Jim Jarmusch’s cinema is based a lot on travel and movement in general: Taxis in Night on Earth, trains in Mystery Train, genealogical quest in Broken Flowers, internal travels and wanders in Stranger Than Paradise, death journey in Deadman... The starting point of his films seems to draw irremediable migrations, or immobilization?
The opening scene of Down By Law (1986) starts with nice lateral tracking shot portraying New Orleans, and then the credits emerge , as a stop in the action and in almost the silence apart from a police alarm and a dog’s barking (obviously not a random analogy...). The chaos, with the travel and duality, is the other main theme of the scene, it’s like a big bang credits of the world creation. We can see here a kind of opposition to mainstream American cinema, starting with the rough reality, solitude and immobility. The absence of smooth and sweet movements, an amazing enigmatic song by Tom Waits, the chaotic streets and characters give the audience an expectation and feeling of sensory travel.
This made me want to see this film again. Just thinking that so many of those houses must have been destroyed by Katrina.
RépondreSupprimerCorrections: based a lot on, internal travel, Down by Law, tracking shot, the credits emerge, barking, to mainstream, give the audience.