im Jarmusch’s arty experimentations can annoy at times, but this is a mystifying and magical movie. Who else but Jarmusch would make a black-and-white Western using Blake’s poetry as a theme and get Johnny Depp and Robert Mitchum (terminally ill at the time) and Iggy Pop to support the framework? Not to mention coaxing an unforgettable score from Neil Young. Depp plays accountant William Blake (of course) who joins up with an Indian (Gary Farmer, who really is one) in a pilgrimage into the spirit world. No one has such an elegantly strange and mesmerizing Western. “Dead Man” and “Ghost Dog” are two essential slices of Jarmusch .
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About the Author: Marcia Yarrow
A military brat, Marcia Yarrow was born in Hamburg, Germany but grew up in Germany, Spain, and Provo, Utah. She's been writing for the magazine since its creation in 2004.