Dead Man

A quiet accountant (Johnny Depp) is transformed into a feared outlaw.

Dead Man is not for everyone. Some will certainly be put-off by writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s off-beat approach, but others will find the movie original and interesting enough to look past it’s shortcomings.

Johnny Depp delivers another brilliant performance, this time as a man who transforms over the course of his gradual death. His performance is measured and restrained, which is perfect against the over-the-top characters he encounters.

Jarmusch weaves an existentialist theme throughout the story that serves to give the movie substance, but avoids pretentiousness by serving up a good bit of black comedy. It could be argued whether his characters symbols or visions, but there’s no denying their originality.

Still, as I mentioned earlier, Dead Man does have it’s shortcomings. First is the running time of 121 minutes, which is 15-20 minutes too long. The movie—like the main character—runs out of steam toward the end. Second is Neil Young’s score. While at times it’s absolutely brilliant, at others it’s intrusive and could stand to be a bit more restrained. Both of these faults are really technicalities and part of Jarmusch’s growing process as a filmmaker, and should not detract from the wonderfully original vision he’s created.