Archive of films Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai / Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

USA / France / Germany / Japan
1999, 116 min

Section: Out of the Past
Year: 2022

A hit man (Forest Whitaker) who follows the samurai code. Jim Jarmusch’s masterpiece, in which action goes hand in hand with meditation, and which shoots not only bullets but also wisdom. At times it is deathly serious, at other times tongue-in-cheek, with an almost imperceptibly ironic smile crossing its lips.

Synopsis

Silent scenes in which the actors’ gaze says more than any overwrought monologue. Original music reflecting the film's character and its setting. Robby Müller’s hands-on and yet unobtrusive camera. In Ghost Dog, these constant elements of so many of Jim Jarmusch’s films intersect with extraordinary intensity. And the friendly synergy between the French-speaking ice-cream vendor and the African-American assassin works just as well. The phrase “everything is changing” is expressed several times in the film. Seemingly unrelated worlds on the streets of New Jersey function in unexpected harmony. Despite the blood, Ghost Dog is a contemplative, almost serene film that says you don’t have to speak the same language to fully understand one another. A film as slick as the mobster Louie.

Viktor Palák

About the director

Jim Jarmusch (1953, Akron, Ohio, USA). Selected filmography: Permanent Vacation (1980), Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995), Broken Flowers (2005), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013).

Contacts

Studiocanal
50 rue Camille Desmoulins, 928 63, Issy les Moulineaux Cedex 9
France
Tel: +33 892 393 910
www: www.studiocanal.com

Aerofilms
Milady Horákové 383/79, 170 00, Praha 7
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 947 566
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.aerofilms.cz

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About the film

Color, DCP

Section:	Out of the Past

Director:	Jim Jarmusch
Screenplay:	Jim Jarmusch
Dir. of Photography:	Robby Müller
Music:	RZA
Sound:	Chic Ciccolini III
Editor:	Jay Rabinowitz
Art Director:	Mario Ventenilla
Producer:	Richard Guay, Jim Jarmusch
Production:	JVC Entertainment Networks
Coproduction:	Canal +, Bac films, Plywood production, Pandora filmproduktion, ARD Degeto Film
Cast:	Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Dennis Liu, Richard Portnow, Tricia Vessey, Henry Silva, Frank Adonis, Victor Argo, Gano Grills
Sales:	Studiocanal
Distributor:	Aerofilms