Down By Law

with John Lurie, Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni
Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch
(Novice Entertainment, 1986)
by Mark Phinney

I am a born loser. (Ask my Editor, he’ll vouch for me.) This may be the reason I really relate to the world according to Jim Jarmusch. The biggest compliment you can give one of his films is that it alienates you from any stray, colorful, cheery feelings you might have. His films are portraits; walking, talking photos of down-and-outers reaching for a glimpse of what lies over the wall their misery and indifference has erected. The perfect appetizer to this or any of Jim’s films (Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Mystery Train (1990), Night on Earth (1992)) is a Tom Waits album and a bottle of something cheap, seeing as the two are crucial elements to his storylines. Lurie (a Jarmusch regular) and Reverend Tom play low-lifes (Waits an itinerant late-night DJ, Lurie a small-time pimp) from the underside of confetti-strewn, booze-laden New Orleans, both running head-on into a collision course with failure (though they can’t even fail right). The two wind up sharing a jail cell and hate each other immediately until a hilariously hapless Italian (Roberto Benigni) lands in stir with them, stirs up a grudging relationship between them, and inspires their eventual escape. Be prepared – a Jarmusch film is Deadpan 101 (much like his contemporaries, Hal Hartley and Jon Jost), like grainy, near-static snapshots of dreary afternoons consumed by drunken anecdotes. Take home the Jarmusch library tonight and share it with the wife and kids.