183: Jim Jarmusch

Nick and Alex discuss the career of one of Nick’s favorite directors, the singular Jim Jarmusch. As the guys break down each Jarmusch film, stray topics include style vs. fashion, making the mundane cool, slow cinema, revelatory film structure, anthology films, and much more.

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I put a spell on you. Because of my. Hey, everyone. Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex with throne. I'm joined by my best man, Nick Dostal. How you doing there, dead man? Oh, yeah? Yeah. William. William. Blake. William. Blake. William. Blake, baby. Yeah. Good. This is going to be fun. Today is going to. We're in person. It's a new director episode. Jim Jarmusch. Fuck, yeah. This was your. We I mean, we've actually gotten a few over the years over the five and a half years we've been doing this, we've gotten a handful of listener emails and requests for this specific episode. And the reason why I'm going to t you up, but the reason why I was kind of a little bit resistant to it is that Jim Jarmusch, what we're going to talk about all this movies, I appreciate him as an artist, but he I would not call one of my guys, quote unquote. Like pretty much every other director we've done, I have said, hey, let's do it. And it's because, like our last one was Soderbergh, and Soderbergh is my guy. Yeah. And we actually we talked about this a lot. You're like, do you want to because like, do you give enough of a shit? And I went, no, I want to investigate and I want to talk about have like an open conversation. And more importantly, Jim Jarmusch is one of your guys and I think we should do it. So we're doing it. And I'm really, really excited, man. To me too. Yeah, I was kind of thinking about it because like the dynamic that we've kind of established, like on this pod is for a lot of these directors that we have shared, we're shared guys with. Yeah. Or directors that you've turned me on to. There really has never been a director that we've covered that I was unfamiliar with, where I did not find the gold, I did not find the appreciation for this person's artistry, knowing that Jarmusch is not necessarily your guy in how he absolutely is mine. I, I, I'm I'm honored to be able to kind of like steer the ship in a way for this episode. And also. Yeah, exactly. Because we do have a lot of fans that have been asking for us, and he is going to be a very, very interesting director, deep dive to talk about, because the nature of his films is it's unlike anything else. And he is not for everybody. Sure. And if anything, his movies are a vibe. It's a vibe. It's an appreciation for the tiny details in life, the moments very, very insignificant. Seemingly. Yes, yes. Yeah. But somehow, in this pursuit of this insignificance, these tiny details, what he does, and I really can't think of another director that does it better than him is when he finds those moments. I don't think you can plan for him. I don't think you can write him. I don't know how you can. I think if you're someone who works like him, you set yourself up for success, right? You have an idea of why you want to do this, and then you do it and you're like, yeah, we did it, or we got it, right. Yeah. And but his movies, to me, I've said it to you many times. He's a poem. Whether it's one scene could be a poem. An entire movie could be an anthology of poems. That's what it feels like. It feels like with with a lot of his movies. It is a book, an anthology of poems. That is how they feel. They feel. They do feel like that. More like poetry than like a concise narrative. Filmmaking, like, not all of his movies are long. I don't even I mean, he may have gotten over the two hour mark just a few times or short. Yeah, exactly. But they are the thing I do appreciate about him, and I've always appreciated him. I he was he was an early director for me that I found out about because a lot of people hooked into him early. So when I was a kid, like my brother and his friends would be like, oh, do you seen Ghost Dog? Like, you got to see it. Yeah. And then Coffee and Cigarettes was a huge college movie. I started college shortly after that came out. So we just watched that DVD all the time and you're like, oh yeah, Jim Jarmusch definitely. It's the vibe thing. But sitting here looking at you. We are in person, which is great. So it's the day before the 98th Academy Awards. We don't know which way it's going to go, but we have some ideas. That's tomorrow. I can tell you that the thing I appreciate most about him, and I say this with respect, that dude don't get fuck. That dude is going to do what he wants to do, how he wants to do it. He's made 14 films, and I can say that for all of them, he has never strayed from his vision, his tone, that the pacing of his movies. And I go, yeah, this is, you know, this is an artist. He. Yes. We've talked about this. I think a common their movies don't have anything in common. But there's a common thread with David Lynch, who David Lynch was not just a filmmaker. That guy would be just as happy, you know, like a friend said, like playing in the dirt or playing with insects or, you know, there's so many documentaries about Lynch, like in his little shack, like carving wood or doing whatever. And he's he just got high off the art artistry of all of it, of life. And Jarmusch does too. Yes. And every form of it, his extensive knowledge about every form of music. Yeah, he there's only one he doesn't like. He does not like show tunes. Oh, that's like the only music it doesn't. The only one. He is into all of it. And he knows his shit. He knows classical, he knows jazz, he knows punk rock. He loves hip hop. Rap. He he is his own musician. He's in multiple bands, Bad Rabbits, Squirrel, which have done a lot of the composing, especially towards the back half of his own, of his own movies. Yeah, he's loves poetry. He is a very well read person. He's a mushroom like connoisseur, like enthusiast. He knows all about like, different fungi and and even some of that ends up in his movies. Yeah. And what you kind of learn is that, and this is true of every director, doesn't really matter if you are this into whatever it is. But when you when I've been watching all these Jarmusch movies and you see, oh, he's got mushrooms and only lovers left alive, right? He's got mushrooms in the dead. Don't die. His music is here. Like he refers to squirrel and Coffee and cigarettes. Oh, yeah. He he's got these little Easter eggs of what every director does is where they always kind of go back to the things that interest them, and they find their ways in there. And I love that about him. And I love the way that he speaks about art, because I listen to almost every single one of these shapes for this. They're really cool, like they're on the Criterion Channel. And he doesn't like, you know, rewatching his films often. So there are a lot of Q&A for his earlier work where people I don't know how they send him in, but they've sent him in questions and they are about the film, but others are like, how do you pronounce your last name like that? You actually they're all over the place. And he's like, and he just says it and yeah, they're all over. And he his like tone, it just it doesn't go up like it's like I'm doing now. It doesn't go up, it doesn't go down. It's just this flat monotone. And no matter what he's talking about really amusing. And he has got to be one of the coolest looking directors ever since style one of his collaborators. It's on his Wikipedia page. I don't remember, but they said the key to Jim is the hair. Yeah, because it went that stark white when he was like a teen. And I mean, just imagine how isolating that could be if you let it. And he's like, all right, I'm just gonna put it all the way up and rock it. You know, the black clothes, sunglasses, a blazing white pompadour with sideburns, black leather jacket like sweet, cool boots, like the I've always said, one of my favorite things about I've called. It's Jarmusch cool. Yeah, yeah. Jarmusch cool is in his movies and all these ways. But I have a cool story for you. Hit me. So I did not necessarily really realize what real effect he had on me. In my own filmmaking, I was very familiar with certain movies growing up. Dead man was one of my mom's absolute favorite movies. My dad, too, I remember as a kid, never really getting it, and but it always being on. Yeah. Then I found coffee and cigarettes so similar to you, but I can't really say that I really knew his filmmaking style. Very much so. When I made there I Go, he was not in my inspiration. Right? And yet there I Go is made. We're out doing the whole festival thing. We're going to downtown LA Film Festival, and every single person that saw the movie that was talking to me was telling me, they're like, oh, you are so influenced by Jarmusch. Wow. And I and I was sort of like, oh, I love him. But yeah, I didn't go into like, oh yeah, he wasn't really like on my, on my, I mean, I shot and edited this film. We never talked about him. We never talked about the directors, but not him. But yeah, he was in your brain. He. Well, what I've sort of, kind of learned about myself is that the in watching. This is why I love all of his movies. Going back to all of these is because I see the world like him, like I'm curious about the same things he was curious about. I love living in the nothingness of of it all and meeting these people, these random people. Like when you watch, when you. When I go back and watch, there I go, I go, oh my God, this is, this is all day a Jarmusch movie. Yeah, it's totally is like every single thing about it. So yeah, we committed to like a, a bit of a slower pace. Yeah. So I've just sort of found a kindred, a kindred spirit with this man and his work. And I love the way he speaks about all his art. And there's not a single movie of his I don't like, really, not a single 14, 14. I like them all. There's varying levels to them. Sure, sure. I'll say I don't hate or dislike any movie. Yeah, I do not love them all, but I. I appreciate all of them. And I can find something to like about all of them, even his most recent one. But yeah, I don't. There are some that are a little more down low for me. And I also kind of wonder, like, you might have to be in a mood, you might have to be in a certain kind of place to kind of let what he's about to do wash over you, because that is where he's most effective. Yes. When you are ready to sit down with a cup of coffee and let whatever is happening because it's up to you to make the movie what it is for yourself, that's ultimately and that's what a poem is. Yeah. And and I totally get how people are like, I don't want to sit through a movie that does that. Yeah, give me the action. Give me the fun dialog. He's got good dialog. He does. But if you want action packed, go go go. You have go on Netflix. Yeah, yeah. You literally are watching regular humans that are unique. His casting is always very fascinating because he loves all different types of personalities. Yeah, he's he's never really one to kind of sit with boring looking people. He's very into just the overall spirit of what they emit. That's how he writes for actors. It's how he casts for a big part of his early career. He only just wrote for people specifically. Yeah, yeah. So I love all of this about him. You reminded me of something. So when we we had like, kind of soft committed to this or I was still batting batting it around in my head, do we want to do Jarmusch and this is like honestly a year ago and I had Ghost Dog. I downloaded it on my phone because I was traveling. So I started watching it. And then I'm I'm just going to admit this because I love movies. I've dedicated my life to them. I was getting. I was like, hitting the ten second ahead at every like, poem and stuff. And then about because I've seen the movie before and I went ruin this thing, just like moves really slow. And then literally about 45 minutes in, I went, I'm controlling the movie. Yeah. This is not the intention. Like, I'm going to stop and I'm going to watch all of them in order, and I'm going to put them on the TV, and the phone will be on the other side of the room, and I'm just going to watch, for better or worse. And that's what I did for all 14 of these. I had seen them, some of them I did not remember at all, but it was like, all right, clean slate. I'm not controlling the movie. Like, I didn't even touch the damn volume. There was no I really try not to pause and yeah, just watched them all. And that made me appreciate him more. But yeah, as you said, a lot of people don't want to do that. A lot of people are like, what the hell is going on? I don't need to see people like talking, like staring at lakes. What is this like? Yeah, I mean, and then and that's literally what it is. But this is the one thing I can give him. Like, because you and I have talked many, much about many, much about, certain movies where there might be a lot of beauty, but, like, what are we really looking at? Like what? Jarmusch there is no ever wasted motion. There is no way wasted stagnation if we're just looking at something for a while. His whole entire point is appreciate this particular moment and let it like there is. There is a lot to get. He's not showing you something for no reason, even if you think that there is. Yes, but that does require a certain curiosity, a certain level of patience, attentiveness, attentiveness. But I'm telling you, if you do it, I find we always kind of say this in a lot of ways where like Cassavetes, Bergman, like if you really sit with these movies, not that Jarmusch does anything really like those at all, but but those are tough. Those are tough filmmakers, too, that a lot of people could be turned off by for a number of reasons. They're challenging. But I if you're curious at all about Jim Jarmusch, if you've seen 1 or 2 movies of his and you're sort of like, I didn't really know what that was. I'm kind of hoping that this podcast kind of gives you an idea of how to go about approaching this filmmaker from a very, very different point of view because we were even saying like, this is a hard one to talk about because they're not like deep dives that we can do their vibes, their feelings, their emotions. I think there's a lot that I'll bring up that reminds me of things from my life, but the fact that I could find any moment in a Jarmusch movie where I could just sit, live in and feel and think of these things, that's an artist. That's a filmmaker using the medium in a way that no one else can. Yeah, yeah, this is a director that is, you can't watch his movies idly like I was. I, you know, you can't, like, be doing chores or doing going and getting something there. So almost in every movie there's, there are shots that will linger and like, you'll see, you know, maybe a main character in the background get, like, hauled off in a van and there's no dialog. And if you were, you know, pouring yourself a drink in the kitchen and you miss that for seven seconds, that matters. It just does it. I don't know if it matters significantly, if it makes like the movie a C plus two and a plus, but it still matters for the story he's trying to tell. So that was my way in, as simple as that sounds, to just sit down and not control the movies, let them just watch them, you know, and I did. I didn't like binge them, I did. I try to do one a day. And then I was having trouble with a few, and you and I were talking about and I went back and even rewatched those and just gave them, gave him a chance. And yeah, they're they're all very interesting. They're all just such vibes. And it's like, I don't have many. Like, this shot is so amazing, like this cinematography or like, like this monologue is great. Like it's not really that. You're right. It's just these, you know, moment scenes making the mundane kind of cool. Yeah. In some way. Yeah. It's finding the kind of like what makes life. Life. Yeah. And and not doing anything more than that. That is enough for me in film. I love all of this, that this is something that I could I could live in every single Jarmusch movie. And to stay there and just be like, all right, let's just swim. So let's swim. Speaking of permanent vacation, jump. Want to do it? Dive right in, baby. I want to start with my eye soul and heard a lot of Jarmusch quotes, but one of my favorites. I just want to say this. As we get into the filmography, it's hard to get lost if you don't know where you're going. That's it. That's. I heard that on his commentary for Stranger Than Paradise, and that is a just a great sentence to kick us off with the filmography. First up, Permanent Vacation, 1980. Made for a whopping $12,000. I've seen this twice. I really like it. I really like this movie. I think it's like it's just a collection shots of, like, a dude just walking around aimlessly. But I think you kind of make it the argument that everything Jarmusch is trying to say and how he wants to say it is all represented in this film. I11 thing that I noticed after seeing father, mother, sister, brother, his most recent one, the opening shot of Permanent Vacation, is a slow motion shot of people walking on a New York City street, but the audio is in real time, so the audio is not slow motion. Then immediately reminded me of the