Dead Man (1995)

Directed by Jim Jarmusch. Starring Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, Eugene Byrd, Mili Avital, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Jared Harris, Alfred Molina, Crispin Glover. [R]

Extremely offbeat postmodern Western, shot in black & white, full of vague symbolism, striking visions, and empty allusions, contrived in a form of dream logic that would bring together a man named William Blake lacking the context of English poetry with an epigrammatic Indian called Nobody who knows a lot about the English poet William Blake. This movie’s William Blake, an open-faced Cleveland accountant played by Depp, travels across the American West for a job in an industrialized hellhole called Machine; the job no longer exists when he arrives, so he consoles himself with a (small) bottle and an evening with a sweetheart of a prostitute (Avital), kills her vengeful lover in self defense, and goes on the run with bounty hunters hired by the dead man’s father (Mitchum) in pursuit. Describing the plot as such gives short shrift to the plot that’s there and overabundant credit to the plot that’s not; this is an ambling, unorthodox mood piece told as a lengthy series of (literal) black-out episodes, replete with Neil Young clanging out the occasional sour chord like a rimshot to a punchline that doesn’t exist. Quite strange, overpraised in some circles and misunderstood in most others, it only works in bits and pieces, and Jim Jarmusch’s unhurried style prevents it from becoming an overwhelmingly pleasurable mixed bag. Impressive cast, although most of them only appear in a scene or two; beyond the noted names above, Gabriel Byrne shows up for all of about fifteen seconds, and it’s easy to miss an unbilled Steve Buscemi altogether. Premiered at Cannes almost a full year before receiving a limited theatrical release in the States.

62/100