This dramatic western starring Johnny Depp was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.
The plot: After death of his parents, William Blake, an accountant from Cleveland, takes a job offer and moves to the Town of Machine at the end of the train line. However he arrived about two months late. Penniless, he’s picked up by a woman on the street. When her husband Charlie Dickenson (Gabriel Byrne), son of the metal factory owner John Dickenson (Robert Mitchum) discovers both of them in bed, the married couple ends up shot and William Blake, now a wanted criminal, on the run. Wounded, he is helped by a lone Indian named Nobody, who believes the accountant is dead English poet and painter with the same name. As they travel through wilderness more people get killed. While the rumors about William Blake take on their own life, William slowly fades away from existence. ”Nobody” prepares him for the journey into the spiritual world.
The good: The decision to make this movie in black and white is quite brilliant. First of all, it adds a dream quality to the story (most people dream in black and white) - a color of memory or hallucination, or rather a color of something forgotten. Secondly, B&W film creates perception of being in Hell and may symbolize fight of light and darkness, good and evil. Thirdly, it may be interpreted as color of print on paper - like in graphic novels. Sin City used the same device. And finally, judging by the “special effects” used in the early movies, the director wanted to create a feeling of a movie actually made in 1920s. The dialogs, on the other hand, are quite contemporary. The electric guitar theme helps to establish this connection of time.
The movie is extremely slow - a technique used by masters like Andrei Tarkovski to make viewers focus on one aspect of a scene. Like Tarkovski’s movies, Dead Man if full of metaphor and symbolism. At the same time, subtle actions of characters or something they say, even if a single word, tell a story of their own - very thoughtful movie. The story grasps you and never lets go.
The film won Palm d’Or at 1995 Cannes Film Festival and New York Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography in 1996.
Great cast. Amazing directing and photography.
Town of Machine at the end of the line? “You are taking a job in Hell”, a train passenger advises Blake. Could this mean Purgatory? Everyone Blake meats on his journey shows some sort of human fallibility and dies as the result.
A baby deer shot in the neck, just like another victim.
“Nobody”. Could it mean something from the spiritual world, as in “no body”? A ghost of an exterminated race of people? A spiritual guide?
The bad: Very moody. Very slow, even gun fights. No action. It’s a frightening movie showing a man fading away.
The summary: this movie is fantastic. It’s absolutely unique. An almost surreal story of a man’s demise.
p.s.
Pretty scary how white men were ruling the new world. Killing a million of buffalo in one year, killing buffalo for fun and to starve remaining Native Americans - all part of the genocide.
The cast: William Blake - Johnny Depp | Nobody - Gary Farmer | Nobody’s Gilfriend - Michelle Thrush | Train Fireman - Crispin Glover | John Dickenson - Robert Mitchum | Charlie Dickenson - Gabriel Byrne | Thel Russel - Mili Avital | Benmont Tench - Jared Harris | Outpost Trader - Alfred Molina
The crew: Director - Jim Jarmusch | Writer - Jim Jarmusch | Producers - Demetra J. MacBride, Karen Koch | Photography - Robby Müller
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Russian director Timur Bekmambetov is already known to American audience by his films Night Watch: Nochnoy Dozor and Day Watch: Dnevnoy Dozor and the next part, Twilight Watch: Sumerechniy Dozor based on Sergei Lukyanenko’s bestselling book. That movie went out in limited release. Those who are old enough remember two dramatic movies he made about Soviet soldiers during the war in Afghanistan: Peshavar Waltz (1994) and Escape from Afghanistan (2004) that was huge back in Russia and flopped in USA and Canada: it was marketed as an action movie, which it wasn’t - it was a war drama. Alas, the aforementioned trilogy was the highest grossing movie in Russia ever made by a Russian director, and it was not unnoticed in Hollywood. This time Timur Bekmambetov brings American audience an action movie starring James McAvoy of 
The good: Entertaining, thanks to Angelina Jolie’s performance and effects that go ridiculously far in details. Darkly humorous. Violent, but not gory - worth comparing to Kill Bill. Several twists in the plot made this movie quite interesting. James McAvoy’s performance and narrative were a lot of fun. Angelina Jolie was lethal, intelligent and hot in her role as Fox - there wasn’t enough of her. A call to take control over our lives and being proactive is at the core of the movie. The visual for fate weaving its web was pretentious, but wasn’t entirely convincing.
Batman Begins
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