slow motion skateboarders and father, mother and I go, oh, okay. Like this is you're still there. There are a lot of the crumbs that I see in permanent vacation that just went throughout his entire career. So and I'm also usually really drawn to these first movies where they, you know, they're running a gun and no famous stars didn't have a lot of money. And yes, so I am a big fan of this one, and I don't think a lot of people are that familiar with it. They think his first was Stranger than Paradise. But yeah, permanent vacation fun. It's short. Very, basically about this kid who is homeless. Really? Yeah. And kind of choosing to be he's finding that the the way that the rest of the world operates isn't for him. Yeah. And he would much rather be living on the off the grid. A great line that I really like from it. Some people can distract themselves with ambitions and motivations to work, but it's not for me. Yeah, yeah, all of the narration is like a little detached, but he's also very like, go with the flow and emotionally absent. It's a really good, you know, voiceover reading. It's a very good voiceover reading. And yeah, and you're right, like it's just him kind of floating around the world trying to kind of, I don't know, I feel like he's trying to accept his truth. Yeah. In a lot of ways. And you know, he's got a girl in a room that that's where he like, that's his girlfriend, I'm assuming, and I guess. Yeah. And you know. Yeah, he's basically in, like, I gotta go. Yeah, I gotta go. I yeah, I mean, he walks around New York, you know, he meets people. This is an art film, but it's not I wouldn't call it obscure. I think by the end you have enough narrative to hang on to. To where? It's not like it's not just a guy, like, bouncing around doing nothing. There is some narrative and even I think the ending is very narratively pleasing. Again, like, this isn't some obscure type of thing. And I had never I hadn't no recollection of seeing this. So I watched it for the first time, not for this pod, like a few years ago. It's on criterion and was just really kind of wowed by it. And I'm like, oh, okay. I thought this was going to be like a mess, like a student movie. And it's not. I just I love the the detachment of it and the narrative holds at the end. I love that we get to see Frankie Faison in his first film role. That's the only actor of the movie I recognize. He went on, you know, from Permanent Vacation to Irvin Burrell in The Wire, Lieutenant Fisk and Manhunter, Barney and Silence of the lambs, Barney and Hannibal, Barney and Red Dragon. I love that guy. But yes, per vacation, it is. It's it's just, I don't know. It's good. It's fun. It moves. The way that we meet these characters again is something that I really it's something that one thing that I kind of try to remind myself in my life sometimes is like, like kind of move through life like a Jarmusch movie. Yeah, because I love when he meets, when he's walking by the saxophone guy who's John Lurie, who is going to go on to become one of his actors. But mainly John Laurie's a musician and very interesting looking person, which is why Jim liked him. They had a friendship and but, you know, you're just watching this guy kind of you're he's noticing this music and he's got nowhere else to be. So he's just kind of taking his time listening to this guy's music and then just moves on. Yeah. Sometimes I feel like, you know, in the life that we live. And this was the 80s, I'm sure his whole entire point of this is sort like, to a degree, it's kind of like, just sit back and like, smell the roses. Like, remember, like, this is our life. And this is if you've encountered this, take it in, don't like, ignore it. Don't pretend like things aren't really happening when they are. And then and I love that weird guy that he kind of talks to in like those that rubble. Oh towards the end. Yeah. Yeah. That is that's actually really cool. Some of the like shots, like the locations he found are really cool. Yeah. And you're like oh there's just these empty places in New York. Yeah, yeah. And this guy is a little off his rocker that he's talking to. Definitely. But this guy, like the main character kind of just sits down and just hears him. Yeah. Just listen to this is like, it's like, what's going on, man? What's all the fuss about? Like, this is part of the curiosity you're talking about. Like, he is a curious guy. He's not know what he wants, but he's curious. He's not just sitting in his apartment doing nothing. Yep. Yeah. He's exploring really fun. Cool story. Arguably. It's definitely my favorite scene is when he seals the car. Oh that's fantastic. Yeah, it's so good. I love that. It's a great scene and there's a really good story behind the girl. She goes, that dude is wild style. Yeah. That car that that belonged to somebody, they got to use the car for free. Okay. And but it was a very, very nice car. And the main actor of was was asking, you know, can I, like, peel this thing away, like, when the scene happens? And they didn't want him to do it, but he did it. And then he crashed the car. Oh, and and he he felt horrible because the movie did not have enough money to pay for all of this. Yeah, $12,000. That's nothing. Yeah. So, so essentially they did kind of get it, like repaired a little bit, but like, everyone was freaking out as to whether or not that this was actually going to, like if they were all going to get away with this. Yeah. I mean, that could break your movie, that could break your entire movie down because you got to find the money to pay for this damn car. Yep. And in this scene where he brings it to the shop. Yeah. That was when that had just happened. So the main actor is wearing a lot of this nervousness. Oh, okay. Because that just happened. And and so Jim is like, that's a good example of life imitating art imitating life. Oh yeah. It was. They had to pay $800 for it. That's okay. Good. So that's I mean, that's not with a $12,000 budget. That's still a big percentage. Oh yeah. Exactly. Yeah. But if you if listeners have ignored this one or you haven't found a reason to check it out, we're here to tell you that it's definitely worth it. And like a lot of directors, I love going back to the very first movie like Nolan's following. I mean, there's a lot if you go back to the first one, shadows, you're going to see things that interest this director that they are going to use. Not all of them, but the ones we're bringing up that they're going to use throughout their career. I mean, there's direct correlations from permanent vacation to father mother, which is what I'm going to continue to call that movie movie. I'm not going to say father, mother, sister, brother every time. It's too much, too much for SB, it's it's hard that yeah, it is true, but it's still hard. It is hard it is. Well, next up, four years later. I mean, whether this is someone's favorite Jim Jarmusch movie or not, Stranger Than Paradise in my opinion, is the Jim Jarmusch movie to end all Jim Jarmusch movies. It is, yeah, simple, confident. And it radically changed the independent film movement in America. It, you know, a lot of people, myself included, have gone on to credit spike Lee for She's Got to Have It. And then, of course, Soderbergh for sex, lies and videotape. That's all. After this 84 is first. And, you know, I mean, he's using he he's using some of the inspiration that like Cassavetes had, like go out there and make your stuff. But this there's a simplicity to this story of watching three people connect and disconnect and connect and disconnect and the simplicity in which it's told. Like, I'll just talk about the cinematography and editing right now. It's kind of funny that I said, oh, we don't have anything to talk about. The editing of this movie is extremely influential. Each shot in Stranger and Paradise is one take, so we'll watch a scene. The scene could be 30s, it could be five minutes, but anytime the camera is live on the footage, it is not going to cut. It's just going to be one take. It'll only cut to black for a short period of time. Some narrative time is passing and then when we cut back into the movie, it is one scene in one take, which is exactly what Soderbergh just did with presence. It's the exact same thing. And you know, there isn't as much camera movement as Trains in Paradise. But that set up, we watch this in some a film class I took in college and just focused on that, the editing and how every scene is one shot. That in itself is really brilliant and very confident for a young new director. And the the angles and the shots are beautiful. Yeah, they're really set up nicely. So you're never you're never in one of these takes where there isn't something to kind of enjoy about the looking at the world through the way that they've set it up. Yeah, I think one of my favorites is they just get done cheating a bunch of card guys, and they're walking on. They're trying to think about where to go, and it's just like this beautiful black and white shot where it's like overhead there. There's like a brick wall. There's like one source of light coming down. And and this seems only like about a minute maybe. But, you know, you just look at every single one of these setups and you're like, it's it's it's perfect construction. Yeah, yeah. And the blocking. And if the camera does move, you'll notice like it's only going to like pan down like a little bit little pan little little to cover the actor's movements. Mostly just like on a track or still it's like on the track going right or left. That's it. Or it's just a still shot. But yeah, he is using architecture. He's weaponizing architecture to make it these great constructive constructed, these great camera compositions. Yes. And I think one of the most beautiful sections of the movie is and I, I mean, you can tell me how you feel about this. I wrote it down in my notes any time they're leaving New York and they're about to go to Cleveland, every shot from inside of that car, that is the best interior shots for he changes him all the time. Right? But man, they very, very influential as well for a lot of movies that came after. Yeah I've heard directors go. We just did we try to do what he did. Yeah. Because he's got it in the back seat. He's got it in the passenger seat. He's got it from the front. Like he's giving us a lot of different ways that you experience being in a car, which is Jarmusch like. That is what he likes to do is like he's trying to give you that familiarity with beauty. And then when you're listening to people have conversations, there are conversations you've heard before. Yeah, there are conversations you've eavesdropped on. I mean, if you were to kind of take like a plot of this whole entire movie, it's basically like, is this guy going to get along with his cousin eventually? Yeah. His cousin comes in and like, needs his female cousin needs to play. Where is she from? Bulgaria. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's, like, comes to his apartment, needs a place to stay. And then he has a friend who seems to get along with the woman a lot more than, you know, her own cousin does. The cousin is John Laurie and his friend I. He's so he's so great. He's a character actor who's been a lot. He steals the car in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Like, he's great, he's great, and I just. Yeah, I love all of their energies together. And one thing I love, like, they're all he. John Laurie, the main guy, just seems to be so annoyed by her, like the whole time. Like, oh my God. She's like, all right. Yeah, you're my cousin and she's going to go to Cleveland. And then there is some time when they've been apart and when they go to that diner where she's working and they all see each other. They're all excited to see each other like, hey. And and I really like I felt that like, yeah, the distance gave them time to realize that they kind of enjoy each other's company and at least in short doses, you know? And I just love that, like seeing that warmness from them, like, oh, you're in town. Oh yeah. And she is just hysterical to me when she's like, do you like scream at Jay Hawkins? He's my main man. He's just playing that song over and over. I put his spell on you over and over. It's great. It's. Yeah, because that really is like, he's just a giant asshole. Yeah. For the first few scenes, she's just trying to, you know, you know, get along. Yeah. And they have those beautiful shots of when they're just watching TV, like she's on one bed because it's all in one room. Yeah. And it cuts from day to night to morning. You start to like, kind of like she starts to kind of rub off on him in a way where only time can really make that happen, right? He's just put off by the fact that anyone's in his home. Really? Yeah. And but then there's this scene where they're having the TV dinner, and this is another thing that Jim Jarmusch does, which is why I love him so much. But like, he's talking about a beef TV dinner and he's like, this is how we do it in America. I got I got this like, what is this? I got my potatoes. I got a brownie for dessert. Like, you got the five like the for tray setup. This is how we do it. But when you're looking at all those props, you're you. I don't know how you do this because he's not doing anything special with it. But this happens in every Jarmusch movie. Whenever there is a a prop of any kind, like a TV dinner, it feels like we know everything about that TV dinner. Yeah, like we bring that memory back to us. It's like immediately I did we didn't do it often, but it was, you know, sometimes that was given to my brother and I as our dinner. Like, that's how I grew up. Yeah, I mean, dinner, kid. They were cheap. I mean, I just thought about it and went, man, we really did just, like, kind of shovel that stuff down and then like, went to bed. Yeah. Like that was, it wasn't. They were not like novelties. They were a popular thing. And people like him stood by him. So yeah, it took me back to that. And it is a bit of like that time capsule of, you know, these were the brands. Yeah, these were the logos. And even if you remember them or you don't, they feel like all of a sudden if you've never seen that that particular logo because, you know, like maybe that brand has existed like Pepsi or something, right? You look at the Pepsi logo from the 80s, and if you just looked at it on the internet, right, you would be like, oh, that's weird. You see it in a movie, in a Jim Jarmusch movie, like, wow, that's what it was like 84 maybe. Yeah. So yeah, I don't know how you do that. Like how one just sort of gives you this whole entire feeling about a can of beans or a coffee or something. Yeah. I mean, he doesn't do it in this movie, but he grows to be very fond of insert shots of the props, like all the overhead shots. He does a lot. I mean, that's even in father, mother. And then, you know, of course, and coffee and cigarettes where they get those all the time. Overhead shots. Yeah. Looking. Yeah. It's great. I got to say that my favorite character in the movie is the aunt. I love the ads. I forget what she says. They're leaving, but she's like, son of a bitch or something. She's like, where are you going? Like, where are you taking her? Oh, she's so good. And she feels so authentic. Like they just plucked this lady out. I don't know where and put her in this. And just, like, you know, kind of be it a little hard on John Laurie, which she deserves. I just love her. I love those scenes with her. She's amazing. Yeah. And and that's the thing, like, if you're kind of ever wondering like this, this movie is a perfect example. If you are an aspiring filmmaker or screenwriter even, and you are maybe completely blocked on how to go about starting a scene, how to go about figuring out what that middle part is or the end. Swear to God, watch every Jim Jarmusch movie, this one in particular, because that's all of these scenes are and they can be as simple as when the ant is there, you've got the two guys on the couch and the one guys like, what are we doing here? Yeah, nothing. We're just staying here. Well, I want to go out. Yeah, well, I don't want the ants, like, go, go. Yeah. I don't want you here. And then. And then all of a sudden, the girl comes in and they're like, what are you doing? I'm going to the movies. Can we go? Yeah. And then all of a sudden, you have a conflict amongst four people in one frame, and. And when it's over, you're just sort of like that. There was a whole beginning, middle and end. Yeah. Right here. And it's all simple. It's all so very simple. But there's still there's a lot of artistic kind of bravery in it. And just, you know, again, like, like this was his first like major movie. Like, you know, it got festival play, it was in theaters. And to do that, I'm not saying it was the first movie to do that, but to do that with such confidence, like it inspired a lot of directors. And it proved that if your movie is, what's the word interesting enough, I don't know. But if it's compelling enough, people will sit there and be like, okay, yeah, like, I get this, I get this. But there was a lot of people who saw this movie who had never really seen an art movie, you know, like maybe they're like, if you're, I don't know, maybe 18 or something in 1984 or something like that, like you've avoided them. And then they went, oh, this isn't like an artsy fartsy thing, but it is. I get what it's saying. And it could be your gateway into independent cinema. I know that happened to so many people. This movie. Yeah, absolutely. And and it's all just about how and I think a good way to sum up any kind of Jarmusch type situation is really it's all about how these moments add up. And this movie, I think, is a prime example of how it all adds up, scene by scene. But then even by the time you get to the end of the movie, because when you get to that end and they leave her. Yeah, in that room. You feel that like you're upset for her. Yeah. And and it's all just based on actions. Yeah. Like it's it's all it is. But it's also like a miscommunication. Misunderstanding. They didn't really like, leave. I mean, they went to go find her. Yeah. Because she, he's like, take it off of the plane. The last place he wants to go. It's just it's kind of great. Oh it's the walks back into the room like oh it's great. He's off to fucking like Bulgaria or whatever it is. Sorry if we're wrong, sorry for wrong. Maybe I'll look it up. But somewhere like that, a place where he's like, I don't want to ever go there. And he's off to like, go find her because he thinks she got on a flight and went back. Yep. Yeah. It's great. And there is so like by from the start of the movie, essentially what it is, is like a relationship that they don't really know each other. It's rocky. They find a very, very loving type of, I like you in my life. And the friend is so sweet too, because he really brings that human thing. He's like, come on, bring her. Yeah. Come on, why not? And then you've got, by the end, the human side of him going off to Bulgaria. Exactly. She coming back. And then the other guy, I guess. Fuck me, I guess. I guess I'm going back to New York alone. Yeah, with the car. