Review of Dead Man (1995) by Ivan D — 16 May 2010

"Dead Man's" opening sequence contains old formulas from the Western genre: man arriving in a sleepy town, being alienated, townspeople disgusted of outsiders. But the moment that William Blake(understated performance by Johnny Depp) met with Nobody(Gary Farmer), it turned away from the usual Western ingredients, and went on to become a highly powerful film about spirituality and its ultimate destiny.

Great character actors also inhabited the film, with eccentric bit roles to highlight the film's unorthodox take on characters. William Blake, when he came into town looking for a job, does not have any ensured destination, both physically and spiritually.

But when he met Nobody, although he became an outlaw in the process, has able to explore his own soul and has able to appreciate death and its weird tranquility. And though he lost his primal humanity in the beginning, he finally has found his way and who he really is.

A user in IMDb once stated that "Dead Man" is "half the reason he became a filmmaker". And if one would watch the film with keen and observant eyes, one can really see why. Jim Jarmusch's film, apart from it being a new take on the Western genre, also has the ability to turn absolute cinephiles to aspiring auteurs.