Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai

Rating:
Summary: If you catch the punch lines it might be amusing.
Review: I actually enjoyed it, for a rather artsy film, which can pokefun at all genras of film which embrace some sort of code of thewarrior. Forest Whitaker is an inner city gangster, who works for a mafia boss, while following an ancient samurai code. It's a comedy without a laugh track, so if you don't figure that out, and think it's a deep serious movie, you'll miss the whole point of it. Think of it as a visual telling of five or six jokes, each leading up to a subtle punch line.

Otherwise, if you catch the jokes you might like it. If you miss them, it can be extremely lame. END

Rating:
Summary: One of the Reasons Why I Still Go to the Movies...
Review: Unfortunately, I fear that many people who watch "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" will not enjoy it. When I first watched the film, a number of audience members uttered aloud, "What the hell is this movie about?" I imagine they were anticipating a far different -- and, dare I say, inferior -- type of film, like a cross between "Friday" and a John Woo film. It is initially easy to think that, yes, the film is an eclectic syncretism of many genres and film formulas; but out of this mixture comes a new and refreshing invention, a film worth seeing that will no doubt keep open-minded viewers stimulated and awe-inspired.

I walked away from "Ghost Dog" quietly hailing it as the best and most original film I've seen this year. When friends asked me what this film was "about," I honestly couldn't give a straight answer.

"Ghost Dog" is like a great poem, meticulously structured and detailed with loving touches, rich with multilevelled meanings. The art direction is subtle yet bold, with a color palate to suit every scene; the RZA's musical soundtrack, which you will want to own, is smooth and elegant, inspiring dream-like and meditative head-bobbing; the film's well-timed screwball-caliber sense of humor is astonishing (you may well find yourself laughing silly at unexpected moments); the film pirouettes effortlessly through a variety of themes: race relations, literature, loyalty, and even hip-hop; and, above all, "Ghost Dog" is filled with great peformances and memorable characters.

Forest Whitaker, most notably, gives one of his finest performances as the film's title character (inadequately described as an "insane but ethical assassin" by various critics). His is a poignant portrait of a bruised and lonely soul, fire-hardened by a samurai's discipline and sense of honor; his dynamic visage meanders smoothly from bliss to ferocity, with a haunting (and haunted) calmness, a flickering sense of compassion. In addition, Whitaker's lyrical readings from the "Hagakure: Book of the Samurai", with his gravelly yet fluid voice, harmonize pure poetry with pure cinematic imagery -- something to be experienced rather than described. And his soulful relationship with his best friend, a Haitian ice cream vendor who speaks French but not a lick of English (while Ghost Dog himself speaks no French), is particularly touching, arcane, and possessed of an unsayable splendor.

Out of respect for the film, I dare not reveal any of the film's other details or surprises. Like any masterful art, "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" is meant to be experienced rather than merely described. While many will find the film too bizarre -- especially for a palate accustomed to Hollywood's mainstream rigmarole -- I could say that, at the very least, "Ghost Dog" will certainly please filmgoers in search of a new and inspiring entertainment.

"Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" is an experience, and like all great films it feels too short. In a time when most mainstream films leave many of us hungry for new images, smarter stories, and great surprises -- "Ghost Dog" is a film to nourish us.

Rating:
Summary: Whittaker Shines
Review: Forrest Whittaker is certainly one of our most talented and underrated actors. This role probably allows him the greatest latitude to express a wide range of emotions since he starred as Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's "Bird" or in the gender-bender "The Crying Game." As Ghost Dog, he winds his way through Jim Jarmusch's script with grace & depth.

In adopting the way of the Samurai, GDog latches onto Louie, a mid-level mob boss played by John Tormey. The mix of cultures is a familiar Jarmusch theme that is exceptionally well realized in this DVD. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is GDog's relationship to his French-speaking best friend Raymond. The two often converse, not understanding each other's language but almost mirroring each other's thoughts as the subtitled French indicates. Isaach de Bankole does a great job as the ice cream truck-driving friend. Also very pivotal to the film is the wonderful screen time given to Camille Winbush as Pearline, a child who GDog loans a copy of Rashamon to. There is a great rapport between the two.

The Italian crime bosses are ironically played for laughs with Cliff Gorman's inept mob boss front & center. As Vargo, Henry Silva who has such a great ethnic look and has played in "Dick Tracy" & "Oceans 11" does a great job of being hard-edged and incompetent. His daughter Louise is a witness to one of GDog's early executions and eventually orders Louie to perform the hit on our star.