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's all this really miscommunication. The disconnects and the connections. Yeah. Yeah, I will say this is. I believe this is the only commentary he recorded. I listened to it on the Criterion Channel. Really fascinating. It's he is one of one of the few, if not the only director I've ever heard of say that he intentionally tries to make the filming of his films less efficient. I've never heard a director talk about this. He intentionally shoot scenes out of order. He films in whatever weather is available, like when they go out to look. He's like, we didn't know there's going to be fog that day. He's did it anyway. Like, we we didn't we didn't. We couldn't control it. And and he says this thing over and over. He strives for the film to be stylish. But he says over and over that he does not want the film to be fashionable at all. So he's always saying style versus fashion. I want the film to be stylish, but like, I have no idea what fashionable is. I don't know what that is at all. I just wanted to have a style so that that was the main thing I remembered from it. But it's a good it's a good track. I mean, he's he has this flat, monotone delivery, but he's bracingly honest. Yeah. He'll, he'll talk shit about like, the Hollywood system, all that stuff. So just because his, you know, tone doesn't go up or down, it's still he's still telling his own truth. Absolutely. Yeah. And you know what that is? Jarmusch cool, baby. Jarmusch cool. There you go. Oh, man. This is one of my favorite surprises. His next movie, Down by Law, they were two that I did not remember watching. This was one of them. I loved this 1986 Down By Law has the same reliance on the detached tone, black and white photography, simple camera movements, sardonic dialog as stranger than Paradise, but down by Down by law, I think is a bit more of a running narrative thread. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We meet the two guys, you know, a pimp, played by John Laurie and a radio DJ played by Tom waits. Yeah, and he's great. And they're both very humorous, humorously framed for crimes and then thrown into the slammer as cellmates. Roberto Benigni shows up to share the same cell. We recognize him as a random character Tom Waits met on the street a little earlier, and that's our setup. And like the central bulk of this movie, doesn't really leave the prison cell. They're all in there together. And like, the camera rarely moves. We're just cutting to these still compositions of them talking, arguing, sleeping. It's hilarious. It's sort of like, yeah, like Stranger Than Paradise has that unique staggered setup of scenes, and Down by Law is an entire movie. But that same idea is all there. Yeah, like everything about it from start to finish. One of this is one of my favorite, favorite openings is Tom waits having this breakup fight with Ellen Barkin. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Doug. Yes. Yes. He's had they're having this fight and she's got this great line. Oh my God. This is a really great, great red line. She goes to him. You got me embarrassed of my own time. Yes. Oh it's great. So good. Yeah. And well, this is a good thing. A good character point is that she asks him. There's nothing wrong with asking someone for something. But then Tom waits ends up breaking up with this Ellen Barkin. She is throwing out the window. Yeah. And he just goes down. He's just got the only thing he cares about is his boots. Yep. And he just sits there and there's this very contemplated moment where he's just sort of very much like. And this is all I got. He doesn't say it, but you just feel it. And like, in my head, I go man in his boots and he's there. He goes, I just love this opening scene. It's just a perfect kind of like setup in this way. Yeah. The first section is hilarious because they're we can tell they're getting set up. And I mean, we don't know for sure, but Jarmusch is kind of great at building that tension. You're like, all right, where is this going? But yeah, there's a there's humor in them. Oh yeah. Yeah. The movie is funny. The movie's hilarious. It's a really, really funny movie. Yeah. And I don't want to talk, like, too much about the final third, but, you know, they do escape and they don't show an elaborate escape. It's just like they're out. And then the final, you know, like the final third of it is them on the run. And I'll end plot description there. But where what happens to Beninese character is just really kind of amazing. And this opened up to like I have trouble with him as an actor. I have since life is Beautiful and I really, really liked him in this. And I don't want to say the context it's in, but there is a scene when John Laurie and Tom waits are watching him, like through a window and one of them goes, can you believe this? And the other says, he's from outer space just because he's charming a woman. And they're like, how did this happen? Like this guy, can you believe this? He's from outer space. Yeah, I just I really, really like this one. I like it, I like it a lot. And it surprised me a great deal. And I had fun with his special features and stuff. No official commentary, but what I found out is that he his love for New Orleans music and write this script, and he hadn't even been to New Orleans before he wrote it. He just loved the music like you're talking about. So that I love that that's your inspiration. I love this music from this city. Let me try to craft a narrative around well, and that's how he cast it. He, he, he loved Tom waits music. He loved John Lowry's music. And then I mean, Jim, Jim Jarmusch is not someone that, especially in his early part of his career, necessarily cared for actors to be like these talented performers. He cared about their humanity, and he was like, he goes, well, I know Tom, and I know John, and I know Roberto, that those those three unique looking sounding, if I just write something that feels like them to me, they can just do it. Yeah. And so, yeah, there's like a little bit of like a work right here that you might have to do. He said he worked very differently with all three of them. Yeah. He says he does that with every actor. And that's how you have to do. But but I mean, but to really not care because more importantly was and you get this because you can look at John Laurie's performance in both Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law and be like, all right, you're not really an actor, right? Like, but he it's enough. There's still something. There's something. There's there's a mystery, a bit of a menace. He can also be funny. Yes. There's also like a man don't give a shit. And really, what you're seeing that does not seem. And Tom waits has it too. It's just a little bit of actor uncomfortable of, like, looking on camera. Like John Laurie sometimes. Doesn't really know what to do with his hands. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know, it's sort of it works in all this way, but I think, like, when you get to the prison section of this movie is really where where, like, a lot of people talk about the brilliance of this movie is because that's set up in New Orleans of how Tom Waits and John Laurie get to this prison cell. Then the way you see them when they first get into that prison are you get a new prison cellmate not talking to you. Yeah. Get you. Get the hell away from me. I know who you are, what you've done. And then all of a sudden, more. More like stranger than Paradise in these prison cells. Because we just were locked into the show. Yeah, that's really all this. And, man, you talk about taking advantage of how many camera angles you can set up a lot of very small to make it all very interesting. And then, you know, they start to kind of like your radio DJ. He's like, yeah, man, I'm a radio dude. Tell me something. No, I'm not going to do that. Come on, you're a radio DJ. You don't want to talk like it goes from don't talk to me to now talk to me. So now you're starting to kind of get like they're forming a friendship of sorts, a reliance, a dependance that they need if you're in prison and then they get a third guy, right? When everything seems like it's great, like they're like, all right, we're going to be all right in this prison, will ride this shit out. Then Roberto comes in there, and now you've got a whole other dynamic. And he is a whole dynamic. Big time. Big time. And I think my favorite scene in the prison cell sequence is when all three of them are in the exact same frame, looking at the, like, looking out at the bars. Yeah, because so much happens in that one scene of the relationship when he's sort of like, I killed, I killed a man. Yeah. And yeah, and he's got a good story about it where it's sort of like, oh, shit. And then of course, you've got the ice cream. You scream, and that's brilliant. God. That's right. It just doesn't even stop. It doesn't even stowing and and it doesn't feel put on. No, not at all. Not at all. It's such an organic moment that. And by the time, you know, first off, you just think Roberto's being silly because he is. And then it's literally Laurie that kind of comes around. He's like, I guess I'll join him. And then Tom waits then to get the whole entire cell, like the whole cell block. This is the beauty of it. This like it's these moments of how. Scene by scene. These human beings are interacting to where they're forming some kind of recognition of one another and how we can relate to that. And then. Yeah, and then it's then them just on the run trying to figure out where to go. Yeah. Then yeah, they Roberto Benny's character falls in love instantly. Instantly. That's the. Can you believe this? He's from outer space. Like it's just he meets a woman for, like, 30s. It's amazing. It's so funny. And. And you can believe it, like, all of a sudden. Yeah. Because they wait out there forever and because he's just supposed to get something like, come back and they still. Yeah, he's still in the restaurant and they go and spy on him, and he's just hitting it off with the owner of the restaurant, like everything's fine. And. And then he comes in and he tells him, like, this is this Italian woman, she owns this place, and we're going to get married. They dance and it's a wildly weird, like, awkward but romantic dance that these two have where you sort of get it. And then the ending of the movie, to me is beautiful says a lot about, I think, young men, in a lot of ways. You go that way, I go this way. Split off. Very poetic. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Where will what will happen? Where will they go? Where will they be? Ellipses. Dot dot dot. Really really impressed by down by law. Liked it a lot. You know we're going to do our top. He's made 14 films. We're going to do our top ten at the end of the episode. I'm not giving any indication of anything yet, but Mystery Train was my biggest surprise on this rewatch. So it's your number one? No, no, I'm not saying that. Maybe. Maybe not. Could be one. Could be 14. Who knows? You're just gonna have to wait. I love this movie. Did not expect it. Didn't remember it at all. Three connected stories, all set in Memphis on the same night. All more or less ending inside the same hotel. Each chapter is shot perfectly by the great Robby Mueller. He does have good cinematographers, you know. He gets really good ones. I love that recurring shot. Moving right to left with the neon in the background and that small patch of grass like they clear the building and then they're walking. Just looks so authentic. Permanent vacation was shot in very, very muted color, 16mm. But Mystery Train feels like his first real color movie to me. And it's like it just pops this, you know, a stranger in Paradise and down by law or black and white and this I'm like, man, this thing pops and I, you can call it an anthology film. Like, I guess it is. There are three different chapters, but, you know, they're all taking place like they're all interconnected. And I just loved it. Like, I loved this movie. I watched it twice in a row, like two days apart. Really good. Yeah. It's fantastic. Like the first one is. I never seen those actors before. Far from Yokohama, I guess is how you say it. And they were so good as individual characters and as partners, and I really grew to care for her specifically, and even like the way their sex scene, you know, echoes throughout the rest of the movie is it's really, really funny. And I love who's a nightclub screaming Jay Hawkins. That's a night clerk. He's so good. I love him and I love with wood. She comes in when they say, you know, high. She goes, good night as a way to say like, you know. Hi. Hi back because they don't speak that good English. But it's kind of funny. Like, I love those, you know, translation lapses because you say good morning, but you never say good night unless you're, like, about to go to bed. But she's just saying it as like, hey, good day, but it just happens to me night that those are little things. But like, you know, his his kind of stonewall attitude, her like, I just I love this opening segment so much. It's my favorite I agree I agree actually, and I think, you know and again this is this is how simple it can be is you just take two people, they enter into a city and one person is super excited. Yeah super thrilled. And the other person is a and like I said, he's a bummer. But he's bothered in a way because Jim doesn't you know, when when he talks about what he was trying to do with his movies, he oftentimes responded, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. And you know, that's not true. Like there's things there. But he's definitely wanting you to kind of like do that. And he's like, I could tell you what was on my mind. I can tell you like what I was thinking, like, you know, I was very interested in the idea of, like, Memphis versus Tokyo and, you know, and and that's how they that's how they praise it. You got these two people. She loves Elvis. He loves Carl Perkins. Yeah. And it's and it's modern versus antique. That's that is what that sort of scene, that whole first anthology is. And she is adorable. Very. Yeah. She's so just she's so charming and so sweet and like, her energy is infectious to us as an audience, but not to him. You know, I just love it. I mean, he there's cracks. Yeah. There's love, there's like. Yeah, absolutely. There's love, but very, very cool. I have been to Memphis. I know I never have I, I've been to Tennessee just once, and I was in a hotel when I moved to LA. That was part of my trip. And I like overshot it a little bit because I go, oh, I'll stay in Memphis. And I just drove like an hour past it. So that's my Tennessee experience. I want to go to Memphis and Nashville. Nashville is great. That's what. Yeah, I really love Memphis. Okay. Memphis, I don't know. There was something very special about that city to me. There was a feeling to it and that this movie fucking captures it. I can't explain it, but that shot and it happens twice in the movie where Japanese people are walking down Memphis, where it's that that like magic hour. Yeah, purple. I think that's a shot I was talking about where they're like, walking. Yeah, you're just tracking them. And you see the Peabody Hotel in the background? Yes, I walked that exact street. It's awesome. And I had not seen this movie yet. Oh, cool. But I remember being there in Memphis walking