13 year retrospective- Dead Man

Jim Jarmusch is possibly one of the best independent film directors of his generation. Genre-breaking films like "Coffee and Cigarettes" or "Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai brought Jarmusch some publicity, but "Dead Man" is a movie that has been generally overlooked.  The movie is reminiscent of Tim Robbins' "Jacob's Ladder," because, rather than moving through life, the protaginist in each film is moving through death. 

Johnny Depp plays the main character, a meek and jumpy accountant from Cleveland who has decided to take an accountant job in old west at a town called machine. The trainman tells him that he is headed to the end of the line, the end of hell as it were. From there all sorts of mind bending events take place with a literally all-star cast: Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thorton, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Henrickson, John Hurt, Crispin Glover, Alfred Molina and Gary Farmer just to name a few. 

The plot of the movie deals with Depp's character, William Blake, being hunted down for the murder of the son of the town's big business tycoon. He meets up with an English speaking Indian named Nobody, who helps him along in his journey. The movie reveals that death, like life, is a journey like any other and how one dies dictates how they will live in the next life.  When you see Crispin Glover's character, the trainman, you can see that he is actually the ferryman of the river Styx Charon, delivering Depp to his fate. Instead of coins in the eyes, the currency for the ferry is actually tobacco, but unfortunately, Depp's character does not smoke. Dead Man is an amazing movie, definitely worth a look.