After studying literature at the University of Columbia (New York) he took his degree in 1975. From 1976 to 1979 he was student of the
movie-maker Nicholas Ray and later his assistant at the New York University Graduate School.
Profuse thanks to Frank Weilandt from Halbe, Brandenburg, Germany, for translating this for me.
After studying literature at the University of Columbia (New York) he took his degree in 1975. From 1976 to 1979 he was student of the
movie-maker Nicholas Ray and later his assistant at the New York University Graduate School.
His first feature movie Permanent Vacation was predominantly ignored both by the critics and by the viewers. But that changed radically with his second movie Stranger Than Paradise. Virtually by night Jarmusch became a "pampered child of the movie criticism and festival-juries " (quoted from film-dienst), and from then on he had to accept the stamp "cult movie-maker". With his next movie Down By Law with the "permanent speaking" Roberto Benigni, the singer Tom Waits and the musician John Lurie in the leading roles, Jarmusch definitely established himself as the new "Star" of the American movie. Then he made three short movies called Coffee and Cigarettes, in which among others Iggy Pop and again Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni acted.
After shooting his last two movies and the short movies in black and white, Jarmusch surprised the critics with the color movie Mystery Train, which narrates three episodes in Memphis, Tennessee. He also chose the episode structure for his next movie Night On Earth, five stories in which taxis drive in five big cities. In the past, Jarmusch himself had occasionally worked as a taxi driver; we do not know whether he also experienced such a lot. With his last film up to now, the "Anti-Western" Dead Man, Jarmusch returned to black and white in order to deliberately dissociate himself from the standard western-genre. The movie's music was made by the Canadian Neil Young. His work seems to have impressed Jarmusch a lot, for soon the concert documentation Year of the Horse about Neil Young and his Band Crazy Horse, filmed by Jarmusch, will start at the movies. A project you can be eager for. (Unfortunately, the date for the start in Germany has not been fixed yet!)
Except being a director, Jarmusch already worked as an actor, too. His short appearances in Aki Kaurismäki's Leningrad Cowboys Go America and Wayne Wang's Blue In The Face are especially remarkable. Both movies could already be watched here.
There are some constants in Jarmusch's movie-making. Until now he always scripted and directed his movies. There is also some kind of "Jarmusch-set". The musician John Lurie takes part at nearly every Jarmusch-movie, either as an actor or a film-musician, often he takes both roles. Roberto Benigni, Tom Waits und Iggy Pop belong to the Jarmusch-set, they all appear from time to time in his movies. Jarmusch also has a very own rhythm of shooting movies, what made his friend Aki Kaurismäki tease him about this: "You are the slowest movie-maker in the world." We can thank this work rhythm, that we are able to show you except the short movies Coffee and Cigarettes all six Jarmusch-movies until now (as long as the distributor makes it possible), so to speak the "Almost Complete Works of Jim Jarmusch". Good news for all movie-friends who love the English language: All six movies will be shown in the English original with German subtitle.
I wish you lots of fun
Rainer Gauglitz
The movie, a typical road-movie, tells the story of Eddie (RE), Willie (JL) and his cousin Eva (EB) and their trip from New York via Cleveland to Florida. In nearly minimalistic black-and-white pictures and with laconic humour, which is so typical for Jarmusch, the experiences of these three losers at the edge of societey are told. And all the time you can hear "I put a spell on you" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins from an old cassette recorder. But the search for the place where everything gets better fails. Eddie has to see: "That's strange, you come to a new place, and everything looks the same."
Stranger Than Paradise was Jarmusch's breakthrough and made him popular virtually by night. By the way, in
Germany the movie was shown on TV first, because the editorial staff of the "kleines Fernsehspiel" (in English: "small television play") at the ZDF (German TV station)
co-produced the movie and that big success has not been expected. Because of his surprising success and its influence on the American independent movies, this movie is
the beginning of our Jim Jarmusch series.
The 16-year-old Aloysius Christopher Parker (CP) roams a cheerless New York searching for a better place. But this search fails: "Now that I am away, I wish to be back where I wanted to go away when I was there." is just one of many maxims he knows. The world of the Lower East Side is a world full of graffiti and scraps of music, nothing lasts, everything fades. Aloysius meets a lot of people, but finally he must see: „For me, people I knew are like a series of rooms, like all those places where I spent some time. You enter them the first time, are curious about this room, a lamp, a television. But at any time, this fear appears, this crawling fear... Everybody is alone, that's why I let it go." Even when he is on a ship to carry him to Paris at the end of the film, he is resigned: "I'm just not able to adapt myself; I will never be."
