Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

The gloomy warrior known as Ghost Dog considers himself dead for two reasons. Firstly, he lives by the samurai code and meditates on his own death. Secondly, he was nearly killed a few years ago.

In «Dead Man,» Jarmusch brings us to the threshold of death and now sets a meeting beyond it. The samurai commandment states: «Every day, without exception, think of yourself as already dead. That is the essence of the samurai's path.» And «The Way of the Samurai» is both the essence and subtitle of Jarmusch's masterpiece. Returning to his best moments—his greatest hits, as rock musicians say—he also returns to the best moments of cinema in general: to Godard (hence the samurai inscriptions in «Ghost Dog»), to westerns (hence the duels and shootouts at high noon). This external technique rhymes with the internal life of the film, where a black hero lives like a samurai, a nine-year-old girl is obsessed with Frankenstein, and an Italian gangster worships Woody Woodpecker from pre-war cartoons.

Jarmusch does not shy away from the new times; on the contrary, he clearly and simply explains the world of the 2000s, with its cultural mix that makes it resemble Babylon. «The spirit of the era does not return. At its end, it disintegrates into particles, and at the turn of centuries, people save themselves from being out of time by holding onto the wisdom of departed worlds,» teaches the samurai code.