Dead Man

I heard about Dead Man when I read some notices that it was showing at the Brooks Art Gallery. The Husband happened to be out that night and picked the dvd up for $6.99. It's a 1995 black-and-white Western with Johnny Depp and Robert Mitchum (in one of his last films) and featuring the poet William Blake. Billy Bob Thornton, John Hurt, Iggy Pop and Lance Henrickson also have roles. Gary Farmer plays Nobody. The Younger Son and I both liked it -I liked it better than he did- and The Husband did not like it at all at all. Dead Man chronicles Johnny Depp's adventures after crossing the country to take a job as an accountant. Things do not go as he had planned. Neil Young did the music.

trailer:

The Film Journal says,

Dead Man results in one of the most effective pairings of literary inspiration and contemporary filmmaker. William Blake and Jim Jarmusch, separated by over 200 years of history, met by chance and created the most original, effective and moving film of the 1990s.

Slant Magazine gives it 4 stars and calls it "likely Jim Jarmusch's most stunning achievement." Spirituality & Practice concludes, "Blake's arduous journey toward death is a wonder to behold." Salon.com likes it and its music and explains why in lists. EW says, "the film's meandering quirkiness is, finally, a big bore". Roger Ebert gives it 1 1/2 stars and says, "a strange, slow, unrewarding movie that provides us with more time to think about its meaning than with meaning."