down. It was the exact time of night. It looked exactly like like like. That's why when I saw the movie, I go, that is exactly what it looks like. It's what it feels like. There's a big, barren bunch of shit brick like buildings, and then you've got some big, like, lights and everything, but there's like, there's something there. And then I've been to Sun Studio where they went there and. But yeah, but the exact same thing. So Jarmusch has a great and I don't know many other directors that do this as well as him because we didn't really get he does it with New Orleans. Yeah. We don't really get a chance to see much of it in Stranger Than Paradise because it's not the design of the movie. Right? But you get to feel the cities that you are in, in his movies, and, and he does it in a way by not being showy. So I love that. I, I thought that was so cool when I saw it the first time. I go, that's exactly what it is. That's cool. I love that being like feeling that connectedness to, you know, someplace you've been before and you had a good experience and like reminds you that I love that stuff. Oh yeah. And the when they hear the gunshot. Yeah. Yeah. Which we're going to hear three times, we're going to hear it three times and we'll know why by the third. Yeah. And then was that a gun. Probably. This is America. Yeah I love that I love that and the, the next one a ghost. She has a really good reaction to it too. I'll just jump to it. But in the morning, you know some would ask was that a gunshot. You know maybe a 38. It's like she just knows that it's great. And yeah, this one's cool. I love her sort of blind optimism. Despite everything that's going on. Her husband has died and she's just like this, you know, woman. She has a very pragmatic view of everything I knew. I recognized her when I looked her up. I was a little stunned that this is the wife. Mom from Life Is Beautiful, written and directed and starring Roberto Bonini. I'm pinging that for a few reasons. It will get to later. But yeah, I mean, I love The Dinner with Tom Noonan, Tom Goldman, Rest in Peace are recently dearly departed Tom Noonan. That's a that's like just a really great one. You know the all of these individual there's three I don't know like shorts or chapters to the movie. And they are comprised of like individual scenes. There's no like cross-cutting or anything. So you know, it's like she's in the airport. She does the magazine guy, all the magazine guy. And then we get that great cut for walking with like the big stack of them. I love, I love that, I love the, the guy when we go when we're in the magazine chopper, you know that shop, there's that guy who's like, I might do it. Like, you know, yeah, I will, and the clerk is like, you should you should be coming advocate. He's like, yeah, I might I'm gonna go start sleep. Yeah. He goes, you really think I could? Yeah. All right, man, I'm going to do that. Those little characters, he adds, that are so funny. And then, yeah, you know, just this forward woman who doesn't know about America being hustled into buying a bunch of magazines. It's just hysterical. It's so funny the way that I kind of looked at that. It was like, this is like America smothering her capitalism. Yeah. Oh, no. You need another one. Yeah, you need another one. And then there's this creep, you know, like, I mean, they want that. And then like, she's being smothered by that woman by talking. So it was just sort of like the world is on her in this city. That's kind of how I took this chapter to be. Elvis is haunting her. Oh my God. And that's such a great moment. I love that, and she's also just making everything better with money. Yeah, like she's got the means, but she's like, it's sort of like, okay, you go away. Now if I'll give you this much money to leave. Yeah, you can stay with me. Like the girl doesn't have anywhere to go. Well, she can stay with me. We don't have any more rooms. It's fine. She can stay with me and then. Yeah, it doesn't talk, but, yeah, she has this, like. Like I said, just kind of blind optimism. I just love watching characters. Actors who can pull that off in a movie is really fun. It really is. And this is where you have to kind of like, get on board with what Jarmusch does. Like, there is like, we never see these people again. Exactly. Like, like, and we're there with them. And when we really want to go back to the first one, we want to see them go to Grace land and see what they think of that. I love that too. That was like, that's why like when I think about there I go. I'm like, I don't know how like these are the things that interest me. Yeah, I love these moments in time with people and then they're gone. We never see them. We can only imagine. But you have to be cool with that. Like you have to kind of like, be fascinated, be like, man, that's that's cool. Like, we're just here for no reason. There is no rhyme or reason as to any of this. And that's Jarmusch's point to all these movies. Like, there isn't really a point to anything. I think that is absolutely the point to the third chapter and even the title Lost in Space. Yeah, there's just, you know, this year we get some like Memphis locals talking in a bar. They're in a bar with a loaded gun, local store, a liquor store. This guy pisses me off. Same time. Fucking dick. Big time, big time. Steve Buscemi is here. Yep. So, yeah, this is, you know, if you guys hanging out, guy shoots a liquor store clerk, and then they get they go to the hotel. The hotel that is kind of the anchor of the movie. They get wasted. There's an argument in the morning. Steve Buscemi gets shot in the leg. There's your gun, there's your gun. It's like there is no one died. You know, you kind of think like, oh, man, this is going to be when we find out what this gunshot is, it's going to be bad. But it's not even as bad as, like, the liquor store guy. You know, it's just. Yeah, it's so funny. And, you know, we and we find out like that the the the guy who shot the clerk is the boyfriend of the crazy girl that in the chapter you do see how these are? There is a bit of interconnectedness to hear that Jarmusch doesn't do all the time there is here. But it's just like little, little things. I think they're all taking place on the same night, because in the morning it's the gunshot. Yeah. So they're all taking place in the same night in the same hotel. But it's not the thing where, like, the woman from the second one walks by, like the Japanese couple like, that stuff doesn't happen. But yeah, there's some interconnectedness of characters, but you have to listen for that. You have to listen to the dialog. Yep. Someone asks him how involved he is with his editing process. Every cut is his choice, every single one of them. And then he chooses every actor take that's in the movie. Because. And that might be like, what gives these movies that personality from these characters? Yeah, like that slight bit of office. He's plucking out these, like, really specific moments, like, not necessarily caring about like, oh, that was a great delivery or like the continuity was there. Yeah, yeah. For the best take of the actor. And then it actually makes a lot of sense when you watch all of his movies. Yeah. You're like, oh, that's just weird, but cool. Yeah it does. It fits in perfectly with him. So I didn't know that about him. Like as having such a hand in the editing process absolutely makes sense. I mean, you can feel that. You can feel that there is an authorship to all of his movies where he is, you know, maybe taking a note, but he isn't he isn't taking any studio notes like, he doesn't give a shit. And we got there's a really good Harvey Weinstein story coming out. Great, great. But yeah. So Mystery Train giant fan me to love it. Love the bar shades. Yeah. Oh, God. Like these again. These little things where like, you remember, like you watch Mystery Train. You remember the look of that logo? Yeah. Of that. Like, these are the things that stick with you. These images. Love that one. Next. There we go. Here we go, let's go. Here we go. This is the one that I have probably had the most trouble with. Of all of his. Of all of his filmography. Every one of them, though. Really. Well, hear me out. We're on Night of Earth 1991. Some movies of his I watch and I. I didn't have a hard time with it because I was like, that's we're going to get to him. But I'm like, that's not it's not fully for me, this one. There are aspects that are for me and there are some that are not. And I was so I was just having such a challenging time with it because, you know, I watched it once and went, okay, yeah, yeah, I got that. That was good. That wasn't necessarily what I expected. And then I watched it again and kind of liked it a little less. And then you and I talked, and then I watched it a third time and really opened my mind to it and was like, what do you not like about this? And it's not a terrible experience for me at all. Not at all. This is not this is a good movie. The general nature of anthology films is that some chapters work and some don't. And that's just that's just the way they go. Mystery train. It's kind of tricky to call it an anthology. It's just like three different little chapters that work well. And then Night on Earth, I'm into the LA stuff. Love, Jen Rowlands. Love, Winona. I am into New York. The Paris stuff is cool. By the end in Helsinki, I'm like, all right. The is like, I really feel like I'm holding on to like finish that one. I mean, this is going to open up the conversation, but Rome does not work for me at all. I do not like Roberto Benigni in this section at all. But what I'll say, because I've, you know, an indication of where you're going. If Bernini works for you here, as he clearly does for Jarmusch, then this chapter is probably a gas for you, as I imagine it is for you. But the the the the farting noises with the mouth, like starting with that, I just I don't get a kick out of any of it. I think the most honest thing about it, I do think this has the most honest thing in the movie, and that is if you were in that car and he was talking to you that much, it would kill you. It would fucking kill you and you would die. It'd be like torture. You would die if you were to be like passenger. I would just get out of the car. Yeah, but I think. Yeah. So. But no, I, I do like it a lot. I appreciate it. This was one that I had to. I really wanted to go back. I didn't want it to be one viewing. I wanted to go back and keep watching them and watch, like the whole thing as a whole. And it's just it's that fourth one that really takes me out. And then Helsinki is the only one that's like, you know, pretty serious and like kind of gets kind of down. I mean, it's very well done. But to do that last, I'm like, okay, like we're, you know, we're here, we're at we're at the end. But it's a fine film. I just have trouble with the Rome segment. But tell me your thoughts on it because I know you feel differently. Well, I mean, again, but this goes to that whole entire point of like, you know, I Jarmusch is not someone that is out in search of perfection. Yeah. And this this goes for every single one of his movies. There's big swings and their arm misses. Yeah, Stranger Than Paradise is probably a perfect. Yeah. That's why I was like, this is the yeah, Jim film of all Jim Jarmusch films. Yeah. And I think it's also going to be based completely on taste, because especially in something like that now, I'm a big fan of this, but I think I think being in these situations, like where essentially all this movie is, is an anthology movie where you are in different cabs throughout the world, in different cities. You're in Los Angeles, you're in New York City, you are in Paris, you're in Rome, and you're in Helsinki, and you're with that particular taxi driver and their fare. That's the whole entire nature. The whole entire movie is car setups. Yep. You're in the interiors. That's. Yeah. Which is a very cool idea. It is. It is very. Yeah. He said it was hell on earth shooting it to kind of latch on to that. I did listen to the commentary on criterion. And it's not what Jarmusch it's with the DP, Frederic Elms, who's great, and the sound mixer. So naturally, given the nature of their jobs, they spend a lot of time talking about the technical aspects of the movie. When I listen to this commentary close to the Strange and and Paradise commentary, and maybe this is Jim just having a little fun with us, that whole thing, he said in Stranger Than Paradise. Commentary about I shoot scenes out of order. I want it to be less efficient. I want it to be messy. That was not the exercise here. No, and that is what I feel when I watch it. These guys talk about in the Night on Earth commentary, the extremely rigorous process of filming, filming in each city, rigging the cars, finding locations, lighting everything. They had each city down to a schedule like it was like a week. And it was all very structured, tightly organized. And I think that comes through when you watch it. I do not feel the kind of visual or technical, freewheeling nature of Down By Law or Stranger Than Paradise. It feels more like a bit of a sealed off thing. And then I'm going, it was that the exercise? Like, maybe that's what he was trying to do it. No one can say this movie looks bad, like it looks great. It's it's so well shot. But that that was where I was kind of bucking up against it. And I'm like, okay, if it was so technically proficient. And that's not usually like Jim's thing or it wasn't for, you know, his second movie. I just feel the technique of this, like everywhere all over the place. He said it was an exercise in absurdity. Okay. Well, because every setup to maintain the background of everything you'd have, they'd have to find loops in each one of these cities and then each like section, you'd go back 50ft and do the same thing again. And you just do that over and over and over. And and he said it was it was infuriating. So I think I think a lot of it was the idea and and that is what's cool about this movie. It's like, oh yeah, all in taxis. No one's ever done anything like that. All different cities, all the different. Same time. Same time. Yeah, really. Like when you're in LA, like, you know, 6 p.m., you're doing the back half and movie all like four and a m, right? Right. Interesting times. But yeah, the nature of all of these are going to be, you know, like some and you don't like some. There's going to be all for sorts of different reasons. You you don't like Roberto? No. You're a crazy. No I'm not I tried, I tried. You haven't been subjected to the I'll go into it now. My introduction to him, which I imagine is true of a lot of people, is life is beautiful. And it. You know, that thing. Harvey Weinstein made that movie, like, In Our Face Everywhere in 1998. And that movie was never really for me, well intentioned. Yes, I get it. But bringing like, that sense of the way he's acting and Night on Earth is the way he's acting in a concentration camp and life is beautiful. And I'm like, okay, like, I don't know, I get it. And then this is a me problem. I hold on to this shit too much. But like, you give that movie Best Foreign film. Fine. But then he won Best Actor and I'm like, what the hell is this? Like, this is so, you know, standing on whatever, whatever. So I was just, I. And I don't think he's really done anything since 1998 to, like, live up to life is beautiful. I saw his Pinocchio, which I didn't like. And, you know, maybe I haven't seen everything he's done, but it kind of seemed like he peaked there. And I love him down by law, but damn, just letting him go on this energy. But again, if this is your sense of humor as it is yours. I'm sure it's hilarious. And I'm sure it's just like this pure thing to you. I mean, we'll just jump to it now. We can talk about it. I feel like this man is a like burst of human expression. I can't disagree. Yeah, I think he is. I just, I think sometimes the expression is a little annoying. That's and that's and that's totally fair. Yeah. Yeah. And I find him to be like, so pure in, like, in this way of he's going to be loud, he's going to be unapologetic, but it's going to be entertaining. And it's sort of like if you ever if you had someone like, if I had someone like this in my life that I knew I would just be in, I'd be like, if I need to go and see somebody that's going to get me out of a funk, that's true. You just go and see a guy like this. Tell me about your day. Well, I wasn't like this. And then I can. And and there's like a, there's a musicality to his to his speech. Okay. So I'm only going to speak to the people out here that that find what I find and do it. Do it. Because as someone who hasn't seen Life Is Beautiful and you were not subjected 1998 friends, but yeah, it's it's fun. You might love that movie. I don't know, this scene is one of the funniest fucking things I've ever seen in my life. I this monologue that he has is so ridiculous. He basically. So essentially what the scene is, is that he goes, he's driving around Rome at 4 a.m. wearing sunglasses, complaining that it's too dark in the city. And anyway, so he picks up this priest and he thinks he's a bishop. He just is convinced of it. And he goes, Bishop, come in. He's like, I'm not a bishop. I'm a priest. And Berto never