With the aspects of carrier pigeons and a guy building an arc on a city rooftop, we see numerous interesting cultural aspects and humor combined in the drama. This is an interesting film melding Asian culture with modern crime, kind of a Hip-Hop version of Kung Fu. Whittaker keeps us glued to the screen for a most interesting performance. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Tres cool ... and far better than The Professional
Review: Jim Jarmusch is one helluva director. In 1995 he released "Dead Man", a stunning, trance-like western odyssey starring Johnny Depp and shot entirely in elegant black & white.

This year we're treated to Jarmusch's new opus, Ghost Dog. A superbly balanced, intelligent, likeable art film, Ghost Dog reprises a timeless samurai plot -- noble fighter betrayed by less talented, lowbrow gangsters -- with a fresh hip hop take, and anchors it with Forrest Whittaker's utterly believable performance.

Jarmusch uses humor wisely, thus avoiding the mistakes that plagued Luc Besson's tiresome, dreary The Professional. Realizing that bushido zealots risk coming across more pompous and self-important than a communist at a coffee lounge, Jarmusch cleverly balances out the movie with tongue in cheek mafia schtick, and a delicious line-up of offbeat characters.

Ghost Dog is a winning film that deserves more commercial success. I can't wait to see what Jim Jarmusch creates next!

Rating:
Summary: what is this rubbish?
Review: I think this movie COULD have been great. There are some funny moments: the icecream man scenes, and the mob members trying to catch those pigeons. But this movie was bizarre, and it dragged. There were countless shots of birds flying in the sky...no kidding. It was painful to watch from the begining to the end, i had to take frequent breaks to work my morale back up. I'm very glad i borrowed this from a friend instead of paying money to see it.

Rating:
Summary: Pretentious
Review: This is a pretentious film. It tries too hard to be different. The arty existential sequences try to be east European and fail, and the angst-ridden hit man is difficult to swallow. It's worth seeing once if you are interested in films, but that's it. Not worth buying. Borrow it. And then return it.

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic movie
Review: I heard about this movie from a friend, who rather emberrased admitted that this was one of is all time favourites. It's a kind of hiphop-movie (not the "BLING BLING!! WIT DA BOOTY AND DA $$$"-kind. I mean the serious, more intelligent hiphop), and my friend was quite the opposite of a hiphop fan, but still he saw the brilliance in it. Some "Josh Leman" wrote a review here giving it 1 star, and from what he wrote it is obvious that some people just don't get it. If you are one of the people who actually have some sense of appreciation for life philosophy however, disregard whatever slaughters you read of this movie completely. It is not only a brilliantly made movie with regards to the emotions it brings out (I am a macho kind of taekwondo-instructor that hadn't cried to a movie since I was below ten, but I found myself weeping and hurting at the end of it), it also gives you profound perspectives of an ancient japanese philosophy you are probably not familiar with, and you are left with the option to sympathise with or pity the main character at the end. You will have this movie in the back of your head for weeks, maybe the rest of your life. If you have an open, functioning mind, this is a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: A movie for the individual in all of us!
Review: Whitaker reads from a "how-to-become-a-Samurai" manual. Whitaker also spends a lot of time with pigeons. He further carries on a "conversation" with an ice cream vendor that speaks only French. Mobster Cliff Gorman extols the virtues of Flava Flav. Henry Silva and his gang, individually, are obsessed with watching cartoons. Silva's "daughter", Tricia Vessey, has prolonged passages of silence that seem to reveal the film's most enigmatic character.

This movie is so heavy-laden with symbolism that each viewer will probably interpret something entirely different. Thus, it becomes either a delicacy or travesty, dependent on the observer.

I, for one, thought it was delicious. But because of its abstractness, I couldn't quite give it five big ones.

Rating:
Summary: A memorable Forest Whitaker as a samurai contract killer
Review: I do not expect most people to like "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" as much as I did because I do not think most viewers are going to be as willing to accept the black comedy aspects along with the philosophical musings and sporadic blood shed. In fact, I think a lot of people will find the mixture rather strange, but at least compelling if not outright provocative. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch is able to pull this off because he has Forest Whitaker in the title role and when he admits on one of the special features that he would have abandoned the project if Whitaker had passed on "Ghost Dog" you know he is absolutely right.

