9 FILMS BY JIM JARMUSCH
14.-17. 3. 2024
American independent film icon Jim Jarmusch.
He was at the birth of the modern American indie film, and for over thirty years he has remained its uncrowned king. He doesn't just direct his films: he contributes to them as a screenwriter and sometimes as an editor, producer or cinematographer. However, his greatest source of inspiration has always been and will always be music, which is logically the strength of all his films.
In Lucerna in June, you have the opportunity to see a showcase of nine cult films that established Jim Jarmusch as one of the world's most important filmmakers ever.
Each of the three stories in Mystery Train has its own title and main characters. Jim Jarmusch's fourth film is an American-style homage to Italian and Japanese culture. The stories Far From Yokohama, The Ghost and Lost in Space do not overlap in plot, although they take place on the same night and in the same city, and all culminate in the same location (a rundown hotel in Memphis). Although their stories are independent, they interact humorously, as is gradually revealed over the course of the film. Jim Jarmusch, an Ohio native, helped shape the modern form of American independent film. But the originality of his films, which he has been making for over thirty years, goes far beyond that territory. The director, for whom the journey is the image of human existence, dialogue the narrative principle and cultural differences the key theme, is involved in his films as a screenwriter and sometimes as an editor, producer or cinematographer. Jarmusch also puts great emphasis on the musical aspect of his films, which he helps to create with the help of important musical individuals. A collection of seven of his earlier films is being re-released in cinemas to coincide with the premiere of Jarmusch's new film Paterson. Beginning with his first feature, Permanent Vacation, and ending with the nearly a quarter-century later Coffee and Cigars, it includes works that have established Jarmusch as one of the most distinctive auteurs in contemporary cinema. Show more
A tragicomic story full of dreamy and unbelievable coincidences. It is perhaps a feeling of disillusionment, of little possibility of communication, as well as an inner dissatisfaction with a fate from which there is no escape, that accompany the 16-year-old Hungarian emigrant Eva Molnar, her post-American cousin Willie and her friend Eddie. The story, while highlighting the uprootedness of these characters, also presents a moral about a world in which we bind ourselves and yet entrench ourselves in our appointed roles.Writer-director Jim Jarmusch's second feature film is shot in a minimalist style, with a raw black-and-white image, which here includes an austere plot and characters in the service of a poignant irony, touching on the audience's common perceptions of America as a land of dreams. The music, written by John Lurie (in a peculiar imitation of the style of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók), has an air of alienation. Show more
William Blake travels to the western frontier of America sometime in the second half of the 19th century. He travels by train across the country in search of work and, when he fails, becomes a stalker after a series of accidents. Straying and badly injured, he meets a very strange, outcast Indian named Nobody. The story, thanks to Nobody, takes William Blake into comical and dangerous situations.Drawn into a world of cruelty and confusion, Bill opens his eyes. It is as if he is immersed in the reflection of a mirrored wall and emerges in a previously unknown world that exists on the other side of the mirror. Show more
The king of American independent cinema, Jim Jarmusch, has established himself as one of the world's most important filmmakers, starting with his first feature, Permanent Vacation, and ending almost a quarter of a century later with Coffee and Cigars. Show more
Jarmusch's second colour film is divided into five short stories, set simultaneously during the night in different time zones in five major cities (Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, Helsinki) and in their respective languages. The actors are local taxi drivers and their passengers. Jarmusch subtly paraphrases the typical characters, genres and styles of each cinema (Hollywood, the New York School, French neo-Baroque cinema, big-budget Italian farce, Aki Kaurismäki's Nordic brooding films), which comes through in the narrative rhythm, the accentuation of meaningful motifs, Tom Waits' precise music and the actual cast of "typical" actors of that particular cinema. Cinematographer Frederick Elmes (who has worked on films by David Lynch) makes the most of the necessarily static camera, confining himself to observing the actors in the taxi environment and characterising the passing big city streets. The refined narrative structure provides, in only seemingly "random" situations, a picture of a world of paradoxes in which "sighted" blind and homeless people live everywhere, and in which everyone has to cope with feelings of alienation in an environment of false myths. A Night on Earth is a small, wise and highly entertaining film, deserving of the attention of all admirers of good cinema for its intelligence, humour and ideas. Show more
Ghost Dog is an assassin following the philosophy of the Japanese samurai. He lives on the roof of an abandoned building on the outskirts of New York City, surrounded by his beloved pigeons. The only witness to the crimes, he too becomes inconvenient for his captors. As a warning to Dog, his beloved pigeons fall victim to the mob. But this was a big mistake for the Mafia... Show more
Paterson is a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey--they share the name. Every day, Paterson adheres to a simple routine: he drives his daily route, observing the city as it drifts across his windshield and overhearing fragments of conversation swirling around him; he writes poetry into a notebook; he walks his dog; he stops in a bar and drinks exactly one beer; he goes home to his wife, Laura. By contrast, Laura's world is ever changing. New dreams come to her almost daily. Paterson loves Laura and she loves him. He supports her newfound ambitions; she champions his gift for poetry. The film quietly observes the triumphs and defeats of daily life, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details. Show more
Through a twist of fate, three underdogs meet in a Louisiana prison: an unemployed disc jockey (Tom Waits), a failed pimp (John Lurie) and a hard-nosed Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni). Described by Jim Jarmusch as a "neo-beatnik noir comedy", Outlaw is a bit of a nightmare and a bit of a fairy tale. It features great performances by the cast and gorgeous black and white cinematography by Robby Muller. Show more
In each of the eleven black-and-white mini-stories, which Jim Jarmusch has been filming successively since 1986, the protagonists discuss the most controversial topics over a cup of coffee and a cigarette. For example, the Paris of the 1920s, the use of nicotine as an insect killer or caffeinated popsicles. The entertaining episodes benefit from a lazy café atmosphere and brilliantly written dialogue with a penchant for the bizarre. In 2003, Jarmusch assembled them into a feature-length film that brings together prominent artists Tom Waits and Iggy Pop, Bill Murray, GZA and RZA, Jack and Meg White, Steve Buscemi, Alfred Molina, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchet and others. Show more
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