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Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai

By: Martyn Pedler
Date: 31st Jan 07
Format: Cinema
Mood: Rad

Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai What:
Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999)

Where:
Rooftop Cinema, Level 6, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne

When:
Sunday February 4, Doors 7pm, Screening at Dusk

How much:
$20 Full, $17 Concession here

There’s a scene in Ghost Dog where the hero walks straight through a group of people and no one sees him. With no special effects, you’re completely convinced that he’s invisible. It’s magic. Who would have thought that Forest Whitaker had it in him?

Jim Jarmusch has been a cult favourite from his early Stranger Than Paradise through to his most recent work, Broken Flowers – films that are famously charming, laconic and, occasionally, wildly pretentious. (I’m looking at you, Dead Man!) Ghost Dog is a satisfyingly stitched-together Frankenstein’s monster of samurai philosophy, Warner Brothers cartoons, 1960s noir, Japanese gangster films, and more… all tied together by a moody score by RZA from Wu-Tang, and Forest Whitaker’s soulful performance as cinema’s most unlikely-looking ninja assassin.

Like the best of Jarmusch, Ghost Dog recombines popular culture into something that feels playful, meaningful, and fresh. And if nothing else, Ghost Dog is as close to an action movie as he’s ever likely to make.