You willingness to take this film on at face value is tested by the premise. Once upon a time a mid-level Mafiaso named Louie (John Tormey) came upon a couple of guys beating the crap out of a young black man (Damon Whitaker). When the guys take exception to Louie's interruption, he blows them away. We are told that some time later the young black man comes to Louie and declares himself to be in debt; calling himself Ghost Dog, he becomes a contract killer for Louie, although he calls himself a loyal retainer. Ghost Dog follows the way of the samurai, which is laid out in the book "Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai." But where the book enters the picture is unclear. If he was reading it before the assault then he should have been able to disptach those two guys; he certainly does well against everybody else in this film. But perhaps it was afterwards.

The key thing to understand is that Ghost Dog is a Don Quixote figure, both in terms of following a creed long forgotten by the world in which he lives but also because he is certifiably crazy. Ghost Dog is living by a rules that Louie does not even know about, let along understand. Yet this does not bother Ghost Dog any more than the fact that he only speaks English and his best friend, Haitian ice cream vendor Raymond (Isaach De Bankolé) only speaks French. The major conceit of this film are the quotation from "Hagakure" recited by Ghost Dog (e.g., "Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty"), which present the philosophy of the Samurai and serve to explain his motivations.

The problem comes when Ghost Dog does a successful hit on a mobster only to discover that Louise Vargo (Tricia Vessey), daughter of the big boss, Ray Vargo (Henry Siliva), is on the scene. She was not supposed to be there, but she was. Ghost Dog has no instructions about killing anybody else and Louise is reading "Rashomon," so he leaves her alone (but borrows the book). However, despite the fact he is a successful contract killer, Vargo wants Ghost Dog killed. In one of the most surreal exposition scenes of all-time, Louie has to explain to Vargo, underboss Sonny Valerio (Cliff Gorman) and a senile Old Consigliere (Gene Ruffini) that he contacts Ghost Dog by carrier pigeon, trying to explain to the old school mafiaoses the bizarre relationship.

For Vargo it comes down to Ghost Dog or Louie, and since Ghost Dog has objections to it being either himself or his "master," he takes matters into his own hands. This guy might practice with a sword, but he is pretty good with a gun as well. Meanwhile, Ghost Dog has befriended a young girl, Pearline (Camille Winbush), trying to pass on something of the life he has lived and what he believes. There might be some message here about two outdated modes of thinking, that of the Samurai verus that of the Mafia, but ultimately this film is about Whitaker's character and his performance. Whatever problems there are with the storyline or the clash of disparate elements in the film are forgiven by what Whitaker does as he goes back and forth between living a life of meditation and being an efficient killing machine. Jarmusch wrote the script and directed this film, but "Ghost Dog" is Whitaker's film.


Rating:
Summary: A very Japanese film.
Review: Most reviewers have already covered the basics of this film. There is just one observation I would like to add.

This film is very Japanese, so if you watch it with an American viewpoint you will probably dislike it. Most Japanese love a *Tragic Ending* just the same as most Americans love the *Happy Ending.*

In Japanese culture, there are many examples of this type of epic story. In most of these stories either the hero is killed after he completes his task, or the task turns out to be impossible.

Also in Japanese films, most of the time there is *betrayal* in the final scene as the final battle is more often then not between two *friends* rather then two *enemies.*

We Americans are not often exposed to *tragedy* endings in action films. Usually our action movies end up with a show-down of the bad guy that we already had spent 2 hours learning to hate. We see our hero kill him and we feel better (Classic *happy ending*).

Japanese movies usually have us either liking the *bad guy* or at least seeing why the *bad guy* is doing what he does. They always try to blur the line between right and wrong. Then the resolution is something like the *hero* and the *bad guy* killing each other. Very sad ending is common.

Japanese movies also have a tendency to have very serious storylines, and then for humor they throw in the most slap-stick / silliest things that they can. An example of this in Ghost Dog is when we have two mafia hit men discussing what to do about this assassin that killed someone and then all of the sudden they have to catch a pidgin that flew into the room.

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What does all this sum up to? That Ghost Dog is a Japanese movie. It is a tragedy with the occasional very out of place slap-stick comic element. So when you watch the movie, if you watch it from that viewpoint you will be able to see what the director is trying to do and you can adjust your viewpoint so that the movie makes more sense.