Tag Archive: Jim Jarmusch


TWILIGHT FOR GROWN-UPS

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June 23, 2014

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE directed by Jim Jarmusch (UK / Germany, 2013)

The future's so dark you have to wear shades.

The future’s so dark you have to wear shades.

Adam and Eve (Tom Hiddleson & Tilda Swinton) must be the coolest vampires ever to haunt the big screen.

They look so perfect together – an Emo Goth and an ice maiden, black on white.

A still of them lying naked together is so faultless it looks suspiciously like it’s been photo-shopped but who cares?

As an ageless undead couple they are  resigned to living by night; wearing shades to protect their eyes from the glare of moonlight. Continue reading →

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MIRACLE IN LE HAVRE

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December 12, 2011

Aki Kaurismäki is Finland’s answer to Jim Jarmusch so you know in advance that his movies won’t be action packed. His latest movie Le Havre is plot driven but events unfold in a slow, unhurried fashion and it is full of enigmatic characters who never explain their actions.

A woman who thinks she is terminally ill lies in hospital and a friend reads her to sleep with a Franz Kafka story. A man named Marcel Marx has artistic aspirations but  is reduced to earning his living shining shoes near Le Havre station. Marx witnesses the shooting of recent customer in the first scene and expresses relief that the man paid first. Later he and his neighbours help a young illegal immigrant boy who has been separated from his family and is on the run from the police.

Le Havre is billed as a comedy but there are no laugh out loud moments and any humour here is black and deadpan, Finnish people are not renowned for being gregarious and Aki Kaurismäki does nothing to change the national stereotype.  The dialogue is sparse and wooden. “I’m home” says the husband; “I can see that”, says his wife. Neither of them smile. Continue reading →

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SOMEWHERE – COMFORTABLY NUMB

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January 3, 2011

Somewhere – directed by Sofia Coppola (2010)

As in Lost In Translation, Sofia Coppola is good at showing the comfortably numb circuit of boredom and isolation that comes with fame. Her movie Somewhere shows the emptiness of the pampered life while still managing to convey the glamour of a star actor’s lifestyle.

In the first shots here we learn everything there is to know about  the actor Johny Marco (Stephen Dorff)  without a word being spoken. We see him going round in circles in his black Ferrari on a race circuit. We see him at a fashionable party (when he falls and breaks his wrist). We see lying in bed being entertained in his hotel room by two blonde pole dancers – Bambi and Cindy!. We see him  fall asleep before their ‘erotic’ show is finished.  (These opening scenes made me think that it is not inconceivable that someone will actually a whole movie out of a character study like this where there is no dialogue). Continue reading →

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NEIL YOUNG – GOLD AND BLACK

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January 2, 2010

Neil Young has always been one of those artists who is a benchmark for integrity; a performer who, like Dylan, has always remained aloof from the bullshit that goes with success and stardom.

Sure, he’s had some lean years and released some dud albums, particularly during the Reagan years, but he’s always  kept moving and been motivated by being true to himself rather than adapting to fit in with any one particular style or image.  In an interview with Nick Kent in the early 1990s , he said: “I’m someone who’s always tried systematically to destroy the very basis of my record-buying public…..that’s what’s kept me alive. You destroy what you did before and you’re free to carry on”. Continue reading →

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L.A. WITHOUT A CLUE

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June 4, 2009

"No - I don't know what we're doing here either"

If you’re feeling generous you might describe the  adapation of Richard Rayner’s novel ‘LA Without A Map’ as  a cult movie.

It’s chief (only?) attractions are that it stars David Tennant pre- Doctor Who and features  a cameo role by Johnny Depp.

Continue reading →

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