Permanent Vacation is Jarmusch's début movie and in some way guiding his whole work. The story of notorious losers, who somehow manage their lives and always have
the feeling that it is better anywhere than where they are, Jarmusch tells again and again in several variations. His co-operation with the musician John Lurie also started with
this movie.
W & D: Jim Jarmusch C: Robby Müller M: John Lurie, Tom Waits A: John Lurie, Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni,
Nicoletta Braschi, Ellen Barkin P: USA 1986 V: 35 mm, b&w, OwS L: 106 min.
The movie title has two meanings. On the one hand "Down By Law" is a phrase which comes from the Be
Bop-Jazz of the 30s and at some time past has appeared in rap-music. It means something like being "hip", "cool".
On the other hand, the phrase means to having been tricked by law. That is what happened to the small gangster
Jack (JL), the alcoholic Discjockey Jack (TW) und the Walt Whitman quoting Italian Roberto (RB). They landed in
a clink in Lousiana, and though these three cannot stand each other at first, they decide to flee together. In the
swamps of Louisiana they have to fight together for survival and learn to respect each other. Through Roberto's
permanent attempts to say English proverbs, poems and maxims such as "It's a sad and beautiful world" and to
note them down in his small notebook, some scenes are extremely funny. With this movie Jarmusch established
his reputation as a cult direcor and started to co-operate with Tom Waits.
Memphis, Tennessee. Here lies Graceland, the legendary living place of Elvis and here are also the SUN studios, where in addition to the "King" legends such as Jerry Lee
Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and lots of others recorded their first LPs and established the Rock'n'Roll that way. A hotel in Memphis is the scene of three
episodes, which seem not to have much to do with each other but which are connected somehow. First there is this young Japanese pair (MN, YK), who follow the routes of
Elvis, but cannot agree on whether the "King" or Carl Perkins is the better singer. Then the Italian Nicoletta (NB) appears in Memphis and sees the ghost of Elvis. Finally the
little crook Johnny (JS) gets involved in a shoot-out. See yourself how all this is connected and look forward to guest appearences of Screaming Jay Hawkins as the hotel
porter (see photo) and Joe Strummer, who is the guitarist of the punk rockers "The Clash", as Johnny. The movie's music with some pearls of rock and soul music of the 50s
and 60s, such as the song which entitled the film, is especially remarkable.
Like Mystery Train, this movie consists of several episodes. But this time their only connection is that the five stories happen in a taxi in five different world metropolises at exactly the same time by night. In the first episode, which is set in Los Angeles, a casting agent (GR) is so impressed by the young taxi driver (WR) that she offers her a role in a Hollywood movie.
In New York the former circus clown Helmut (AMS) drives a taxi, but can neither use the automatic gear nor speak English, until YoYo (GE) and his sister-in-law (RP) enter Helmut's taxi. In the third episode in Paris, a young blind woman (BD) rides with a taxi-driver from Côte d'Ivoire, who has to realise on this ride that blinds can sometimes see more than we expect. In the last but one episode, Roberto Benigni as a taxi-driver may let off steam. When a priest (PB) enters his taxi, he uses this for a confession, in which he tells about all his sexual experiences (which are not limited to humans!), what has serious consequences for the priest.
The end is a taxi ride in Helsinki, which is probably meant as an hommage to Aki Kaurismäki, for Jarmusch does not only borrow his favorite actors (MP, KV), the very sad stoy about some alcoholic Finnish losers reminds a lot of Kaurismäki..
The whole is framed by Tom Waits' grater voice, and you do not quite know whether you should laugh (with joy) or cry.
William Blake (JD) travels by train from Cleveland to the west, from civilization to wilderness, in order to work as a bookkeeper in Machine, a dump which seems to consist only of dirt and death. But the vacancy has already been filled, and before Blake can get used to the foreign environment, he unintentionally becomes a wanted killer and has a bullet in his body. He flees to the woods of Arizona, followed by three head-hunters. There he meets Nobody (GF), an Indian who takes him for the English poet and painter, who had the same name. Together they go on the slow journey to death, for the bullet cannot be removed and Blake will certainly be a "Dead Man".
The genre of this movie is the most American one, the western. But already the fact that the movie is in black and
white shows that this is no usual western with good against evil or cowboy against Indians. The normal bookkeeper
more accidentally turns into a feared killer, and Nobody also does not correspond to our imagination of a native
American. The music by Neil Young strongly supports the movie's atmosphere. With only an electric guitar and
from time to time a piano, he evokes a sinister mood, which impressively underlines the beautiful black-and-white
pictures of Robby Müller's camera. For Dead Man, Jarmusch was able to get the western-legend Robert Mitchum as
well as John Hurt and Iggy Pop for minor parts.
