Dead Man

DEAD MAN              A                    

USA   Germany  Japan  (121 mi)  1995  d:  Jim Jarmusch

The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow.

―William Blake, from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1793

From the lower register guitar riffs from Neil Young that play throughout the film, Dead Man - Neil Young (Guitar Solo #1) - YouTube (5:18), that in fact punctuate each scene, the secret to understanding this film is realizing that each character remains true to themselves.  Johnny Depp plays the same character he played on his TV debut on 21 Jump Street, a straight arrow who hasn’t a clue what he’s dealing with, as the world around him is immersed in nightmarish greed and corruption as initially prophesied by a coal-faced Crispin Glover, a coal-stoker on the long train ride from Cleveland to somewhere out West, beautifully shot in Black and White by Robby Müller, where his preminiscient ramblings are not taken seriously and also represented by Robert Mitchum in his oddball last role, a capitalist megalomaniac who pulls out all stops in going after Depp, an East coast tinhorn who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was nearly murdered by Mitchum’s son, who with one shot killed a young saloon girl and put a bullet lodging next to Depp’s heart.  Depp, firing blindly, finally shoots the murderer and steals his horse before escaping out of town where he awakes the next morning to a full-dressed Indian (Gary Farmer) with a knife to his heart, scraping out what he could from the bullet but claims the rest is too close to his heart, calling him a “dead man.”  When Farmer, who calls himself Nobody, discovers Depp’s name is William Blake, he is overjoyed, as he’s actually familiar with his art and poetry and joyfully nurses him back to health.  Most of the film is shot with the two of them on horseback featuring mystical poetic musings from Nobody, with hired guns following, cutthroats paid by Mitchum, who doesn’t care if Depp is returned dead or alive, but he wants his stolen pinto pony returned.  On the run, Depp and Farmer on horseback attempt to elude the pursuers, eventually increasing to untold numbers as wanted posters keep appearing out of nowhere bringing all number of wannabe’s into of the forest for the reward money.

Nobody’s personal story is interesting, a parable for untold Indian history which nearly nobody’s ever heard, but it contains horrific truths about growing up Indian, in this case by a man who was rejected by both the Indian and the white world, so he wanders alone as an outcast fending for himself, pretty much despising or at least mistrusting both cultures, but thoroughly assimilated into Indian lifestyle where he wears the clothes proudly and finds white people ridiculously stupid.  As bounty hunters lurk ever closer, Depp is at first an astonishingly poor shooter, but in time he becomes acclimated to the ways of the West, always speak with a gun first and ignore the myths, the legends and the lore which are outright lies most of the time, but if people have enough money to print enough copies of the myths, people will start believing it.  Much of the dialogue between the bounty hunters is absurdly ridiculous, but that’s the point.  Their very lives depend on the spreading of Western lore, most all of it fabricated, which is how they were hired in the first place, by reputation, and why they were employed to carry out a job under false pretenses, spreading the word that Depp was a double murderer.  As they wander through the forest, everyone’s true nature is revealed.

Told through a series of vignettes, each fading out to black, where the lone sound of the guitar rhythmically adds tone and coherence, Farmer’s character takes on greater significance as he’s clearly the only one with practical knowledge of how to survive, who constantly generates wisdom and humor while Depp is passively subdued by his deteriorating health.  As Depp was something of a blank piece of paper when he entered the West, a novice, completely inexperienced, so Farmer is the film, as he tells a story few are familiar with, using poetic references from William Blake’s poems to offer insight into the human condition.  Yet he’s also just a man, but he’s a good man.  As Farmer knows Depp is already dead, with bad men following him who want to bring him to a bad end, both good and evil are fighting for his soul where Farmer’s singular purpose seems to be preparing Depp’s fate for the afterlife, whether he’ll get a dignified send-off or die an ignominious death.  The indiscriminate shooting of buffalo out the train window and the shooting of humans becomes a prominent theme, as every day added to Depp’s life is realized only due to his sudden prowess in the use of a gun.  As the sheer look of the forest in the film changes from a gorgeous ride through the bleached out white of birch trees to the immense grandeur of the enormous trees of the Pacific Northwest, Depp moves ever closer to his fate.  The final sequence in the Indian village is nearly wordless, yet ponderous and ever so real, using a reconstructed village of the Makah Indian Reservation from Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula, one of the few tribes that exists in near exclusivity protected by the harsh rocky landscape and the isolation of the ocean, whose Pacific coast totems, sculpture, longhouse, and art designs profoundly add to the aesthetic.  No explanation is needed to this near wordless finale that demonstrates a complete lack of artifice and plays out exclusively in mystical Indian imagery.            

