Ghost Dog, la voie du samouraï

This is one of the strangest, and most likable movies I have ever seen....and I have seen a lot, believe me.

Scene after scene was bizarre. I watched an amazement on the first viewing, chuckling here and there. By the third viewing, I just laughing out loud throughout much of it. The dark, subtle humor in here is as good as I've ever seen on film....even though it may be classified more of a gangster film than a comedy.

The humor mainly involved the gangsters, who were a bunch of old Mafia men. A mob never looked this pathetic but they were characters. It was especially fun to see Henry Silva again, a man who used to be an effective villain back on a lot of TV shows in the 1960s. He didn't say much in this movie but the looks on his face were priceless. The funniest guy, at least to me, was the mobster who sang and danced to rap music!

The byplay between "Ghost Dog," the hero of the movie played wonderfully by Forest Whitaker, and the ice cream man, who only spoke French, also was fun and entertaining.

Almost every character in here was a strange, led by Whitaker who plays a modern-day hit-man who lives by the code of the ancient Samurai warriors. He also trains and communicates through carrier pigeons. Hey, I said this was a bizarre movie!

The violence was no-nonsense, however, nothing played for laughs and unlike Rambo-mentality, people who were shot at were hit and usually killed right away.

Along the way on this strange tale was a lesson or two on loyalty, racism, philosophies, kindness, communication, etc. How much of this you take seriously, and how much as a gag, is up to you, I guess. The more I watch this, the more I see it as clever put-on comedy....yet sad. It's not to easy to describe but you wind up getting involved with these odd people.

The movie changes rapidly as Whitaker does in this story. One minute he is a brutally bear-like hit-man and the next minute, the gentlest of souls.

A very unique film. The title looks a bit stupid and one you would easily dismiss as moronic, but it is far from it. Great entertainment.

"Ghost Dog" (Forrest Whitaker) is a hit man who lives by the code of the Samurai. He is on retainer to Louie, and has done 12 hits for the mob these past four years. Their relationship started when Louie saved Ghost Dog's life several years before, and now Ghost Dog is indebted to him, according to his code.

Louie tells Ghost Dog to kill a gangster, Handsome Frank, who is sleeping with the daughter of local mafia boss Vargo. Louie has been told that the daughter, Louise, has left the house, but she is still there when Ghost Dog does the hit. In fact, she sees the hit happen. Ghost Dog does not kill her, because the code of the Samurai is against killing noncombatants.

Now the mob says that Ghost Dog must die because of what Louise saw, and it seems they aren't too happy with Louie either. And so the war begins. There is comedy as the mob is none too bright and bungles quite a bit as they go after Ghost Dog, while Ghost Dog is a literate well read fellow who is besting them at every turn in a kind of Roadrunner/Wiley Coyote dynamic. But at the end of the day both groups are living by antiquated codes that nobody else is living by, and complications ensue as a result.

There is a deleted scene in the Criterion release that explains some things not revealed in the film. I'd say watch that to get an inkling of why exactly these mobsters are trying to kill a guy who did exactly what they told him to do, when any error in logistics - the location of Louise - falls on them. My first thought was that because the mob thinks of women as delicate flowers, that allowing Louise to see such violence meant that Ghost Dog must die. It's actually something much more modern and practical if you think about it. And this film is something that does get you thinking.

Lots of the scenes just feel like loosely interconnected vignettes instead of a cohesive story, but it's a character study first and foremost and Whittaker's portrayal of the titular character carries the film. He's simultaneously stoic, kind, principled and naive, never questioning the futility of following a code of honor that his chosen master doesn't himself follow.

I often get annoyed at Criterion - which put this out on Blu a few years back - for picking such obscure films to preserve and release. And then I see them, and I am so thankful that they introduced me to them. I'd say "Cure" also belongs to this group.

Ghost Dog certainly is an intriguing film. It breaks some new ground for writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who usually creates simple, funny, and heartfelt black and white films with many underlying themes. Ghost Dog is one of his few color films, and it is also the most out of character picture he has made to date. Instead of a slow-paced comedic drama, Ghost Dog is a slow-paced bloody crime film.

The plot deals with Ghost Dog (Whitaker), an expert mafia assassin living in present-day New York City who lives his life according to the ancient code of the Samurai.

Jarmusch somewhat reverses what Akira Kurosawa did in Throne of Blood by bringing Eastern culture to a Western setting. It's a rather fascinating idea, but I can't help but feel that Jarmusch kind of falls into a trap he teeters on almost constantly in his films: while he's so busy creating a slow, brooding atmosphere and interweaving subtle underlying themes, he occasionally forgets that this is still a movie. He still needs to keep the audience entertained. Ghost Dog sometimes moves so slowly that one becomes a little bit bored and anxious.

Another thing that doesn't work particularly well in Ghost Dog are Jarmusch's signature scenes of off-beat humor that often just come completely out of nowhere. They usually work quite well, such as Iggy Pop's and Billy Bob Thornton's blackly funny scene in Dead Man, but they just feel awkward here. E.g., Jarmusch develops a very peculiar group of gangsters in Ghost Dog, gangsters who think they're straight out of GoodFellas but are so incompetent that they can't even pay their rent nor figure out who they're trying to "whack". This is often quite amusing, but sometimes Jarmusch just goes over the top, such as when he makes one of the fifty-something Italian gangsters begin going on about how he loves rap and even start rapping his favorite verses right in the middle of a meeting of criminals. It's just uncomfortable.

