Dead Man

Dead Man

On the run from the law, having killed a man in self-defense, the accountant William Blake meets a Native American poet called Nobody, who prepares him to pass over into the spirit-world. The gradual fading away of a person, slowly stripped of the corrupt trappings of their life, is transformed by the great Jim Jarmusch into a spine-tingling cinematic poem. Guided along too by the exquisite electro-acoustic guitar chords of Neil Young, this masterful film by Jarmusch serves as the processional litany of a soul entrusting its weight to the earth, letting the final curtain fall on the makeshift performance that was the existence of William Blake (an extraordinary Johnny Depp in perhaps the greatest role of his career), all directed with dream-like grandeur; and by means of this strange nobody, it feels like Jarmusch is ushering out, and bidding farewell to any and every being in this pitiless universe that, having lived, must also die. Is everyone alive a ghost-to-be? For this Dead Man, yes.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Jim Jarmusch
Script: Jim Jarmusch
Cinematography: Robby Müller
Editing: Jay Rabinowitz
Music: Neil Young
Actors: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, John Hurt, Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop
Production: Pandora Filmproduktion, JVC Entertainment Networks, Newmarket Capital Group, 12 Gauge Productions
Producers: Demetra J. MacBride
Co-producers: Karen Koch
Costumes: Marit Allen
Production Design: Bob Ziembicki
Sets: Dayna Lee
Format: DCP
Color: B/W
Production Country: USA, Germany, Japan
Production Year: 1995
Duration: 116'
Distribution in Greece: Cinobo
Contact: The Match Factory
Awards/Distinctions: Screen International Award – European Film Awards 1996, Best Cinematography – New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1996, Best Cinematography – National Society of Film Critics’ Awards 1997

Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch (1953) studied at Columbia University and at New York University Film School, where he directed his first feature-length film, Permanent Vacation (1980). His next film, Stranger than Paradise (1984), established his reputation as a new voice in independent cinema. Jarmusch continued to earn acclaim for films such as the offbeat comedies Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), and Night on Earth (1992). Jarmusch’s later movies included Dead Man (1995), in which he offered his own take on the western; Year of the Horse (1997), a rock concert documentary of Neil Young and Crazy Horse; and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999). Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) consisted of a collection of brief exchanges between various well-known actors and musicians as they smoked and drank coffee. Jarmusch won the Grand Prix at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for Broken Flowers (2005). The Limits of Control (2009) comprised a series of surreal interludes between an assassin and his various contacts, and Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) was an atmospheric vampire thriller. Jarmusch chronicled the punk band Iggy and the Stooges in the documentary Gimme Danger (2016). That year he also wrote and directed Paterson, which presents a week in the life of a bus driver. The contemplative dramedy received widespread acclaim. Jarmusch then offered his wry take on the zombie movie genre with The Dead Don’t Die (2019).

Filmography

1980 Permanent Vacations
1984 Stranger than Paradise
1986 Down By Law
1989 Mystery Train
1995 Dead Man
1999 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
2005 Broken Flowers
2013 Only Lovers Left Alive
2016 Paterson
2016 Gimme Danger
2019 The Dead Don't Die