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| Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai |
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| Movies,
Graham Bower,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F5
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A surprisingly easy mix of satire, thriller, drama and farce, Ghost Dog is a genre busting film which defies mainstream movie conventions.
Forest Whitaker plays the unlikely part of "Ghost Dog," an American assassin who follows the ancient ways of the Japanese Samurai. Updating the tradition, he substitutes a gun & silencer for sword, and hooded jacket for warrior’s robes. The incongruous presence of a Samurai warrior in a gangster movie is the film’s obvious hook, much played up in the film’s publicity. But there’s more to the concept than a cheap marketing stunt.
Director Jim Jarmuch (Down By Law, Dead Man) gets maximum effect from the jarring contrast between Ancient Japanese and Urban American cultures. Making clear parallels between the end of the Samurai tradition and the dated feel of Mafia movies, the ending of eras and one generation handing over to the next are key themes throughout the film.
But it’s the light-hearted, underplayed humour of "Ghost Dog" that makes it so unique. Jarmuch knowingly and brilliantly lampoons the traditional Gangster Movie, thoroughly exploring the bizarre clashes in culture that his concept delivers.
Single-mindedly moral, almost to the point of sentimentality; witty ironic without slipping into cynicism; this is a film with broad appeal, and deserves to find an audience beyond the elitist doors of the art-house cinema.
UK rating:
15
US rating:
R
Jim Jarmusch1999 USA
Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Victor Argo, Tricia Vessey, Cliff Gorman.
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