listens to it. He's just always like, it's a bishop yourself. And he keeps saying it. And so eventually, like, you know, he's just sort of like he's like, well, since I have a bishop in my car, you can I give you a confession and goes on this monologue about first, about how he was a teenager, about pleasuring himself with a pumpkin, and then how that graduates to a sheep, and then it goes to him having sex with his brother's wife, and he is just off the thing. And but there's like, these are these are outrageous things to say. You've had sex with a pumpkin, a sheep and your brother's wife. I'm not condoning any of these actions at all, but all I'm saying is just so we're clear, just so we're clear. I think they're hilarious in this context. They've got this one line and he's like, I don't need meat. I don't eat vegetables because of the pumpkin. I don't I don't eat much of anything at all. And he's like, help me, father, find the words. And then my favorite thing is he talks about like when he's having sex with his brother's wife. He's like, he goes, came over me. The pumpkin, the sheep, my brother's wife, father. I was on fire and hilarious, hilarious stuff. And eventually he just kills the priest because he's talking so much. Which is your point, that I was in a car with Roberto, and he was. I die too, and, you know, but this sort of sketch kind of reminds me of is a bit of Mr. Bean. I thought of that a little bit, but he doesn't talk. Right. Mr.. Well, Mr. Bean doesn't talk like like when if you're kind of wondering, like what the tone of that particular scene is because you get the silliness of the priest in the car not really being able to get a word out. He's trying to take medication. He can't. And then and then. Yeah. And then he drops it, can't get it, dies, sort of whatever. And then Roberto thinks he's killed him and he goes, My God, how long would they give me for killing a father? Or even worse, a bishop? And then he he brings him out and decides to just set him up on, like, a bench. And so he's got the comedic gag of him coming out of the car, putting him up, but then he's trying to set him up with his eyes open. And that's like a mr. bean thing where like, you know, something like that. So I was like, all right, so this is just a whole entire over-the-top thing, but I loved it. I know, I know, you did. So I think that's the funniest fucking thing. Yeah. And I texted you back. All right, well, this is just a disparity in our senses of humor, which is, you know, fine. But, yes, I think we've said it enough about that. About the Rogue One. No, but like the LA, you know, with the LA portion is really cool. I love when she's just she's just offering Winona, like, you know, the stars, like, I can put you in a movie. And she's like, no, I'm cool being a cab driver. I love that. Like, yeah, and I'm cool doing what I do and it's all good. And this, that is a perfect summation of what Jarmusch I think is after. And this movie is like any other movie, if you were to posit that idea is like, here's a casting director finds in the middle of nowhere this text like taxicab tomboy. Yeah. And it's everything she needs. How would I like to offer you the, like, a chance to be a movie star? Then the movie goes off. Yeah. And here. No, I want to be a fucking mechanic. Yeah. Good luck lady. Yeah, exactly. She's like, I'm okay. And then nothing comes of it. Yeah, you do kind of wonder. It's like, oh, this whole scenes building up to something that kind of just goes the other way, right? But it's all about the relationship that they had in that taxi. And that's what Jim said. He's like he was very fascinated with the intimacy that you get with a very short time period with a stranger. He goes, you're in a taxi. You'll tell someone your whole entire life story because there's nothing there's nothing at stake. Yeah, because you're not going to see him. You're not going to see him again. You're just, you know, a drop in the bucket for them. And but you need to say something or what you're going through is the thing. It's just life on display. Right. And then New York I love Armin Mueller stall like his first day. And he does know how to drive. So then, you know Jean Carlos Zito is as fair and he starts driving. Rosie Perez comes in Paris is funny. Blind woman in the back is Beatrice Doll, who I really, really love as a performer. So yeah, there I mean, and then Helsinki is like, you know, these drunk guys, you know, complaining like, oh, he lost his job, this and that. And the driver is like, I'll tell you a real sad story. Wait for this. And that's and that's the whole thing. Yeah. And that reminds me of Kieslowski. Yeah. A little bit higher end bit. Yeah. Just the look of it and and then like, the sadness of it. Yeah, yeah. The New York City cab experience actually happened to Jim. Okay. He had a driver pull up to him that couldn't that clearly could not drive the car. And so Jim's like, I'll pay the fare. I'll drive. And because this is unacceptable. Jenna Rollins first role she accepted after John Cassavetes death. Oh, I did know that. Yeah, yeah. And Jim felt honored and gave his appreciation. And she said a big part of why she chose this was because she knew that this was a director that, like, loved his work. Yeah. And then he talked. Jim Jarmusch talks a lot about how he was a student of Nicholas Ray. And then he said he had three pieces of filmmaking advice from Nicholas Ray. If you're just going to film the script, why bother? Sure. Meaning it's you're allowing the day and everything around to become what that's script is now going to become. Yeah, all actors are different. You cannot work with actors all in the same way. Find the place where your intentions meet and start there and then. Inspiration for expression comes from everywhere. Be open to it all. Love that. So that's all Nicholas Ray. Those were Jim Jarmusch says. Those were his three biggest things he remembers and always contributes to all of his movies. Nicholas Ray directed Rebel Without a Cause a bunch of other stuff, too. Yeah, yeah. Great director. Cool. So night on Earth, we got through that, okay? There wasn't wasn't any tension. It's fine. I appreciate what you find funny. That seems hilarious. A few years later, we get, you know, kind of. I think he's reaching a bit more into mainstream now. I would consider Dead Man his first movie. It's a Jim Jarmusch western, like a sort of. Yeah. Almost like an antihero. Like like an anti-Western or a neo western of some sort. But I mean, just starting this. You mentioned earlier about his casting. I think this has his best cast, like all these fans. You're like, oh my God. I mean, even with Robert Mitchum in there, like, did you, you know, what did you do? All these other people, maybe they're in a scene or just a few. We recently I don't know when, but we did our top ten films of 1996, and this was like, it's technically 95 because it like playing the festival, whatever, whatever. But you put it on your list and we talked about it. We talked about, you know, the dialog and some of the characters and how they're just outrageous and the shit that they say, like, he fucked up, he cooked up, he cooked like, yeah, it's crazy. And this movie is really playing with our sense of time. Yeah. That's what I talked about in the 1996 pod, because, I mean, even the first ten minutes, he is like doing the cut to black thing and then coming back up from black like nine times. And those are like five minute transitions or five second transitions. And he's doing that a lot. And you have to I think once Johnny Depp gets off that train, if you are not on board, I don't know if you're going to be like, you really got to settle into this tone that this director is serving you. We're back in black and white, but I just love the narrative arc of the character. It's very like old school western that when we meet him and how the movie ends, he's gone on this complete journey. He's like understanding, acceptance, like he's a completely different person and not that much time. And I just love that arc. But yeah, this is a this is a cool vibe. It's a it's a cool vibe. Yeah. It's a western Jim Jarmusch style to get really, really is. And yeah, you're right. Like just that, that opening passage of how much land is being covered by this train trip. Yeah. Days. Yes. And and then each time you open up the new cast of characters that are inhabiting that train, and he's still in the same spot. And then, of course, you get Crispin Glover coming in. My God, look, God, they're shooting buffalo. It's just and, you know, and he basically kind of like, foreshadows the very end of the movie in a very cool, unique way because it's very off putting because that's Crispin Glover. This might be my favorite cinematography of all of Jarmusch's movies. It's a very it's definitely the best looking of as black and white, like, it's a very stark black and white, like the contrast really pop. Yeah. It looks it looks good. I don't know if it would be my favorite among all of them. That's a I'd have to think about it. Actually. No, I take that back. There's another one. That's definitely it, but it looks great. Yeah, it definitely looks great. Neil Young does the score. Yeah, that's what we talked about a lot in the 96. Yep. Yeah yeah yeah. Just and you can you can feel that like does the sparse kind of guitar riffs or. But I mean this is just like a guy goes to a town gets I mean he does it but he gets in a little trouble kind of by accident, shoot someone and then has to go on the run as people are chasing him and that's that's it. And he's and it's interesting because his whole entire character is he's he's on in control of anything. Yeah. These things are just happening. Right. He the only thing he did was show up to this town because of a job. But then someone else took it, and then he ends up at this bar, and then some girl really kind of picks him up. She, like, gets shot as a human shield for him. Yeah, like he didn't even move. He just stands there and then he ends up shooting the other guy, but misses a bunch. Yeah. And then he's like, he's wounded. He's being led by nobody. Yep Gary Farmer I love him. And these are the only two characters that Jarmusch said he wrote for. It was Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer for for these two. So everything else was cast of, you know, it's crazy. So good. Yeah. And then you just sort of get like, this journey with this, nobody Native American who takes this white man to, you know, kind of feels for him and kind of takes care of him and is teaching him in his ways. And because this William Blake, who's it is not the actual William Blake, right? Right. Gary Farmer's character. Nobody thinks it is. Yeah, yeah. That's like. Yeah. But Jim was very influenced by William Blake's poetry during this time. So it's a cool way of being like, this is not a William Blake movie at all, right? And yeah, and then you get to meet the the trio of hitmen that are set out to kill Johnny Depp, which is Lance Henriksen and the great Michael Wincott. He's that voice. That voice. And I don't know who plays the other younger one. Well, Billy Bob is there for a little bit run. Different trio. Yeah, that's the that's the Iggy Pop. That's right. Yeah. And the Simon Baker. Yeah. Yeah, that is crazy. Yeah. You just see Iggy Pop, like, show up in this way in a dress. Yeah, yeah. The dress. You're like what? And but yeah. So these three hitmen, Lance doesn't say a single word, but he's very expressive. Robert Mitchum hires him because the guy Johnny Depp killed was his son. But Michael Wincott even says, like, this will go well for you if you just keep your mouth shut. And Michael Wincott is just a guy who does not stop talking, ever. He just can't stop talking. And then he's got a great scene where he's talking about how he's like, you heard about this guy, killed his, killed his parents, fucked him, cooked him, eat him. Like what? Like it's so funny. You heard about this. You heard about that, and you just sitting there, and then, you know, we'll get, like, it'll cut and fade to black and we'll come up, and Lance is eating up. I don't know, eating an arm, eating even a foot of somewhat of a human. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, you know, you kind of go to that whole thing where we're kind of going around to where nobody is trying to test Johnny Depp a little bit. They find Iggy Pop and Billy Bob and Simon Baker, which is like these three kind of like weird guys. They're cooking dinner. Iggy is cooking in a dress, and he's like, I got you like, like a big George or something like that. He's telling the story. And then nobody. Bass tells Johnny Depp. He's like, all right, go there, go down there. And I love Johnny Depp's line because it speaks to this arc of the character. He's like, I'll go, I'd rather not, but I'll go. And then he goes down there and he doesn't do anything. He just starts to get sort of like sexually harassed by these guys, his hair and everything. And but then you get Billy Bob, he's got the best fucking lines because he gets into a fight with Simon Baker where he's about to shoot him. He's got go ahead, shoot me. And then he shoots and he goes, Good God, I'm hit. Oh, burns like hellfire. It's so funny. It's so funny and good God, I'm good God, cause he's not even selling at all. That he's just got shot. He's good God. I'm hit. Holy shit. I think this movie is a lot about, like, the quest to learn who you are, what you're made of. For sure. There's a great sign that says, work out your salvation. Oh, yeah. At the very end, I don't think Jim Jarmusch is is someone that I think this might be more of one of his actual, like, literary, like pointed movies. I think so, too, of saying something with it in that way. Very cool. It's a good one. It's a good it can also be a gateway movie into dramas. For a lot of people. It was, you know, it was pretty mainstream at the time ish. But yeah, I'm a fan of Dead Man. My dad loves them and my dad's a huge Jarmusch fan, so I read like Dead Man. We watched a lot in college and yeah, I went back, you know, but even before this and was watching and like, okay, okay, I get it, I get it, I like it. Yeah. It's his first tiptoe into like, The Lone Man West is a movie. And this was this was literally so my mom would have on VHS all the time. She loved this movie. This was very much her style. Yeah. So then there was the Harvey Weinstein story right here, which is pretty fascinating and talks about how Jim stays true to his stuff. So they had made the movie. Harvey wanted to pick it up. It's a Miramax. Yeah. And then when they did, Harvey was like, there's got to be all these edits. It's too slow. It's to this, it's boring, blah blah, blah, blah, blah. And Jim was like, no, yeah, absolutely not. I'm not doing it. And then Harvey was basically just fucking with the movie is like, all right, well then we're not going to release it. We're not going to do this, we're not going to do that. So basically just fucking the entire movie that they bought, right? Just because Jarmusch wasn't going to concede, concede to. Yeah. Yeah. And so he goes eventually just said after a long while they just released it. And a critic said they the movie's promotion and release was released as if there were tongs on the movie. