Review of Dead Man (1995) by Nick O — 27 Jan 2014

Another black and white film by Jim Jarmusch that is an original character study involving the stories protagonist William Blake played by Johnny Depp. In the beginning of the film we see his character, who is wearing a suit and spectacles, arrives too late to a potential job and thus losses it to another fellow. He befriends a local prostitute whom after only a few words he sleeps with and that sets into motion the film, the event that would define his life. A distraught ex-lover of the woman enters the room and after some harsh words between the two, the man shoots his ex while she is diving in front of Blake, still dumbfounded next to her on the bed. William Blake (Depp) then in return shoots at, and after several misses, hits the ex-lover and kills him. The father of the now deceased man puts a bounty out on Blake, saying that he is responsible for killing both his son and his fiancée. Going forward and while being on the run, Blake has been mortally wounded in the previous shootout between the ex-lover and himself and ultimately passes out from the pain of the wound out in the woods. He awakens to meet an Indian named simply "Nobody" who mistake him for the English poet of the same name, deciding to be his guide to the Spirit World. Meanwhile the three men hired to pursue Blake are on there trail, each deadlier than the last.

I rather enjoyed the film as Jarmusch films are anything but unoriginal and the black and white photography is rich and sets a sobering mood to fit the story into. There is plenty of shootouts and action despite primarily being a character study and adding many dimensions to each in the film. Dead Man certainly isn't for everyone and there is some very adult content within. This being said it is also an original, well shot, and excels at being a fun and adventurous character study and seeing Depp's character go from ordinary man to a cold-blooded killer.