Search - Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai on DVD

A Tale of Two Warriors

Chris Wells | Chicago, IL | 06/25/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jim Jarmusch, idiosyncratic warrior and independent filmmaker extraordinare, has made another film that falls, both stylistically and thematically, into the director's long line of culture clash, fish-out-of-water comic dramas. It is an offbeat crime comedy that, for the most part, follows the genre's rules according to plot (most of it is straight out of Le Samourai), but adds its own spin with oddball subplots, allusions, and touches (all bearing the imprint of their director). The film bears a number of similarites, in fact, with Jarmusch's previous fictious work, the surreal, deadpan Western Dead Man, except Ghost Dog is much more accessible to mainstream audiences. Forest Whitaker, in a role written specifically for him, plays the title character with the quiet elegance, dignity, and grace of an early Charlie Chaplin. (Johnny Depp also comes to mind for his performances in the aforementioned Dead Man and Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.) Ghost Dog is an old-fashioned samurai, and hit man, stuck in an ever-changing world. (perhaps much like director Jarmusch and his ever-fading romantic worldview and optimism). He lives on the roof of a buiding, feeds pigeons, and keeps mainly to himself. His relationships with a French ice cream vendor(think Night On Earth) and a young girl (similar to that in Pi) are priceless. The light humor sprinkled throughout adds much interest to the proceedings. Much of it comes at the expense of the helpless Italian mobsters in the film. Perhaps Jarmusch's only failure is not developing some of his secondary characters beyond their stereotypes.The DVD appears to warrant a purchase (I have mine on pre-order) for its deleted scenes, documentary, and isolated music score. The music is one of the most important, and surprisingly wonderful aspects of the film. (This coming from someone who is by no means a fan of rap.) The other extras should offer an interesting insight into Jarmusch's directorial processes, although the lack of a audio commentary by the director is disappointing. We are lucky, though, to get what bonuses we do after MGM's no-frills release of Mystery Train on DVD.So, if you're a fan of Jarmusch's, of independent cinema, or just any type of unique and hypnotically engrossing film, Ghost Dog would be an excellent DVD to look into purchasing. While you're at it, consider buying Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, a major influence on the film. A film recommended to any patient filmgoer over 15. It is one of my favorite films of 2000 to date, and the best, funniest, and strangest crime comedy since the Coen Brothers' 1998 effort, The Big Lebowski."

A memorable Forest Whitaker as a samurai contract killer

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 08/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I do not expect most people to like "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" as much as I did because I do not think most viewers are going to be as willing to accept the black comedy aspects along with the philosophical musings and sporadic blood shed. In fact, I think a lot of people will find the mixture rather strange, but at least compelling if not outright provocative. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch is able to pull this off because he has Forest Whitaker in the title role and when he admits on one of the special features that he would have abandoned the project if Whitaker had passed on "Ghost Dog" you know he is absolutely right.

You willingness to take this film on at face value is tested by the premise. Once upon a time a mid-level Mafiaso named Louie (John Tormey) came upon a couple of guys beating the crap out of a young black man (Damon Whitaker). When the guys take exception to Louie's interruption, he blows them away. We are told that some time later the young black man comes to Louie and declares himself to be in debt; calling himself Ghost Dog, he becomes a contract killer for Louie, although he calls himself a loyal retainer. Ghost Dog follows the way of the samurai, which is laid out in the book "Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai." But where the book enters the picture is unclear. If he was reading it before the assault then he should have been able to disptach those two guys; he certainly does well against everybody else in this film. But perhaps it was afterwards.

The key thing to understand is that Ghost Dog is a Don Quixote figure, both in terms of following a creed long forgotten by the world in which he lives but also because he is certifiably crazy. Ghost Dog is living by a rules that Louie does not even know about, let along understand. Yet this does not bother Ghost Dog any more than the fact that he only speaks English and his best friend, Haitian ice cream vendor Raymond (Isaach De Bankolé) only speaks French. The major conceit of this film are the quotation from "Hagakure" recited by Ghost Dog (e.g., "Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty"), which present the philosophy of the Samurai and serve to explain his motivations.

The problem comes when Ghost Dog does a successful hit on a mobster only to discover that Louise Vargo (Tricia Vessey), daughter of the big boss, Ray Vargo (Henry Siliva), is on the scene. She was not supposed to be there, but she was. Ghost Dog has no instructions about killing anybody else and Louise is reading "Rashomon," so he leaves her alone (but borrows the book). However, despite the fact he is a successful contract killer, Vargo wants Ghost Dog killed. In one of the most surreal exposition scenes of all-time, Louie has to explain to Vargo, underboss Sonny Valerio (Cliff Gorman) and a senile Old Consigliere (Gene Ruffini) that he contacts Ghost Dog by carrier pigeon, trying to explain to the old school mafiaoses the bizarre relationship.

For Vargo it comes down to Ghost Dog or Louie, and since Ghost Dog has objections to it being either himself or his "master," he takes matters into his own hands. This guy might practice with a sword, but he is pretty good with a gun as well. Meanwhile, Ghost Dog has befriended a young girl, Pearline (Camille Winbush), trying to pass on something of the life he has lived and what he believes. There might be some message here about two outdated modes of thinking, that of the Samurai verus that of the Mafia, but ultimately this film is about Whitaker's character and his performance. Whatever problems there are with the storyline or the clash of disparate elements in the film are forgiven by what Whitaker does as he goes back and forth between living a life of meditation and being an efficient killing machine. Jarmusch wrote the script and directed this film, but "Ghost Dog" is Whitaker's film.
"