Still, there's plenty to like here, and there are quite a few homages for avid film-lovers to spot, such as a cool little nod to the butterfly scene in Seijun Suzuki's Branded To Kill. Also, the acting is often spot-on. Forest Whitaker is absolutely perfect as Ghost Dog - detached, subtle, nuanced, and, most importantly, human.

Still, I hesitate to recommend this film. Jim Jarmusch is most definitely an acquired taste, but even his fans may find their patience tried during Ghost Dog.

Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai

* * * * Stars

Forest Whitaker stars in this amazingly good character driven film. Whitaker is Ghost Dog, a New York hitman who lives by the code of the ancient samurai. When a job for the mob goes wrong they decide to cut their losses and put a hit out on him. But since he's a samurai and not just a normal hitman this proves to be a huge mistake for them.

This film really works on three levels. First is the duality of the film's coolness factor and the strength of Whitaker's performance. Whitaker radiates cool in this film. In every scene and every frame, through both action and inaction we know he is being of awesome power. His performance is note perfect. There's one scene where a grievous wrong has been done and we see Whitaker absorb the devastation, then he narrates that when a making decision it should be done in the space of seven breathes. Once that decision is made and we realize Whitaker's full fury will now be unleashed upon his enemies, it sends a tingle up the spine of the viewer. Whitaker's resolve shines through the screen and through his subsequent acting the pace builds until we reach the film's ultimate battle, which is a really, really good fight scene-one of the most satisfying ever filmed.

Furthermore we have the film's philosophy. This aspect of the film is the most important of all even more so than Whitaker's superb performance. As the film's tale unfolds we do need learn about the Way of the Samurai through the eastern philosophy Whitaker espouses as he narrates the film. Often times the film breaks from the action just to linger on the narration and let in sink in. It's a technique that helps set the tone of the film and makes it a completely absorbing experience.

The third thing that the film does really well is it is character and not plot driven. At least just as much time is spent following Whitaker through his day to day life as he interacts with people in his community as is spent on the action parts of the plot. In many ways the film works as commentary on the values of modern society. The scenes with Whitaker and his best friend, a Haitian ice cream vendor provide this film with true heart and soul. We see repeatedly that the two friends can understand each other because they are at peace with the world and in tune with their surroundings, so that their bond transcends mere language. Ghost Dog also has a touching relationship with a young girl that he hopes to impart his code to so that she may one day have the tools of knowledge necessary to escape life in the inner city. These are characters that would have been interesting a two-hour film just living their lives without the samurai and hitman aspects of the film. However both aspects work exceptionally well, the effect taken as a whole make this one of the best films of the past few years.

Besides Whitaker and his friends, one other great performance is given by Tricia Vessey as Louise Vargo, the young girl that sets all that happens in motion. It's a small part but a key one that she does an admirable job with.

If there is a flaw with this film it is that the gangster villains are unnecessarily racist. These scenes are somewhat jarring on first viewing, but are at least consistent with the film's ultimate tone that the gangster's way of life is dying, while the code of the samurai is timeless. It is no coincidence that all the mobsters are much older than Whitaker. Both characters note numerous times that the world is changing, the difference is the gangsters say it with fear and trepidation, while Whitaker notices it as observation. Like the changing of the wind the changing of time and circumstance is neither good nor bad when weighed against his code.

While Whitaker deserves infinite praise for his performance, almost just as much praise must be given to director Jim Jarmush. His directing of this film is quite daring and even more skillfull. His approach to the narration is unusual and yet it works on multiple levels and lets us this is a film more about tone than action. The character driven film is a rare commodity. Most films are plot driven moving from point A to point B with no more creativity than a child connecting a dot-to-dot. Here we have a film that starts with its characters and lets them live the lives they've always lived before the central plot elements invaded their existence. The plot is addressed in a timely enough manner, but we see the characters have their own commitments to fulfill too. It's a hard trick to make a character driven film really work without seeming disjointed or slowly paced but Jarmush succeeds masterfully. Jarmush also fills the film with other references in the background that emphasize the character's natures-such as book on bears or the dialogue of a few cartoons here and there. Many films of try to do this, but few films I have ever seen do it as well as Ghost Dog does.

A final note, the ending of this film that is one that will be very divisive. People will either love it or hate, personally I loved it. It is an ending that is true to all that his come before for both the characters and their conflicting codes but also one that is both surprising despite being adequately foreshadowed.

This is a really cool movie.I saw it yesterday and want to see it again. Actor Forest Whitaker is quite impressing in this movie.He has a calm atmosphere over him,he does not speak much,but those kind of roles are often the hardest ones.Rest of cast is well chosen. Many of the scenes is highly stylized(sort of John Woo,just lesser noise) and the dialogue is very funny at times.Especially Louie`s meeting with his bosses is a standout. Even the music`s good,by rap group RZA.It fits the personality and actions of Ghost Dog perfectly(his sword training on roof is a highlight). So,let me clear something.This is NOT for everyone.It is cool,stylish and funny.But,unfortunately,not very exciting. It`s a special movie,japanese samurai mixed with rap and mafia.What do we get with this? I don`t really know.It`s not in any genre. Just watch it,you`ll be rewarded.

Rating- 9/10