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is a wine scene, an old trick that he would do. Yeah. Bury the release. Yeah. And so, you know, in the way, of course, Jarmusch. Jarmusch tells the story. No inflection. Right. You can tell very much. But he said that what he learned from that was he has no interest in mainstream. This was the closest that he's kind of got to it. And this is what he dealt with. And he goes, this was proof to me, don't need it. I have my crew. I have my people. We work so well this way. I don't want or need any of that in my life. So it was very affirming kind of story about that. Okay. Well, that was his first kind of going into genre. I didn't know every detail about that distribution. Makes sense that he's like, all right, Hollywood, if that, then we get ghost all the way of the samurai 1999. This was probably the first one I heard a lot about. I think a lot of people became aware of it. A lot of people thought it was cool, and they were watching it over and over. And I have a little trouble with this one. I do too. Yeah, I do, I do, I don't think like maybe it's because everyone told me in 1999, like, this is the movie you got to see, this is what you have to watch. But okay, so like Forest Whitaker is great in this. I think it helps cement him as Forest Whitaker, the star. I honestly don't think he wins the Oscar for Best Actor seven years later. Were it not for this film. I think that helped him graduate, helped him like launch at him as a new leading man. And you know, I I've watched this a few times and this is where I really want to bring up. Not like an issue, but there's a difference between the movies that aren't Jara movies and then ones where he is interpreting Adjara, whether it's the Lone Man Western or the hitman in a city thriller, but making it a drama film. Yeah, like that's what they feel like. And I do think Dead Man is a bit slow. I think that's the point. I think this movie just really drags with the going back to the they're not poems, but, you know, saying all that stuff and then walking around and following. It's a cool movie, like it has style, it has appeal and all that stuff. And I, I get like, he thinks John Pierre Melville and Akira Kurosawa and the credits and I mean, the Kira thing is a little obvious because they're passing around Rashomon as the book which he adapted into a very famous film. But the Melville credit is key because this is really his Jarmusch's La Samaria. It is. And when that clicks into when you figure that out and if you've seen the samurai, this is the thing that I read Roger Ebert's review for this. It's a balanced review, but his whole thing is I do not believe that the ghost dog we see alone, tending to the birds, the one who's talking to us in voiceover. It doesn't. The detached, ruthless, quiet killer what Ebert was saying, and I guess I do kind of believe it. It doesn't feel like the same person, you know, being friends with the little girl or being friends with the ice cream guy. And I go, I don't know, I guess I see that. And then he compares it to samurai. Like, that guy doesn't change. Like whoever he's talking to in any given time, he's a samurai. And ghost dog does kind of change a lot. And I'm like, I don't know, I don't. It's not that I dislike the movie. I just don't love it, I guess seemingly as much as like everyone else. And people seem to really, really love this one. And I mean, the thing I love most about it, honestly, are the mob guys, which are straight out of an Abel Ferrara movie and they don't really like fit into the movie, but just their scenes alone, like the one guy is obsessed with Flava Flav. It's hysterical, but that they make me laugh and I'm like, this doesn't. It doesn't even really feel like a part of the same movie. And that's my biggest situation, is actually the Mafia part of it. Yeah, I just like them because it it kind of takes me out of the movie a little bit in a good way. And I'm like, oh, I get to laugh now. And, you know, I there's a part of me that I would. I always kind of feel like I'd much rather watch an entire movie watching Just Ghost Dog do a bunch of, like, practices samurai with his birds. Yeah. And kind of just go around the world observing things and taking them in and giving us this wisdom. Those are the parts that I actually connect with most. But I love the infusion of the rap and the hip hop. Yeah, yeah, I actually like, love that entire soundtrack. Yeah, I do too. Hip hop guy. But every song that came on, I was like, oh, I fucking like this. So yeah, this is a big one where a lot of people really do latch on to this. Yeah. And I suppose this is, again, one of those things, like Jarmusch is one of those filmmakers where if you do vibe with him, you will. And if you don't, you don't. Yeah. And and I this is the one out of all of them that I really have the biggest departure from. Interesting. Yeah. But but like but the key things that I like the most are the scene with him in the little girl. Yeah. They're not bad scenes. Like that's what I mean. They're not bad scenes. They just feel, to Ebert's point, a little like not authentic to who he is when he's alone. But I don't know, maybe that's part of the point. Maybe it is the ice cream. Yeah. You know how their best friends that don't speak the language, you know, and all that type of thing. This is one key thing that Jarmusch does point out. We were talking a little bit about his repetition and how characters was say similar things over and over. Now, I found this to be very fascinating. His reaction, his his reason for why he does that is because just like songs, choruses repeat. Sure. Like paintings, like when you look at an artist, there's things and he finds that certain things that are said that are repeated or a misconception in language, these are all things that fascinate him. How do we connect? What are things that are said again and again? What is this repetition? It's in poetry. It's in songwriting. It's all this. So he thinks that repetition is just as much as a part of of art. Yeah. Any form. It's a huge part of his filmmaking style. Even the repetitive shot and mystery train that we were talking about. But yeah, he's doing this in father mother as well. Like the same lines of dialog, same lines, different groups of people. Yep, yep. So yeah, he's doing that and I don't I'm, I'm this is a tricky one to talk about because I think a lot of people if you're what's your favorite dramas movie. They say ghost. They do. So again I'm making it clear that I don't think this is a bad movie. It's not at all. But with his movies, maybe Dead Man is a bit of an exception, but with the movies, when I watch them, I'm going. The problem here is, Jim, that I love hitman movies. Like I love hitman in this in a city movie, and I am personally me. I'm never going to put on Ghost Dog over, let's say the killer even like I'm. There are so many other hitman movies I'm going to watch instead of this one, so I'm not going to go to this first. And I wonder after this podcast, because I feel this way about a few of his movies, when and if will I watch them again? I don't have an itch to necessarily like, maybe it'll come up for some reason, but right now, you know, it's like, okay, I did it, I studied it, I examined it fairly, watch it a few times, read some reviews, and that just kind of feels like that's that for me. No, I agree. I mean, I would watch it again, but I probably wouldn't. It would be a thing where as if someone wanted to watch it. Yeah. And then I would be like, yeah, yeah, let's, let's, let's let's see. Let me see how this washes over me again, because that's how Jarmusch I feel like that's always like, let these movies wash over you. There are there are things about it like, I love all that. The apparently the guy, the old man building the ship. Oh, yeah. Jim Jarmusch actually happened to. Oh, in New York, you're just building the ship building on this roof, and he's like, what are you going to do with it? And the guy didn't speak in English. He's just sort of like shit like that. But again, these are tiny little moments of what you're talking about as a movie as a whole, the like. I would much rather like take out the whole mafia thing and just leave me with this guy, this samurai wandering the streets, talking to a little girls about books and ice cream truck guy that doesn't speak the same language. All of this, to me, is much more interesting than a kind of like ragtag mafia that really can't get anything done. Right. Because. Because that that also doesn't really fit either. Like, it doesn't know. And I think I think the film, while not long feels for its story a little overly long and I yeah, I think there's some, you know, a lot of extra stuff in it. I do want to say that I'm in all of 2026 doing at least one new to me criterion a year. I heard that this Japanese film Branded to Kill was he was really heavily inspired by that for Ghost Dog. Oh yeah, he was. I mean, shooting someone up through the sink that's in Branded to Kill like an animal flying on your scope right as you take aim branded to kill. So you're seeing him, like, pluck these things. So Branded to Kill was a. That movie is insane. It is. There's more that happens in the first 20 minutes of that movie than all of ghost. I'm like, what? Like it's crazy, but that was samurai. Yeah. You see how he's pulling these influences? And again, Ghost Dog is still every movie we're going to talk about today is a Jim Jarmusch movie. It is absolutely feel that and I'll give it credit for that. So we're not hating on your favorite Jarmusch movie, if that's what you think. If it's your favorite. Right. Next up, moving on to the next one, I would say probably is most popular, probably is most well known. Strangely, yeah. In a way, this was I think it's just because Coffee and Cigarettes is so accessible, like it's like it's I think this is probably the biggest gateway for a lot of people into Jim Jarmusch and a lot of American independent cinema. Like, they watch this, they're like, oh, it's black and white. And in college I own this. And people would come. Different people would come to my room and my roommate and I. So we watched this like a lot because they would want to see it and people would be like, oh yeah, cool. I saw like an art film now, like, oh yeah. And I'm like, yeah, kind of is. But the nature of it, because there are so many shorts not you're not going to like every segment equally, but you know that because of the nature of the way it's set up, if you're not into one waits 5 to 7 minutes and it's going to be done, and then you'll be on to the next. And you know, the entire film is only 90 minutes long of narrative story. There's like six minutes of credits, but it's a quick viewing experience all the same. And yeah, I just I really dig it. And we can talk about I don't want to go through every segment, but, you know, favorite, least favorite segments, but it's just the ragtag group of people who he sits down like Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, like, how could that work? And it's great. Like expands Drastic Cousins. It's just like, it's so good. Yeah. Oh man, I so yeah, I think Coffee and Cigarettes is very accessible. While noting that I don't you know, I'm not head over heels for I don't need the white stripes in here. I'll just I don't need that one. Oh I love do you that I'm like, what is going on with this like Tesla thing. Like, I don't know it's fine but I'm going okay. But again this is also like Jim being a part of the culture. Yeah yeah yeah. Exactly. You know he loves Iggy Pop. He loves Tom waits. Yeah. Like these are the musicians that he has kind of found his friends. So and when you listen to all that dialog that's just Jim Jarmusch talk about his love for Tesla. Oh, no. Of course. Yeah, yeah, but I know what you mean. But I and I also love that this movie represents a huge commitment to an idea, because the first short in the movie, the one with Roberto Benigni, they shot that in the, you know, the 80s. Yeah. And then the second one, those are Spike Lee's siblings, real life siblings in the second chapter. And they shot that one a few years later and you're just chipping away. And then they shot a bunch at once and he's like, okay, cool. Yeah, I'll use those 2 or 3 shorts I shot ages ago, and I'll just make it into a 90 minute movie. Cool. I mean, it's a he's kind it's kind of like revolutionary in a lot of ways. When you do talk about like, artistic filmmaking and experimental filmmaking. For Jarmusch. Yeah, we were talking about earlier, like he made his name for being that art director in the 80s. So everyone in the 90s was like, oh, go and check out some of these types of movies. I think it carries over in a 2003 with Coffee and Cigarettes, because he was making this shit like for years at a time, but there was no internet right now, a days, if you wanted to make a short and put it out there, you do. But he was sort of like, well, I got one that we did for fun over here. Yeah, two then like, all right, we'll just keep going with it. But he didn't care how long it took. Yeah. And eventually. Exactly. And you can tell by the way that the film looks. Yeah. When he was like the boy with Cate Blanchett. Yeah. The wall with Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina. Like, those were definitely the newer ones. Yeah, yeah. And you can feel that. But I like that. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, based on the way that they all are, maybe some of them might be switched around, but I think they do start. I think it's a chronological order to the way that they were filmed. That's what I mean. Yeah. The first three were shot like as one off shorts and then. Yeah, they and then the, the big bulk of them were all shot like, like a regular film shoot. He wasn't like, hey, I'll do one this week. Like they got all those people together for the individual scenes. But yeah. Yes, they're released in chronological order. And yet and some of them hit, some of them don't. I want to know which ones of yours don't. Or like which one, which which ones don't. I'm. Yeah. I'm curious. Okay. Yeah. The twins one actually doesn't really hit for me. Yeah. Spike Lee's like cousins or siblings rather. Yeah. It's it's just okay. It's just okay. The the Roberto Benigni one doesn't really hit for me much. Wow though. Oh, my least favorite is these things will kill you. The one with the Mafia guys. Is it the very end? No, no, no, that's the one with the guys from Gustavo. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like it's kind of like the fourth or fifth one. Yeah, yeah, that one's my least favorite. Okay. It's not one that necessarily sticks out in my memory either. But I just like those guys. Like the one guy. Oh, yeah. He's in casino and I love him in that. Okay. Yeah, mine is probably the White Stripes one. I'm like, I don't know. And then my favorite I mean come on it's delirium baby. Oh no. Are you crazy? Like you crazy for Wu-Tang. Then you just put Bill Murray there playing himself? Yep. Playing himself. Drinking coffee out of the diner. The coffee. What is that thing? Something mug. What is that? The pot. The pot? Yeah, just drink it, man. You crazy? And I love it. Like, nah, we don't we don't mess with that caffeine. Like, it's just so funny. And again, you talk about those repetitions. Yeah. They talk about how they like to drink coffee before bed because their dreams go faster. Someone else says that. Another one. There's all this repetition going on. I think my favorite one is both the cousins. Oh they're great. Yeah, both the cousins are great. The Cate Blanchett one is I love the way that looks. I love everything about it. She's amazing. And then somewhere in California which is the Tom Waits Iggy Pop one. Right. Great. So good. And then I do have an affinity for champagne. The very last one I do too. It's kind of nice. Yeah. Corey meds voice. Yeah, just it's so raspy. He's like, yeah, I'm sounds so yeah, there's this like, I don't know, I know, like, why are these old men working at like a 4 a.m. job? Yeah, exactly. Coffee. Like your imagination goes wild. And then the Renee one is, like, so simple. I love I do too, I really love that. Because it's true. Like, I've, you know, been in a diner. You got your coffee there. It's mixed just perfectly the way you like it. The color is good. And then without asking, they just, like, refill it, you know, you were halfway done and they refill it and you're like, man, I got to do this whole damn process over again. Like, come on, you gotta you gotta ask if I want to refill. I just love that I love her. I think she's great. There is something about this movie, and I remember I put this in our episode of movies that inspired me to direct. Yeah, there is something about this movie that I just can never really forget. And it's. I think it's just the simplicity. Yeah. And then what can really kind of come out of seemingly listen, this scene can be about whatever coffee and cigarettes, as will be the one thing that's going on in every single one of these scenes, but just talk and have a thing. It it can be this easy and it can be that actually like profound in some ways. Like you do get these waves of moments where like that ending the Steve Coogan and my God, it's so great the way Coogan and I love them playing. You know them, they have their names. And Coogan is such an asshole. Such it starts like such. And then that when as soon as you know, they're going to call and gets the power. Oh yeah. Oh, well, yeah. Maybe I should give you my number. I love the excuses. I just don't give my number out like to anyone. I love what it's like. Can I say no? Can I say no. And I'll tell you why though there's. And also the honesty and beauty in Alfred Molina. And he goes, I guess I'm just, you know, asking you to like, acknowledge, you know, this and just love me. And he's so. Yeah. It's so simple. Yeah. He's so like just nice, like, hi. Hi. Yeah, I love it. I love that Titanic. It's that's definitely one of my favorites. I love those two together. I always remember that one. It's great. So yeah I mean a really important film for Jarmusch that I think is probably his most like, well, scene. I mean, maybe I think more people have probably seen that one than any of his other movies. Yeah, it might be the one where, if you like, you're like, oh, Jim Jarmusch, either the Coffee and Cigarettes, we're like, oh yeah, okay, okay. Yeah. Love it. Good one. Great. All right. Next up is Broken Flowers. And I gotta say, I'm very, very curious of what you think of this one because I know you've got, like, some, like, ones that really hit for you, some that don't. This is one where I had no idea what your opinion is. So what have we got? I love this film. Not only do I love it, I. This is my favorite Bill Murray performance. I'm not saying it's his best. I'm saying it's my favorite. That's that's a big statement. I know, I know, and I, I don't make it lightly. I love Bill Murray and I do mean this with all due respect, because I love the movie and the performance that I'm about to compare this one too, but I don't know. I've always genuinely felt like his loss in translation work is a warm up for Broken Flowers. I think he took all of that isolation, disdain, sarcasm