In Jim Jarmusch black and white film Dead Man (1995), Johnny Depp plays William Blake, who sets out on a spiritual journey with native american Nobody (Gary Farmer) music by Neil Young and also starring Mili Avital as Thel, Crispin Glover and Robert Mitchum http://inadepptrance.wordpress.com/feed











 

DEAD MAN 

1995

William Blake 

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Director: Jim Jarmusch


Writer: Jim Jarmusch


With : Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Mili Avital, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, Eugene Byrd, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina, Robert Mitchum


Tagline: "No one can survive becoming a legend"

Music: Neil Young


Rating: R


Awards and nominations:
 1995 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL:

- Golden Palm: Jim Jarmusch (Nominated)

1996 EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS:
- Screen International Award: Jim Jarmusch (Won)

1997 INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS:

- Best Cinematography: Robby Muller (Nominated)

- Best Feature: Demetra J. MacBride (Nominated)

- Best Screenplay: Jim Jarmusch (Nominated)

- Best Supporting Male Actor: Gary Farmer (Nominated)

1996 NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS:

- Best Cinematography: Robby Muller (Won)




 





 

 

 


  

 

 

SYNOPSIS 

Dead Man is the story of a young man's journey, both physically and spiritually, into very unfamiliar terrain. William Blake travels to the extreme western frontiers of America sometime in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Lost and badly wounded, he encounters a very odd, outcast Native American, named "Nobody," who believes Blake is actually the dead English poet of the same name. The story, with Nobody's help, leads William Blake through situations that are in turn comical and violent. Contrary to his nature, circumstances transform Blake into a hunted outlaw, a killer, and a man whose physical existence is slowly slipping away. Thrown into a world that is cruel and chaotic, his eyes are opened to the fragility that defines the realm of the living



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MUSIC/SOUNDTRACK

Even within the unpredictable Neil Young discography, this qualifies as one of his most unpredictable efforts. This soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man is entirely instrumental, with the exception of some poetry read by Johnny Depp, and a bit of dialogue.

What's more, these untitled instrumental passages are dominated by subterranean guitar rumbles that manage to sound both grungy and subdued. Young also takes care to vary his approach a bit, switching occasionally to pump organ, detuned piano, and acoustic guitar.

The results not only evoke the hostile, desolate landscapes of the film's Old West, but work on their own terms as ambient mood music for the non-new age crowd, creating an atmosphere of restless disturbance with subtlety and grace. It's not necessarily for the typical Neil Young fan (whoever that might be), but it's certainly one of his most successful experimental efforts.

Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide


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WILLIAM BLAKE

Nobody, the outcast Native American played by Gary Farmer, uses several lines of the British poet William Blake, who he adores.

  • "The vision of Christ that thou dost see / Is my vision's greatest enemy"
    (The Everlasting Gospel)
  • "Every night and every morn / Some to misery are born / Every morn and every night / Some are born to sweet delight"
    (Auguries of Innocence)                                           
  • "The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the Crow"
     (The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell)


 The name of the character Thel is from William Blake's "The Book Of Thel".

 

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QUOTE FROM JOHNNY DEPP

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The various pieces of dialogue in Makah language were deliberately left untranslated, as a little "bonus" for the Native Americans who speak the language.

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“I hope that this is the last of these innocents I play. It’s a character that is, again, like a naive young guy who’s trying to get his life together. He’s trying really hard to make his life work and he ends up slowly dying. And he knows he’s dying. It’s a beautiful story, though.”
Johnny Depp



QUOTES FROM OTHERS

“(Johnny Depp) really is one of the most precise and focused people I’ve ever worked with. The whole crew is kind of amazed by that. That’s a side of him that I’m not really familiar with, you know? I’m more familiar with seeing him fall asleep on the couch with the TV on all night. But it somehow fits; he’s full of paradoxes.”
Jim Jarmusch

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Jim and Johnny; set of Dead Man
 
"He's moody and very emotional and very sensitive. In real life, sometimes, it's hard for him to decide where to eat or what to do, but as an actor he's very precise."
Jim Jarmusch

"He's pretty much half dead for most of the movie. It takes a lot of patience to be half dead. Especially for someone like Johnny."
Gary Farmer

"For Bill Blake, the journey of Dead Man represents life. For Nobody, the journey is a continuing ceremony whose purpose is to deliver Blake back to the spirit-level of the world. To him, Blake's spirit has been misplaced and somehow returned to the physical realm. Nobody's non-western perspective that life is an unending cycle is essential to the story of Dead Man."
Jim Jarmusch, The Director's Chair Interviews

"The film is not an answer to anything. It just raises questions about the relationship between nobleness and cruelty."
Mili Avital, The Director's Chair Interviews

"Forced to choose, this is my single favorite movie of all time. Johnny Depp gives the performance of his life (which is saying something) as fish-out-of-water Cleveland accountant William Blake."
David Malitz, Washington Post, august 4 2005

 

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