Jarmusch uses plot devices that would serve as premises for whole Hollywood features—Zack is framed for murder, Jack is set up as a child molester—as mere expediencies; the real story begins when these characters wind up in Orleans Parish Prison, a claustrophobic dead end. The two hapless jailbirds to little more than bicker until a third prisoner, Roberto (Roberto Benigni), is thrown into their cell. Though they are unabashed lowlifes, Zack and Jack

Like Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law reflects Jarmusch’s interest in the hetergeneous nature of American culture. “America’s a kind of throwaway culture that’s made of this mixture of different cultures,” Jarmusch theorizes. “To make a film about America, it seems to me logical to have at least one perspective that’s transplanted here from some other culture, because ours is a collection of transplanted influences.” Jarmusch strives for a new comic vision, one that combines a rigorous formal aesthetic with the effable spirit of his characteres. Of his films, he says, “They don’t fall into a real genre: slapstick comedy, visual comedy, situation comedy. Often what’s funny or moving to me in the films is what happens between moments of dialogue, how people react to each other.”

have been incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit,

When Jim Jarmucsh graduated from high school in Akron,

while Roberto, hardly the criminal type, has accidentally

Ohio, and moved to New York City in 1971, his ambition

killed a man in a brawl. At first the unfortunate Italian tour-

was to be a poet. “Poets were always the lifeblood of any

ist—whose knowledge of English is scrawled in fractured

culture,” he says. He attended Columbia University, where

phrases in a notebook—only irritates the stir-crazy prison-

he studied American and English literature. In his last

ers further. Gradually, though, Zack and Jack warily befriend

semester before graduation, Jarmusch went to Paris and

wound up staying a year. He’d always loved the movies, but in Akron, the ones he’d been exposed to were mainly “Japanese monster movies and James Bond.” In Paris, he discovered the Cinematheque Francaise, the world’s most famous film archive, and spent hours at a stretch absorbing classic films from all over the world. When Jarmusch returned to New York, the punk scene was erupting on the Lower East Side, and he felt sipatico with

“we decided it would be more interesting if he were not on erew but eh fiagdisc nitsejockey, retni elee rombaby eb dlsimms—he’s uow ti dedicone ed eof w“ atmuscian fthose o eno guys s’eh—who smmmoves is ybaball eelover, ,yekcthose oj csidguys a tuwho b nailive csumina ni evilrooms ohw sand yug change esoht ,rtheir evo llnames a sevoevery m ohwsix sy u g esoht hotel weeks." " . s k e e w x i s yr e v e s e m a n r i e h t e g n a h c d n a s m o o r l e t o h

the energy and antivirtousity of the music. He joined the

Jarmusch: “We are both members of an organization called

Del-Byzanteens, a new wave combo that recorded a three-

the Sons of Lee Marvin. . .It’s a mystical organization, and

song EP and an album. Jarmusch played keyboards, warbled

they have a New York chapter, and we met at one of the

and co-wrote conceptual tunes like “Atom Satellite” whose

annual meetings. It’s somewhere between the Elks Club

lyrics were composed of New York Post headlines.

and the Academy Awards.”

He decided to apply to New York University’s three-year

About his character, Zack, Waits says, “We decided it

graduate film course just to see what would happen.

would be more interesting if he were not a muscian but a

“Having never made a film,” he says, “I had no expectation

disc jockey, Lee Baby Simms—he’s one of those guys who

of there, but I submitted some writing and an essay about

moves all over, those guys who live in hotel rooms and

cinema and some still photographs and was admitted.”

change their names every six weeks.”

When director Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause) was brought in to teach, Jarmusch got work as his teaching assistant and as a production assistant on Lightning Over Water, a film Ray was to have directed with Wim Wenders. He eventually made his own film, Permanent Vacation, as required by the program, but, he says, “it was frowned upon by the school” because it was too long (eighty minutes).