Benny & Joon

BENNY & JOON                                  B                     

USA  (98 mi)  1993  d:  Jeremiah S. Chechnik 

Some cultures are defined by their relationship to cheese.                  
—Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson)

In the charming and whimiscal manner of DAVID AND LISA (1962), HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971), or DOMINICK AND EUGENE (1988), we now have BENNY & JOON.  Made a few years after EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990) and the same year as WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE (1993), a film this very much resembles, with Mary Stuart Masterson as Joon playing the mentally challenged Leonardo DiCaprio part, what I found especially interesting is how Masterson holds her own onscreen with Johnny Depp, and may even provide the superior performance.  Depp’s role is very showy, almost the stereotype of a Johnny Depp chosen eccentric, which is obvious from the very first moment we see him sitting alone in a tree.  While there is a nod to Buster Keaton through a shot of a book Depp is reading, there is no tribute to Chaplin, as Depp completely steals the Dance of the Dinner Rolls, “The Oceana Roll” scene from THE GOLD RUSH (1925) seen here YouTube - Charlie Chaplin- Table Ballet on YouTube (1:02).  It might have been nice over the end credits to see both performances side by side on a split screen, as Depp even copies the facial expressions and the Chaplin body language.  While many assume Depp plays the title character, actually he plays Sam, with Aidan Quinn as big brother Benny, who looks after his mentally ill sister after both parents died in a car crash.  Like the subsequent children’s story NANNY MCPHEE (2005), Joon wears out her housekeepers, going through the available list until all that’s left is a private group home that her psychiatrist (CCH Pounder) finally recommends to Benny.  Reluctant to send her away, this idea hovers over the rest of the film like an elelphant in the room. 

Joon seems to enjoy herself when left alone and doesn’t wander off or get into outside trouble, as she follows her routines faithfully and loves painting, but she has her moments when she feels suspiciously picked on and singled out, where the world is turning against her and she loses all sense of control, either striking back in an angry tantrum or feeling the heightened anxiety of a panic attack.  She is apt to throw things, which sends the last housekeeper out the door.  Benny works as a car mechanic where he gives the best cut rates in town, but otherwise is committed to taking care of his sister, always sharing affectionate moments with her every day, where the two have a special closeness, which prevents Benny from moving on in his life, as he has no life other than work and his sister.  But unlike the horrible bad guy characters Quinn has become associated with late in his career, he’s an especially nice guy here, and the well rounded cast of his poker friends include Oliver Platt and Dan Hedaya, with brief appearances from William H. Macy.  When they play poker, they don’t have money, so the stakes are things lying around the house, where Sam is an unwanted cousin given away in a poker game. 

The two oddballs quickly express an interest in one another, which becomes fascinating when it turns romantic, where Depp goes through the repertoire of silent film comedians, wearing funny suits and a hat, rarely speaking, and performing mime tricks in public which always draw a crowd.  Written by Barry Berman and Lesley McNeil, there are also a memorable string of one-liners in this film, making this an endearing film, perhaps overly cute in its treatment of mental illness, which gets glossed over in favor of laughs and sentiment.  But give the two stars credit here, as they are both brilliant, where Depp’s comic timing and apparent ease with the physical comedy makes him look like a natural, and Masterson is wonderfully quirky with her innocent curiosity and quick mood changes, not to mention a surprising Holden Caulfield wit on display.  Perhaps the real discovery is an early appearance by none other than Julianne Moore, absolutely adorable as a cute young waitress who dabbles in B-movies, who brings a much needed sanity to the situation, as she shows good judgment as the love interest for Benny, who’s too wrapped up in Joon’s swooning desires and sudden pangs of freedom to notice.  Without Depp, no doubt few would ever have been attracted to this film, but Masterson is a scene stealer in her own right.  However, few will forget the lunacy of Depp’s infamous window washing routine outside her window, something that would fit right into any Wallace & Gromit film.