The aspect that makes Jim Jarmusch’s filmmaking method special is the fact that these cinematic

experiences clearly mirror a personal mode of narration, and above that they are perfect testimonies
of a personal world. His taste in choosing his subjects, narrative ambience, and the similar storylines
testify to the fact that Jarmusch’s cinema is visually and narratively different from today’s American
cinema.

The elements mentioned below are narrative specifications that are repeated in each of Jarmusch’s
films. Undoubtedly there is something in common between Jarmusch’s cinema and, as an example,
Hal Hartley’s cinema, as they both use a certain sense of humor in the overall treatment of dramatic
situations.

The element you may find similar to Tarantino’s mode of confronting narrative situations is that they
both use long conversation scenes, though their approach in treating those scenes is utterly stylistic
and different, again something to note in Tarantino’s cinema.

What follows in this article are elements that repetitively show in Jarmusch’s films, and they can be
considered narrative elements that make all these different storylines somehow similar and
recognizable in their author’s approach in narrating a story. As always, if you think you can add to
this list, don’t hesitate to suggestion recommendations.

1. Isolation, abandoned cities

In “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013), the cities chosen as main locations are Detroit and Tangier in
Morocco; both are currently deserted urban spaces. There are long scenes of Adam (Tom
Hiddleston) giving nightly tours to Eve (Tilda Swinton) through Detroit; he shows her the old
magnificent theater hall that has turned into a parking lot, an abandoned urban space where coyotes
are roaming.

The justification of choosing a city like Detroit as the main narrative space in this film is the fact that
the protagonist is a vampire (a pacifist one), and prefers to keep his distance from the chaos of big
cities. He desires his privacy and solitude. In “Dead Man” (1995), William Blake (Johnny Depp) finds
himself at the end of the train’s path, in company town of machine only because he needs to find a
job as an accountant.

It’s not his will to stay there, since he’s refused to get the job. The character finds himself in an
abandoned location by coincidence while Adam is there, because if there is a current perfect
location in today’s world for a modern vampire, Detroit as any other abandoned city is the one.

Jarmusch’s first feature film “Permanent Vacation” (1980) starts with the image of a crowded New
York street (the sound is a subjective, isolated sound and it’s not recorded onstage and the
movements are slow), cut successively to an abandoned New York alley where no one is passing.

This mode of cutting two differently attended ambient scenes is repeated a couple of times until the
protagonist shows up, and of course he is noted easily and wordlessly because he is the only one
roaming in the deserted alleys of the city.

2. Loners as protagonists
Jarmusch’s chosen protagonists willingly stand outside of any social definition. William Blake in
“Dead Man” is a loner apart from any belonging; he’s on the verge of starting a relationship, but
becomes rapidly suppressed from the girl’s jealous fiancé.

The protagonist of “Ghost Dog” (1999) doesn’t have any family, it’s his choice to live as a loner and
following “the way of the samurai”. The same can be said about Don Johnston (Bill Murray), the
protagonist of “Broken Flowers” (2005); he has chosen to have a family and prefers to be left alone.
The main protagonists of “Only Lovers Left Alive”, though they are a married couple, live separately
in two different countries.

In “Night on Earth “(1991), “Coffee and Cigarettes” (2003), “Down by Law” (1986) and “Mystery
Train” (1989), the characters are all out of the social context, and the storylines form in taxis,
prisons, streets and a new unknown city. They dwell in hotel rooms and locations that are not
generally considered permanent residences; the character is placed in that setting temporarily and
only during the time gap in which the story is happening.

In “Helsinki”, the drunk man is left alone outside of his own house, in “Ghost Dog” rather than
remaining inside, he spends his time on the roof with his pigeons and the only character who sees
the inside of his own private space (often invaded by his neighbor who just walks in and out) seems
to be uncomfortable in his own home as in any other house that he visits. It seems that Jarmusch’s
style is simply avoiding personal spaces.

3. Drive into the scene/subjectivity

This is a scene that is repeated in all of Jarmusch’s works. The character is literally driven into the
narrative setting; in “Dead Man” and “Mystery Train” by a train, in “Broken Flowers”, “Ghost Dog” and
“Down by Law”, for a notable amount of time the characters are in a car, while in “Night on Earth” the
entire narrative takes place inside the car while moving through the space.

Using scenes inside a transport medium, aside from the fact that it reflects the filmmaker’s tendency
to isolate the character from its surroundings, is a mode of mirroring Jarmusch’s subjective approach
towards the story he’s narrating, specifically because most of the scenes in the car in Jarmusch’s
films are accompanied by music and POV shots.

4. Referring to literature

William Blake in “Dead Man”, though he claims constantly to be a different Blake, transforms to a
version of the famous poet over the course of the film; a William Blake who writes his poetry
wordlessly, with his gun.

In “Ghost Dog”, though there is no direct reference to a famous poet or writer, the character’s mode
of life and philosophy can be considered as a literal approach, through constant voiceovers that read
about the way of samurai in confronting life.