To American audiences, Benigni will seem like a real wild card, but Down by Law has the potential to make him a big star here. “You can’t imagine what a star he is in Italy,” Lurie says. “I can think of an equivalent star, and that’s the pope. When he came to pick me up at the airport, all the people that handle the baggage stopped what they were doing and crowded around him.” Roberto’s broken English

Jarmusch shot the first part of Stranger Than Paradise over

and unquenchable imagination act as a liberating force on

a weekend, but it took him another two years to obtain the

Jack and Zack. “He’s not equipped with the language, the

money to complete the film. “I personally thought he was

most elementary form of communication,” Jarmusch says.

out of his mind,” says Lurie about Jarmusch’s dogged deter-

“Despite this, he’s still able to communicate to these guys

mination. “I anybody had gotten the flu during the shoot,

the sense of optimism that he has. He’s able to partially res-

that would’ve been the end of the movie.”

urrect their spirits. They’re basically dying until he comes.”

For Down by Law, Jarmusch constructed the main charac-

The women in Down by Law act as emotional barometers

ters with Lurie, Waits and Benigni in mind. He says he and

for their male counterparts. Their roles are brief but

Lurie met Waits at a party, and the three of them “spent

essential. In the beginning, Jack gets a dressing down from

that whole night going out all over New York, from bar

Bobbie (Billie Neal), one-half of his low-rent stable. Zack

to bar.” Waits himself has a vivid recollection of meeting

gets thrown out of his apartment by Laurette (Ellen Barkin),

who just can’t take his rootlessness another second.

illumination of new ideas, as when he draws a window on

new film, Jim Jarmusch is plainly in control of his medium.

Jarmusch uses these parallel situations to point up Jack and

the wall of the jail cell.

In Down by Law, the characters are given control over their

Zacks’s spiritual bankruptcy. “These women give them fairly accurate critiques of their problems that don’t even sink in,” he says. They lose these women and end up in prison.”

While Down by Law is bracketed with two songs from Waits’ Rain Dogs album, it’s Lurie’s score that sustains the mood. “I was unhappy with some scenes,” Jarmusch says,

Down by Law is a logical step forward in Jarmusch’s creative

“and John was able to change their tone by the music he

development. While there is a reprise, of sorts, of Stranger’s

composed. He has such a delicate sense of composing,

theme—a lowlife duo transormed by a foreign point of

something that will not take over the image but will under-

view —there’s no attempt to repeat the visual style of the

score what’s happening.”

earlier film. Instead, Jarmusch and cinematographer Robby Muller (who worked on Paris, Texas, Repo Man, and To Live and Die in L.A.) have given Down by Law a fluid composition of horizontal and vertical movement. In Muller, Jarmusch found genuine support for his ideas. “His concerns seem much closer to that of a painter than a photographer,” says Jarmusch. “He would try to transalte the emotional essence

“I loved his score,” says Waits about Lurie. “He can pick up anything and play it. He picked up an old drainpipe out in the swamp and started blowing through that. John Lurie is really kind of a dinosaur Belmondo. He buys his clothing at Super Bad. He’s as meticulous as a mobster. It’s like ‘My suit is my office, so I keep it clean'—that school.”

of the scene into the photgraphy, lighting from the inside

One reason Jarmusch chose New Orleans as a milieu for

out, very intuitive, yet precise.”

Down by Law was his love for the rhythm & blues of the

One of the most resonant effects of Down by Law emanates from the metaphoric use of light. While the opening shots of New Orleans zip by in kinetic daylight, the story really begings at night – literally the abyss of Jack and Zack’s

late Fifties and early Sixties. His inclusion of Irma Thomas’ heart-stopping “It’s Raining” during Benigni’s mushy dance with actress Nicoletta Braschi weaves together all the romantic notions cinema and pop music ever conjured.

lives. From there, the film describes and arc upward toward

Connotation to the contrary, the phrase down by law is

some kind of faith. Again, it’s Roberto who represents the

street jargon that translates roughly as “in control”. With his

own lives, even at the point of bleakest despair. Waits calls it “a fugitive burlesque film. It’s about Jaguars, luck, Italian food and the beauty of misunderstandings.” Jarmusch sees it as the beauty of possibilities, “that there’s not just one way of looking at your life, yourself or life in general. One can have different perspectives.”

Brooke Barttelbort b.andrea.barttel@gmail.com 619– 471 – 6453 Hunter Wimmer, Christopher Morian Academy of Art University GR_612 Integrated Communications Whitney HTF Light, Book, Bold SC Spring 2012