A Letterboxd Roulette recommendation, this time from Ty McGowen, who also hosts a podcast I will have to check out.
I’m not very versed in Jim Jarmusch, but everyone I’ve ever heard talk about him makes a point to say that he’s a bit of an acquired taste or might put people off somehow (paraphrasing, all of it). The one I’d seen from him was Night on Earth, which is an anthology and stars Winona Ryder (put her in a movie, I’ll check it out) so it may not be entirely indicative of what to expect from him.
This one felt deja vu-ish from the jump. Maybe it’s the black and white with John Lurie being in an argument right away. Something felt familiar, but the movie itself was definitely not.
I found it a bit slow until the arrival in the cell of Roberto Benigni, who was incredibly funny. Funny in a, “Haha, he’s hilarious because he’s Italian!” way, but funny nonetheless. Benigni’s first line from the cell is his best, maybe, telling the guard to take a flying fuck. But his time in the movie is filled with a lot of fun and funny. The way Tom Waits was barely holding back laughter in the asking for a cigarette scene in the cell was notable. Ultimately, I’m so happy that the guy who “speaks good restaurant English” found a happy place.
Tom Waits kills me. I don’t know his music, I barely know his acting (the best Renfield?), but he is a presence on screen in a way that certain rocker dudes are a presence because of their look. But he’s the OG, right? All those dudes in fancy pompadours and rockabilly outfits are just Tom Waits guys without the cache. His role here is to have a fun time just being some mug off the street who gets set up. Him and Lurie together bring the correct energy to what I ultimately think the movie means to me.
This movie depicts a type of friendship that was insanely common during my childhood and probably into early adulthood. It certainly feels like the GenX version of friendship, where you never say nice things, you fight more than you don’t, and ultimately, no one better ever get in the way of you two or you’ll both let them have it. It’s a bad way to live and not a fun way to have friends. But it is the way things worked when I was younger, and we might be seeing that continue to present itself in society as a major fascism problem. It’s part and parcel with the attitude of tough guy masculinity that appears to have taken a brief led in what society sees as cool.
None of that is to discount Jarmusch, who makes movies that I may not be able to watch all the time, but I’ll eventually be in the mood to tackle more of as time goes on.