stumbled across this on an aboriginal television station. haven't seen it in almost a decade, since its original release in 1995.

while i recall being absolutely smitten with the original, the stiltedness of the acting and dialogue was even more apparent this go round. still, this is an amusing film.

a younger johnny depp ('william blake'), as well as a wonderful performance by gary farmer ('nobody'), make this necessary viewing. not to mention bit parts by everyone from crispen glover, iggy pop, billy bob thornton, steve buscemi, jared harris, robert mitchum, john hurt, gabrielle byrne, and beyond.

neil young's soundtrack does a lot to hold this film together. without it i dont' know if the transition sequences would work nearly as well, or if the general ambiance of the film would be as stunning.

for some reason i recall liking jarmusch's down by law a good deal, although it's been forever and half since i've seen that. i'll have to see if i can drum up a copy to confirm if it is as good as i remember.
...
i dug up journal notes of what i thought of dead man the first time round. funny that i found down by law noteworthy at the time, as well.

strange reading what kind of mini-reviews i was writing back then. i wrote journal entries like i was writing to another person (i treated the journal as another person). same thing now in some ways. i'm not writing for other people, i'm writing for my computer. same intent, different medium. made the transition from private journaling to posting the entries online pretty simple.

bizarre. johnny depp is really great in this quirky flick about the unexpected being thrust on a simple person. (accountant accused of murder). interesting how he deals with the uncertainty of becoming a "killer." the native, who mistakes depps character 'william blake' as a living dead version of the poet, is hilarious (can't recall his name). the film is a meditative exploration of the self. also recommend his down by law starring tom waits and roberto benigni.