from his loss in translation character, put it into this character, and then he earned a lot of goodwill to like that was his first nomination. He almost one like he was really, really close to winning. And I don't know, I kind of feel like that goodwill of just the town and like, no Bill. Like we do like you, like we nominate you. I feel that in this character too. I don't know, this guy just seems like someone who has reached success, hit some failures, maybe reached success again. And now he's 70 and he doesn't know what the hell his life is about. Or like what? The point is, I love this movie. Well, there, there there was a, you know, that was sort of the evolution of Bill Murray as who he was as an actor to all of us for, you know, the 70s, 80s and 90s. It was comedy. Yeah, it was. And he was a very and he was very specific comedy. But then he turns on, it's not about an actor bringing drama all of a sudden, but he brought a melancholy to his, like, emotional life that was never there before. Or if it was, it was always under the surface. Yes. But now, like you look at Lost in Translation, the Wes Anderson Life Aquatic. Yeah, sure. Yeah. This there is now a mood that bill it's another like another color to him and he is perfect in this. Oh, I'm so glad you like it. I mean, we see him thinking a lot in this movie, like, a lot. And he has these eyes. They don't look straight like they dart around. So it makes it really difficult to follow what he's thinking. But I mean, I'll just jump to it like there's a brief it's like a ten second shot toward the end of the movie. It's right after he's placed the roses on the gravestone. It's a very tender scene. And then we cut to his face. He's sitting against a tree. He's a bit beaten up, and to me the whole movie plays out on his face there. Like he's just he's. His eyes are darting around. The entire character's right there and I gotta. I watched it twice for this and got a laugh. I was laughing myself the second time because I'm like, he could be, you know, working out the entire character in his head. Or he could be thinking about what he's going to have for lunch. I don't know, but it man, it works on me. I buy it and there's something he does right as he arrives to the headstone with the flowers where he just goes, hello, beautiful. Oh yeah, and I love that line so much. Because, you know, the beauty of this movie is this idea of going back to these lost loves and the idea that these are the broken flowers, the women, women. And maybe this was the one that he cared for the most. The one who. Yeah, he can't talk to now. Yeah. Like, because we never actually know his point of view on any of them. Yeah. We experience though when he actually goes back to meet each one. This is what I love about this movie so much, is that every woman in this movie and build in the relationship to them, he goes back to that time with them. Yeah. When he's with Sharon Stone, great. She doesn't recognize the first, but she sees him in Donnie. Yeah, we're having chicken here. And you, like, you know that this is what it is. And and and there's like there's so much like sexuality in that one and there's and it's like this whole entire thing. But then he goes to the second one and it's weird. Frances Conroy yeah, it's like she seems to. Well, you know. All right, you you brought us get into it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. First of all, the movie's about like, this guy gets a letter, like this pink letter that says you have a son. It was with me, but the letter is unsigned. And then he, you know, kind of his neighbor, Jeffrey Wright, is gets, takes it. Yeah. Takes it under him to like, oh, I'm going to investigate this for you. All right. You're going to go visit all the women that could be eligible for this. Yeah. And what I love to your point about how much Bill Murray is thinking Jeffrey Wright is the one who sets up everything. Everything. And Bill Murray says no to it every time. Yep. He's like, I'm no, I'm not going to do that. And the very next scene he's doing, yep, he's doing it. So I love that there is this big resistance. And Jeffrey Wright seems to know him as a friend so well that he's going to still do it. Yep. And so I just love that part of it because Bill Murray, every time he goes not doing it. No, no he's steadfast. He's like that's not doing that. Absolutely not. That's ridiculous. Then he there he is. There he is. Yeah. So the first one we meet is Julie Delpy who's walking out on him. And she, you know, probably doesn't have anything to do with this pink letter, but then, yeah, he goes off on his mission. I actually have a note that this is not an anthology film, but it kind of plays like one. It's in six to stem parts. It's intro. Woman one, woman two, woman three, woman four conclusion. And yeah, we just see him. We experience and have to write their relationship with each individual woman for ourselves. And it's fascinating. And that is the beauty of Jarmusch. And that is the beauty of why something like this works better in his hands than any other director. Yeah, because, well, number one, all the actors are ready for this. Yes, they. Yes. I don't know what if there was conversation, I don't know. However it is, it doesn't matter because when we are with these people together, there is a very, very specific dynamic that they all are there with. And it's different from each one. And that is where the beauty of this movie lies, is because we don't know, but we get these little things like in the Francis County. One my favorite moment is when Chris. Mac, Chris. Yeah, there he is. Chris. Mac listeners, we got every time two character actors are mentioned, we play a Diddy. And who plays the husband, one of the husbands in Broken Flowers. It's Chris back. It's Chris Meg. And he's excellent. How well hello. Well, moron. Good for Happy Gilmore, my God. God damn it, Homer! God damn it! Jesus Christ, just stay out of my way. You'll pay. Listen to what I say. I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast. Call it the perfect storm. It's so good, so awkward. He's kind of. Yeah, it's awkward, but I sense maybe I'm reading too much into it. A little bit of menace. Yeah. It could. You don't like, maybe he's controlling, but. But also put yourself in his shoes like he sit. You know, he comes home from work expecting a wife. A load of the house that here's his wife's, like, you know, kind of flashy ex-lover. He's like, oh, but he's not rude. Oh, join us for dinner. It's the most uptight. Yeah, like like you can't even. You like it's a diamond. You can't squeeze more pressure out of the lives that Chris, Mac and Francis kind of relive. But my favorite is. Is Chris met? Goes to get a picture. He goes, oh, you'll like this. This is probably around the time you were together, and we see a picture of Frances Conroy as this, like, hippie girl. Yeah, yeah. And you know that that because Bill goes, you can hear it in his voice. I think I took that, yeah, I took that picture. That is those memories like that is how and like and he does that in each and every scene. Like there's a bit of a moment where it's sort of like, this was us. And that's why I love the look that Frances Conroy gives to him, to me, at the very end of that scene, it's a look that says, I'm not who I was, and I'm embarrassed to for you to see me now. It definitely plays that way. Yeah, yeah. What what what what a truth. Yeah. I mean, she just seems like a board kind of complacent life. And she does seem like a broken flower, that's for sure. And they all are. Yeah, they all are. They all are. Because Sharon Stone is I mean, they they share. Her ex-husband was a race car driver. Got incinerated. Yeah. And now she's got, like, this kind of like a town and like they're like. And the sexuality though, between the mother, the daughter. Like, it's all weird. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And but it's still very much there. And then you get Jessica Lange who's next? The weirdest. I mean, animal communicator, I think. Yeah. Created this, like, life bubble where she's a renowned animal communicator, which is a thing, I guess. Yeah. She has this controlling assistant who maybe they're lovers as well. It seems like there's a little bit of that in there. And 70s. Very, like, protective, like. No, she's not available now. She's very standoffish with Bill Murray and yeah, that's almost like the weirdest one because she's not really giving Jessica Lange isn't giving him anything. No. Yeah. And I and that's actually the one where earlier in the morning, Bill Murray's character gets a phone call from Jeffrey Wright and Bill Murray. He's like, I think I'm done with this. Yeah, this is my third one. And then he finally just submits. I really don't want to see her. Yeah. And that kind of like this is what I love about this idea. I think anyone can kind of relate to like, their past lovers in their life. What it must be like if you were to go and see all of them again, I guarantee you there's at least one where you're like, I'm not looking forward to this one. Yeah. And that is that one. And then he goes, and then it's that and you know, and I love also to when he's still trying to figure out did you write this letter or do you have a kid. She keeps asking like, do you want to go to dinner. No I don't need yeah, yeah. And he's like, how about a walk? I'm not interested. Do you have a typewriter? Like, do you have a kid like like he's over. Yeah. He's just like, all right, I'm done playing around. Let's get to it. Like, do you have is this you that did this? And it's like, no, no. And then. Yeah. Finds his way to tell who I did. You know, at this point in her career, she was she had a lead and a twisty indie, the deep end, which not a lot of people saw. And then she had Small parts and vanilla Sky in adaptation, but I did not. When I saw this movie in the theater, I did not recognize her. And man, she is, she's great as well. There's something like I mean, there's danger on here. It's the it's the least explained relationship, and it's also the most intense emotionally in a lot of ways, because she does not like seeing him. Not at all. And he and he says, do you have a kid? And there is a reaction from her that it's almost like he knows, like she's not able to have kids or something. There's something. Or maybe their relationship ended because I don't know, but that that was a huge thing. And then he gets beat up by the other, like, why are you talking to the penny? Or, you know, whatever. Yeah. Why are you upsetting her? Yeah, exactly. And then, you know, and but then that leads to the cemetery scene where it's the hello beautiful. And then the. You're right. He wears the whole movie on his face. And it's just a beautiful idea. And it's played out and it's all about your imagination because I think what we end up kind of doing is we kind of are applying our lives to this idea, which is a part of the poetry of Jarmusch's work. This is what he does. You could look at all these scenes and be like, oh, they're kind of boring. They're kind of slow, but it's like, it's not the point. The point is, is like, take it on a little bit. Yeah, like feel it for yourself. I love when he kind of not choose out, but when he tells Jeffrey Wright, like, this is all your fault. Like, you got rid of this and he's like, mean to him and I. And you know, we see I think there's some atonement for that later. I don't think he means what he says. And then I don't want to get too much in the ending, too much into the ending. But it's great. Like I love the ending. Oh my God, it is. It might be the best Jarmusch ending. Yeah, to anyone. And he's got some great he does down by law, I mean stranger than Paradise. I mean, all of them are great, but this one is very, very powerful. And and it I don't want to say it. I know we've spoiled a few on this, but I feel like if everyone I feel like a lot of people might not have ever seen this one, I agree. Yeah, it's this one's not worth spoiling that ending. It's really beautiful and honest. And you'll walk away from that ending and you won't be able to stop thinking about it. Yeah, and that's kind of what I walked away with. Like, I saw this in the theater and I walked away with that, and I was like, oh, okay. That was really good. And just it has a lot of style. The pink. I love the pink. We're always going back to the pink. That's what the lettering is in. Yeah. And also one last kind of bit to kind of find interesting because I wondered about it. I never thought about it individually watching this movie, but watching all of Jarmusch's movies, you know that he is so specific about these locations. He loves exploring the cities of where these take place. Were always seeing these exterior shots of things that are not big, like, if you're in New York, you're not seeing the Statue of Liberty, you're seeing like 21st Street. And every city we go to, we do not know what city that. No, he's never clear with it. I mean, he might have to get on a plane, you know, he's waking up, he's getting to wake up calls and hotels. But yeah, that is not explicit. And I love that the locations are all different. Like you're in a town you're in, like the estates. Yeah. I mean, sometimes you can drive to them, sometimes he has to fly. Yeah. Exactly. So but that means like I think that also includes the imagination where it's like, if you were to do this, you're going across the country. Yeah. To various American cities trying to find if you have a long lost kit and if any of these women are responsible for it. Yeah. Love this movie. Love it. All right. Good. I'm glad you like it too. I'm interested to hear where it ranks for both of us. Yeah, this is the one. Yep. I'm most curious your thoughts on of all of Jarmusch's movies. This next one is the one I really I think I know what you think, but I wonder why don't you tell me what you think? First of what I think about this movie, The Limits of Control, 2009, brother man. Yeah. You're not going to believe me. I didn't know anything about this movie until we did this pod. Yeah, I thought I knew all of his fucking filmography. It's a hidden one right in there. And so I just went through just to make sure, because I was like, I know every Jarmusch movie. Let me just make sure, though, because I don't want to be in the pod. And then you bring up a movie, I'm like, wait, there's a movie? I missed one, I miss one, so I go, what the fuck is the limits of control? Now, of course, I've seen every Jarmusch movie more than once, except for this one. I gotta tell you, man, I've loved this. Yeah, loved, loved, loved this. So I saw this in 2009 when it came out. Oh yeah, I saw in the theater it didn't necessarily resonate with me, but so I had not watched it until now, until for this. And I was like, okay, I get it a little more. I am left with the feeling because this is another Jara movie. It's another hitman movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do think I think there's a 90 minute movie in here, not necessarily a two hour one. And I think some of the repetition, which is a thing for him, really, it just kind of pulls at me a little bit because I'm like, man, we're I mean, it's not like one, two, three. It's like eight times with the double espressos. It's and and he's not giving us anything. Who are these people we don't know who like, we don't know any of this stuff. So we really have to pay attention. It's kind of like Ghost Dog without the narration, without the mob guys. And I think that's what I liked it. I like it more than Ghost Dog, I think, and there is a lot to like about it. But in that audience, the demand for audience patience, like you have to sit here and watch, you have to see this, this repetition. And I get it. It's like the way to recognize him is he's the only guy who's ordered two single espressos, like, okay. And and then you separate cups, then you have your, your canned dialog back and forth so that you know who it is and the match. But like, I get it all. It's cool. It's cool. It just he's really it's moving really, really slow. And it is a lot of the same thing. Oh yeah, a lot. Maybe different actors, but a lot. So that's what kind of took me out. But again, as I said, with even with Ghost Talk, like I'm going to watch this on Jarmusch's time, I'm not going to, you know, control it. No pausing, no nothing. So I did that, you know, you and then I won't give too much away. But like, this is a slow movie and a lot of, you know, it's just it's an intentional, slow movie and I'm fans of them. What I'm not a fan of with slow movies is when they, in my opinion, omit one of, if not the most interesting part of the process. For example, how did he get into that office? And just saying I used my imagination is a really cool line, but when you have shown me tirelessly the process, this guy's process over and over and over, and then you omit those big things, it feels a little cheap to me. You are 100%. How did he get in there? We see him studying the building a lot, but that place looks like a fortress, and I. That's part of the mistake of the actor's great. I love him. He's shown up a lot in Jarmusch's stuff. That's part of the mystique of him. And again, a cool line, a Jarmusch cool line. I use my imagination, but it's like, don't show me the same thing with like an endless amount of people a lot and then leave that out. So it's just it's little stuff like that. No, you're you're 1,000% right about that, that's all. But I still I like the movie. I want to say real quick it's shot by Christopher Doyle who shot the hell out of it. He does a lot of Wong Kar Wai movies did in the In the Mood for love. Well, so he's great. This is. This is what I wanted to talk about when I said Dead Man was my favorite cinematography. I had to take that back immediately because I. I agree with you when you say that. NC I did not like that line either because it didn't really make sense with it. I didn't really like that scene to be honest. It's just so rushed and like we you've shown us so like we've I've been with you for an hour, 50 minutes. Like watching him do the same thing over again. And then your big ending that I feel you've been building up to is a whisper. It's not like bang, bang, you know? And. And there and there. I think the reason I didn't really particularly care for the ending was because we don't know anything about this movie. What it's about, anything. We don't know who Bill Murray is. We don't often see ends up in and, you know, kind of get like this stock kind of like, you know who I am. Like, oh, you people all do. Like it's a pretty canned villain. Stuff like, you don't know how the world works, like, oh, you're pointing a gun at me, like you're okay. Great. Great. I mean, the and the killer, the end guy does, like, it's a version of kind of the same thing, like. Oh okay. So yeah we're in Murray plays it well and we go to handheld and that's kind of cool. Like it's not a it's just it's a patience testing movie. It's really and again this is a movie. This is a hit bad movie I love hitman movies. But if you know, if you're like, hey, I want to watch a intentionally slow paced one. I mean, here you go. It looks great when acting is great. Don't get me wrong. Well, let me tell you. Tell me. I don't know if necessarily I agree with the 90 minute mark because, I mean, it is two hours, but I mean, can we take out like ten minutes? 