Christopher Marlowe has lived for ages in “Only Lovers Left Alive”. Eve, while packing her baggage
to travel, collects books, and Don’s neighbor, Winston (Jeffrey Wright) loves mystery novels and
imports every single dramatized rule from this genre of literature, forcing it into the storyline.
Even if the main characters are not directly involved in creating a work of literature or a literal
concept, long monologues and direct references to famous people lives and their citations are
always involved in Jarmusch’s stories. We can dare say that what Jarmusch is trying to do is
bringing in already known characters, situations and stereotypes to construct his narration on the
basis with which the audience is familiar, and then gradually modifying them to represent his own
interpretive representation.

5. Sense of humor

More than anything else, creating a humorous situation in Jarmusch’s narratives is conceptually
utilizing the contrast between characters, and the contrast between the character and his or her
surrounding environment. A clown from East Germany who works as a taxi driver in New York,
confronting a Native American who believes in the spiritual life with an accountant, or a passive
former informatic who is forced by his enthusiastic neighbor into drama.

Vampires creatively try blood ice creams and Japanese admirers of Elvis Presley come all way to
Colorado to see the natal town of their favorite musicians. “Coffee and Cigarettes” is maybe the most
significant out example of creating humorous situations through simply confronting the characters
and their contrasts.
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6. Musicians as protagonists

Jarmusch’s interpretation of the vampire stereotype is totally different from whatever has been
previously narrated. Instead of anything else, he hangs onto the fact that a vampire can stop aging
and remains forever young, and rightfully he decides that whoever longs to stay alive forever should
have a rising interest in living and constantly appreciating life. His vampires are artists and as any
artist they keep admiring living kinds, life and youth.

Choosing musicians and artists as the main characters can also explain why these characters are
loners – because of the simple fact that their mode of self expression is not through words. William
Blake in “Dead Man”, after coming to the belief that the soul of the dead poet has been materialized
and reincarnated through his body, starts expressing himself and creating artistic images through
violence.

Musicians and artists in general, dead or alive, as main characters or secondaries are always
present in Jarmusch’s narratives. Choosing a musician as the main character gives the filmmaker
the benefit of dramatically justifying the source of music. Though in Jarmusch’s films, the use of
music is mostly extra-diegetic, and through using a character who express him or herself through
music, it heralds and facilitates the presence of music in the scene.

7. Eastern philosophy, mystification

The unfamiliarity of Eastern cultures and philosophies in a Western context creates a sense of
exoticism in Jarmusch’s films.

Using the lute as the main musical instrument in “Only Lovers Left Alive”, Native American spiritual
beliefs in “Dead Man”, references to the samurai philosophy of life in “Ghost Dog”, and the Ethiopian
jazz that accompanies Don’s trip in “Broken Flowers” are perfect example of Jarmusch’s approach
and interest in Eastern philosophy and culture.

8. Passive characters, the importance of secondary characters

This is the main repeated element in almost every story by Jarmusch. The main characters
(protagonists) don’t seem to have enough motivation to follow the storyline, and there’s always a
secondary character that forces the protagonist to follow the dramatic flow.

Don doesn’t seem to have the will to move from his couch if not for Winston, being familiar with
mystery novels, tries to mark out any potential dramatic point of the story and even choosing the
proper music (in his opinion) for the situation, pushing Don forcefully in his car and encouraging him
to follow the story until the end.

The same thing happens with William Blake, who has no intention of actively following the dramatic
line and Nobody (Gary Farmer) harshly drags Blake into believing what Nobody is actually
suggesting to him. Blake, the passive accountant, is dead at the very beginning of this story; the one
who is still alive and expresses his poetry through shooting his gun is Blake the poet, whom
everyone believed to be dead.

Adam in “Only Lovers Left Alive” is ready to give up his infinite youth lifetime and Eve is the one who
persuades him to go on. This mode of treating the characters in the screenplay reflects perfectly
Jarmusch’s approach in confronting a dramatic situation.

9. Narrative episodes
Some of Jarmusch’s films evidently are narrated as separate episodes. The only thing that connects
the episodes in “Night on Earth” is the fact that all the stories take place in a taxi driving through the
city, which is the main location, and location is the very element that ties the episodes in “Coffee and
Cigarettes” together.

In “Dead Man”, repetitive fades to black divide the whole united story in separate episodes, while in
“Only Lovers Left Alive”, the characters up to a certain point are physically living in distant locations.

10. Feature film structured as a music video

Apart from the fact that music in Jarmusch’s films represents a subjective approach toward the story
on a whole, using car scenes and POV shots accompanied by music (logically we presume that this
music is playing through the car stereo) recreates a familiar situation that almost anyone has
experienced. Looking out of the car while listening to music can turn any daily, trivial fact into a
direct, meaningful and subjective reflection of that very music.

If the filmmaker is using the POV of the character entering the dramatic situation, it means that we
are the character; he’s counting on our direct sympathy with the lone passive protagonist, using
these musical subjective intervals to actually speed up this connection.

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cinema/2/#ixzz3vBEqrmbS