Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Jarmusch's engagingly offbeat variation on the hitman thriller finds Ghost Dog (Whitaker) under threat from the wiseguys who've been using his ultra efficient services after the boss's daughter witnesses one of his killings. On to this basic storyline, Jarmusch grafts an unlikely but coherent variety of moods, motifs, themes and gags: the Mob, though themselves memorably eccentric, simply can't cope with a black killer who communicates by carrier pigeon and lives by the ancient code of Japanese samurai. At once a tribute to traditional notions of honour, loyalty, friendship and professionalism, and a stylish, ironic pastiche inspired by the likes of Melville and Suzuki, it's very funny, insightful, and highly original, proving that Jarmusch has lost none of his wit, warmth or invention. Great camerawork (Robby Müller), score (RZA) and bird footage, too.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Producer: Richard Guay, Jim Jarmusch

Cast: Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva, Isaach De Bankolé, Tricia Vessey full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 116 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.