ghost dog: the way of the samurai

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:51 am

Never having seen it before, I watched it thrice on xmas day, and I would have to say that it is excellent.

Forest Whittaker was divine in his role as a soft spoken, bearlike, modern-day samurai. Perhaps most of the mob characters involved aren't that well written dialogue-wise, and (while the mob actors are pretty good) any part of the movie where Forest Whittaker isn't present tends to lag. There were some nice references to Rashomon as well. Furthermore, it features a fine soundtrack by the RZA. There were a lot of reasons to like it.

I thought it would be kind of tasteless and horribly drab, in the typical Jim Jarmuschian way, but it turned out to be neither of those things. I recommend it highly.

Comment? Did anyone else like it as much as I did?

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:20 am

I want to watch it but the guy doesn't look anything like a fighter at all. Hes the doofus character in all movies.

Blargh · Post by **Blargh** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:59 am

'Twas enjoyable. Reminded me quite distinctly of my time in Peru. The Man Who Sold Icecream was a veritable font of amusement.

ApTyp · Post by **ApTyp** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 6:46 am

I have watched it recently. It was a good movie.

It was ways better than Mr.and Mrs. Smith movie i just watched 10 minutes ago (last choice, the fucker who grabbed CSI 2nd season DVd's still haven't returned them). "Ghost Dog" was surprising in ways I didn't expect it to be, and that's really all I ask from a good movie: to be surprised.

I guess it was like a short story in a way, only it was longer, but it did feel like a short story in the end. It's not "realistic" or "gritty", hell, it's about a swell guy who became a samurai warrior, doom and death be damned, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Wolfman Walt · Post by **Wolfman Walt** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:21 am

I think, and this is if I recall correctly as Its been awhile since I remember even reading up on it, it's based off of a short story.

Aonaran · Post by **Aonaran** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:31 am

If you want a good Jarmusch film you'd be much better off with either Dead Man or Down by law, i'm not a huge fan of the man but I can say I like both of those quite a bit.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:55 pm

I haven't seen it in what, four years? But I remember liking it a lot.

Megatron · Post by **Megatron** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:03 pm

Wolfman Walt wrote:I think, and this is if I recall correctly as Its been awhile since I remember even reading up on it, it's based off of a short story.

hagakure?

I liked it a lot. Probably more than Broken Flowers, but their different so it's okay. But anyway I liked both of them, but ghost dog more because of the music and the old gangsters.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:15 pm

I saw this film back in the year 2000. It was pretty good, but at that time I thought it lacked action. I guess I should get my hands on it again and reconsider my opinion and chit.

Aneurysm · Post by **Aneurysm** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:46 pm

Watched it a couple of years ago, didn't pay too much attention to it but I remember the ice cream truck conversations and the pigeons part.Overall it's was bueno.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:43 pm

Basically yeah, that's what sticks.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:46 pm

I liked it, but it's been too long since I last saw it for me to talk about it.

Nicolai · Post by **Nicolai** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:49 pm

It was pretty neat, albeit a tad too artsy and 'whoa, philosophical

'.

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 10:37 pm

Ya, nico sums it up pretty much. It was maybe a bit too deep or just wierd for me, I dunno. When he says those dialogs during the movie they are like WTF and its a bit hard to connect to the story that is happening at the moment.

The bad guys had no appeal whatsoever, they were just goofy on purpose I guess? Whitaker didn't seem anymore samurai than a serious emo gangster.

PiP · Post by **PiP** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:49 pm

I liked the film, but not like OMG!
Some aspects of it were handled skillfully, appealing to my taste - like the way the state of mind of the protagonist as a samurai is presented. (Whitaker has great fucking eyes for this).
I liked the old gangsters, too. Typical for Jarmush - he knows how to style the characters so that they are interesting or intrigueing, even if they don't do or say much. Think of "Dead Man" for instance. Fucking excellent personae.
(for the record, I watched Ghost Dog a few years ago, so I don't remember it really well, just the general impression and some details)

On the side note, Hagakure ('hidden in the foliage' or whatever is the English for it) is not a short story, but a samurai code, right?

Also, has anyone seen the original 'MR and MRS Smith'?

too artsy and 'whoa, philosophical

oh come on Nico, this was too much? Well, you're one brave man to admit it. No irony implied.

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 3:41 am

Hagakure is just a bunch of collected aphorisms for samurai to live by, yes. It's about 600 pages in the original Japanese.

I thought whitaker was rather intense and bearlike in his performance. He portrayed a loner, samurai-type quite well.

I don't think it was too 'artsy or whoa, philosophical' at all, beyond the odd Hagakure quotes thrown in between segments of the story. Overall the movie was pretty simple, and I liked that because it didn't seem as if it was trying to be anything that it wasn't. The movie succeeds at what it tries to do.

Carib · Post by **Carib** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:51 am

Yeah, a hitman with honor... I liked the relationship he shared with Louie his Master, the gangster who saved his life.

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:23 am

except louie wasn't the very respectful type and ghost dog devoted his life to him still.

PiP · Post by **PiP** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:16 pm

AFA I remember Whitaker was aware this gangster wasn't 'very respectful type', but felt the rules of the code aren't just some bullshit, that living by them has some deeper meaning, so he was loyal to his master nevertheless.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:41 pm

The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one's body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one's master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead.