Rating: 
Summary: An intriguing, thought-provoking film
Review: Jarmusch has once again created a masterpiece film. The casting for this film is perfect with Johnny Depp as the troubled main character William Blake and an excellent performace from Gary Farmer as the esoteric Indian, Nobody. The slow progression of the film brings the viewer into an almost real-time adventure as we travel on a depressing, life-changing, and enlightening adventure. The contrasts which are offered in black and white film give the picture a unique and breathtaking appearence. The soundtrack is composed originally adding another interesting aspect to the film. This film is a sensual adventure of sight and sound. Every time you watch this movie, there is something new and interesting that you pick up on. The lines in the movie are absolutely poetic, rich, and thoughtful. A must see for anyone who is interested in something artful and different from the usual topical nonsense that Hollywood feeds us. This movie is a 10!
Rating:
Summary: movie at its best...
Review: this movie, when i saw it the first time, was a trip - not only because of the awesome music (Neil Young) but also because of poetic pictures, the perfect dialogues and of course the actors... one can say it is the best comedy in '96, though is no comedy, one can say this is one of the best tragedies, but isn't... for sure it is one that contains a whole lot of meaning, right from the beginning when a railway-employee, who is not able to read, starts a deeply philosophic conversation with the accountant Blake...i loved it and i would recommend it
Rating:
Summary: A Lovely, Mysterious, Beautifully Filmed Masterpiece
Review: Jim Jarmusch's DEAD MAN is one of the few film allegories that actually works. It's a completely individualized, eccentric piece of filmmaking that, considering the oddities populated throughout its narrative, never succumbs to self-appreciative banality. The tale itself takes one interesting turn after another, and it progresses at its own deliberate pace, but wonderfully so; nothing is rushed here, while, at the same time, nothing seems overprepared or fussed over, either -- it's a fluid, unified vision that has a quietly hypnotic effect. The brilliant German cinematographer Robby Muller gets the best use of B/W since Woody Allen blessed us with 1985's THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO; the images are inhumanly lucid and clear, with an outstanding and imaginative production design and piercing music score perfectly complimenting them. Both Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer (as Nobody) are superb.
Rating:
Summary: Unpoisoned by Hollywood
Review: This movie breaks all the normal rules for American movies; I could almost believe it's foreign. There is no formula here, just a masterpiece. Amazon.com's reviewer must have a very commercial palette to have disliked it so. I saw it over two years ago and still recommend it to anyone who will listen.
Rating:
Summary: breathtakingly, brutally, bueatiful
Review: This film I saw about a year and a half ago, and it's impression has done nothing but grow. Jarmusch takes thoughts and bleeds them into sights and sounds like many try but few succeed. He as been not only an influence in my writing, but also a sense of affirmation in my own style. I believe in staying true to the notion, and not letting the artistic part of your message overshadow the statement itself. This is something that is quite difficult, and I feel Jarmusch has found the formula, not only with this film, but also with other greats such as "Down By Law" and "Mystery Train". A true visionary, but visionaries are more common than one that can share their vision with a minimum of pretension and self indulgence. Thank you Jim!
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Summary: Jonny Depp was great!
Review: I loved it all
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Summary: Should be required viewing for all American History students
Review: Even more scathingly than "Little Big Man," this film tells the true story of "how the West was won" beautifully, by methodically and wittily debunking every psychotic myth to come out of our country's propaganda apparatus, eg. "Gunsmoke" and John Wayne. Should be required viewing for all American History students, and also all Western-movie buffs. Neil Young's soundtrack is brilliant, as is Depp's acting. "Dead Man" simply resonates with all the blood-stained, white-washed and too-long-hidden truth about how "America" was REALLY stolen from its original inhabitants, and shows the hideous monstrosity which took its place, namely the ugly, savage and hypocritical "white man's world." Tom Keogh's Amazon.com review of this film is simply blind to everything that this film stands against.
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Summary: Quite possibly the best 'film' ever made!!!
Review: Not the best 'movie', best 'story', but as a whole it is a masterpiece by all standards. The mainstream just doesnt get it, as even the distributors try to push this film as an action movie in the western genre... wrong wrong wrong!!! If you are even remotely interested in this movie, by all means, please buy the widescreen version. The cropped video version is a waste of cinematographer Robby Muller's stark, beautiful, haunting black and white photography. A true history of the west is given in the subtle 'plot' that is really a journey through life... not unlike ( and meaning to parallel, i presume) the REAL William Blake's SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE. Can you tell that this is my favorite film of all time????
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Summary: Metaphysical allegory disguised as a Western
Review: Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer are utterly brilliant. This movie is actually about the soul's journey after death - Blake's death represented by "leaving Cleveland," the mundane world or life as we know it, and entering a kind of Hell (the town of Machine) where the Devil (Mitchum as Dickinson) rejects him. Like Dante he picks up a Virgil-type guide, Gary Farmer as Nobody (read the real William Blake's poems sometime and look for the Nobody reference) who guides him through hell, defending him from the other damned souls who wish to consume him, until he can pass through the ocean of light to...where? Brilliant, brilliant movie.
Rating:
Summary: Jarmusch Strikes hard
Review: This film has gone widely unnoticed, but who would have expected any different. A film of ideas and indictments, Dead Man is perhaps one of the most important films of the last 10 years. The reasons are many in number, but simply put, the film redefines the western as an imperialist mode, while demonstrating that our ideas about how our country arose are generally based on myth and deception. The film deals with the American Genocide of the Native Americans, and our own savagery of materialism. Anyone vaguely interested in understanding american history's plethora of frontier myths should see this film as soon as possible. By the way, Johnny Depp gives a wonderful and subtle performance.
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