15? Can we take out anything? Here's my here's my reason for why I love this so much. It's been a long time since I have seen a movie that visually, I. I was enamored. If the movie did not look how it looks, I would like it a lot less. Oh, oh, the cinematography kind of saves it to me. This movie is all about swimming in the imagery of what you're seeing, because that's all he's doing. You're watching this man with the most unique face. I love his face and his suits. Yeah, the colors of his suits and then the colors of these cities that he's in. And like, it's it's all about the cinematography. So when I just sort of started to kind of accept that I go a little by little, like even my notes, I'm just sort of like, look at the look at those reds, look at all this. Then I was sort of like, this movie's fucking beautiful. Yeah, I don't even care what it's about. And then I loved the Two cups and I love the next day two cups, like two espresso, separate cups. Little things like this. Because I'm just sort of taking this movie for what it is. Yeah. You're just spending time with this man who you have no idea who it is, and you're looking at beautiful things. I can imagine this movie is a nightmare for a lot of moviegoers. Yeah, and not to say, like, even you like who? You. You get it? I really fell in love with all of this. And then I loved all these characters because these characters coming in was started to realize they're all just talking about Jarmusch's interest. Yeah, one guy is talking about a guitar. He loves guitars. The next the next guy is talking about Matilda. Winton talks about movies. Yep, yep. Yuki, the same girl from Mystery Train. The Japanese girl is talking about science. Yeah, yeah. Like so all these people were coming in to exchange the matchboxes to lead to the next thing. That's all the movie is, is an exchange of matchboxes to the next, to the next. It's like I'm giving you diamonds for information or whatever. Whatever, whatever. You don't even care anymore. Yeah. That's why the ending kind of is, is no good because it doesn't even matter. Like, and you get a stock kind of canned villain thing. It's like it doesn't matter. Like, the ending would have been better if we just saw him walk into the fortress. Hold on the fortress. Him walk out. Johnson. Yeah, because we need to know what he did. The ending with the lockers. Really cool. Like the changing was cool. It's just. Yeah. When you've been built, when you're a slow movie and you've been building up to this, like sequence because this guy is on a job, he's got to take someone out. We don't know who. We don't know why. We never really know who or why. We never know what. Yeah, that that is a bit of a last scene in that way though. Would you agree if we just saw, like, maybe we don't hold on a fortress for like ten minutes, but we basically we never see the action like whatever the movie's been building towards. We never know what that is, but we just know the job is done. Maybe, you know. Yeah. And then you get the lockers. Right. But I just got to tell you, man, like, Terrence Malick is the only other, you know, movie. Like when you watch Knight of Cups or a song to song where I have, I could give zero fucks about what is going on in the movie. I'm just swimming in the imagery. Yeah. That's this. Yeah. And then just getting those little characters to talk about those interests, like, I'm like, I love this. I love everything about this. And then of course you get that opera song. We're just playing the again, that's really cool. You know me like that. The whole there I go with the jazz. Yeah. Just someone watching beautiful music happening, these little things, these life things. And, you know, like you don't speak Spanish, right? Like that, like that repetition again. So. Yeah. So I cannot disagree with you and I won't about the ending. It's my only critique of the movie. I actually can't really recommend this movie for a lot of people, because I imagine this is going to be infuriating. It's just, yeah, the slowness and then the lack of explanation, like, you have to put a lot, you have to think a lot about like, okay. Who are these people? What's going on? I'm sure if you watch it a few times, like in a short period of time, it would speak to you a little more and tell you a few more things. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, man, let me tell you. Let me tell you my final thought. The music to. Yeah, yeah, the music is great, but, this is not my favorite. Or far from my least favorite Jarmusch. I have rarely seldomly read reviews from Roger Ebert that are this scathing, like half a star. And I was like, it is. It's not even he doesn't even, like, attack it from a critical thing. He just it's all sarcasm. He, like, writes from the perspective of the main character. He writes from the perspective of Jarmusch, and he's like a movie about like it is. So I just went, damn, he was like mad because he gave Broken Flowers four stars. So in his next movie, he's giving a half a star. I was like, God, this is like scathing. And there's there's some things I agree with, but it's I don't know. I mean, it worked for you with one viewing, but yeah, it's a very specific kind of movie. You can't be like, hey, I got a hitman movie to show you. Like, you can't say that at all. Oh, no. Yeah, I would, I would file this movie in terms of rewatch ability for me personally as Nick, in the same way I would with Knight of Cups and Song to song. I just want, I want my imagination to swim with beauty in imagery, where the movie gives me enough things for me to kind of like chew on, but I don't really need to care about anything. Yeah, that song song that's Knight of Cups. Yeah, yeah. But you look at all three of those movies, like, yeah, you. This movie did not look the way it looks. Oh, you got nothing here. Yeah. And I think that's the whole entire point though I do. Yeah I mean I agree I agree. And you look at this man in every city he's in with these new suits. It's all about the look, the beauty. And if you look at the cinematography, the where he's walking, the angles they're picking, the way we're seeing these cities, it's all just a feast. And I just partook. And I don't think I could ever get bored of that, to be honest. Like, I, me personally, that's why I love all that stuff. But yeah, then. So but it's not an easy one if you don't. If you're not into that. Yeah. Yeah. If you're not. And I think it would help people to like know what you're getting into when you started this, it might be one of his lesser known. I mean, look at you. You're not even. You didn't even know. Yeah, I remember we were talking on the phone and I mentioned it, and you were like, oh, which ones? That. Yeah. And I'm like, it was the one right before. I thought it might have been one of his docs that he did or something. Yeah. Cool. I'm glad you liked it. I'm glad you found it and liked it. One last point. Yes. In the Second City, he's in the Browns and whites and greens of the of the room. He stays in most beautiful browns I've ever seen in my life. Like his bed sheets are a certain color and design. I want to find a shirt that has that exact color. I was, I was I had to pause. I go look at I've never done that. I've looked at like, look at that color. My God, man, this is what life is man. It's all about the little to beauty. Like these colors, the art. Come on, reach for the sky. Do something. Limits of control. You think you think the title is because of your testing? Your limits of how much patience? Yeah, like it's because he's extremely patient too. And extremely in control. But I mean, yeah, a little bit a little bit. I'm okay. So yeah. Here we go. Talk to me. Here we go I know what you're coming. I'm going to disagree. I know, but let's go. Most people will. This is his most well or it's his most long movie on letterbox, which in letterbox parlance means it's the most famous Jim Jarmusch movie. That's the most well known. Yeah, I agree, we are at Only Lovers Left Alive 2013 I, I didn't see this in the theater, I rented it, I tried, I turned it off, it was not for me and I was hesitant to try again. I haven't tried. And then when we committed to doing this, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna okay, I'm going to do it so real quick. I mean, here's the thing. I'll give a brief statement of my feeling on it. This is a groovy flick. Like, I dig the music. I dig the set up. I love feeling the centuries of memories within the vampires. I mean, the logline essentially is like a suicidal vampire. Like a vampire considering suicide. I think that is great. I think that's really amusing. We are going to John again because this is a vampire movie. The main issue I have is that the entirety of the film rests on the shoulders of its lead actor, Tom Hiddleston. Hiddleston? He doesn't have it. He's I don't believe a single thing he does in this movie. I I'm not you know, I haven't like, I've seen him in stuff. I don't I don't go in for the superhero stuff, but like Midnight in Paris, like I've seen him. I don't dislike the guy, but it is. I think his acting is so empty and hollow that I actually took a video of the first scene of him with Anton Yelchin and sent it to you because he's like, what? And I mean, even the way he's asking questions and I'm, I can't like, I just can't justify it with like, oh, yeah, well, he's a suicidal vampire. That's why he's kind of blank and absent. I'm going, especially when you have Tilda, Anton and especially Maya, which coming in who are to me just acting circles around him. Her sequence I think is great. And I do have some trouble with his genre movies because again, you're here to, like, do a very familiar thing, a vampire movie with Jarmusch's style, but I just don't. I think he is extremely poorly cast and I do not think he works, and it takes me out of the movie the entire time. It's a, it's a it's a fair point in argument to make that. And I'm not even trying to be mean. Like I'm, you know, put make Tilda the lead and make him supporting. It's a way better movie to me. To me, I just it you know, I this was also his first digital film. It was his first film being shot on digital. I do not like the way this movie looks. Really? No, I think it looks entirely to clean, to perfect the way I think it looks very flat. I even I mean that even that video that I sent to you, like I sent that to a few cinematography friends and they were like, is this an Snell sketch? And I'm like, no, it's just I think it I don't think it looks good. I think this movie looks nothing like Broken Flowers. I watched them and Broken Flowers is like grainy and scratchy. And it's not just the film like Limits of Control is not grainy and scratchy that's on film. But like, I just I really don't like the way this looks. I mean, I know this is a different DP too. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's not the same one as Limits of Control and I it just wasn't I tried I get it, I get all of it. I like standout scenes. I like the support, I like John Hartnett, like I like the supporting characters. I just don't really like him. And I'm like, you know. But I get why people on letterbox and you like it and I'd rather or now I'd like to hear a positive take on the movie. Well, it's funny because if you're watching, if you're a better analogy, is if you're listening to a band and you don't like the lead singer, you can't like the band. It's hard, it's hard, it's hard. Even if you love the musician. Like I do not like AC, DC for this reason. Okay? Yeah. I cannot stand that man's voice. I can listen to ACC for about one song and then I'm done. But I marvel at the iconic guitar riffs from Angus Young. So. But that being said, I have to get through that. Yeah. So if you are having an issue with the lead actor now, the funny thing is, is that I never thought of this until you sent me this video. And out of context, I saw exactly what you were talking about. I go, whoa, that is kind of like, but you don't even need context. It's his first scene. I know that's the thing, but. And I don't know what happened because when I watched it again, this would be my third viewing of it when I watched it. After you send me that video and I heard your complaints about it, something washed over me about about him where I, I fell under the spell of of most people do I think and and so but I also can't discredit you because I saw exactly what you mean, especially in that opening scene. Like. And I can't even really kind of like, defend what it is. All I know is like, I just fell under it and and there's something that Tilda and Hiddleston are doing with their speeches. And it sounds to me, because they're these entities that have lived for so long time. Yeah, there is a a slowness to the way they speech. There's like this sort of fatigue. Yeah, for just living for so long. And I he's got a very deep voice. Maybe it's very like to me that every time they talk, it feels like a lullaby in a lot of ways. When he does tell her, when she says that she's going to fly to see him, he has this one line where he's like, I love you so much. I really I've really believe that. Like, he needs her. Like he he's literally about to kill himself and he, he needs the one person, like, more than anything in the world. And then from the rest of the movie, to me, it's just, again, it's a wash over. It's imagining living life for this long, and you're swimming in these kind of ideas and these thoughts and the way that they talk and also their relationship, they feel like a couple. Like, that's what I think is very cool about the movies. The titles Only Lovers Left Alive, which is a really good title. It is. And when they are together, it's like when you're first newly with somebody, it feels like the only ones. You're the only ones that are there, like you're walking around arm in arm, driving around the city, going to concerts. Like, it's just, I don't know, it's a very, very sweet, very specific and very cool idea. There's just a lot going on. And I and I said this and I know you're probably going to disagree with it because of what you said about the lighting. I also one of the best movies to depict nighttime. Yeah. It's not I'm not I don't want to be too hard on it. It was just all the the shit in his apartment, all the electronics and stuff. And then, I mean, I think he I think Jarmusch thinks this looks as good as limits of control, and I just don't. But again, it certainly doesn't do that. But let me be clear that I know a lot of people listening to this. This is where the hesitancy and even doing this pod came from, because I'm not talking shit. I'm not like hating at all. I'm just saying this in your opinion, yeah, it doesn't work for me. But again, most logged on letterbox like it works for a lot of people. Ghost dog works for a lot of people. I get that. I respect all the work I do and no. And well. And here's a good example of like I do like this mix here. I yeah like people will get the ghost dog one. Apparently you and I are a little bit on the outs on that one. You're on the outside, this one. But you you like it with the dead man for the Western. Yeah. So I am similar in that way too. But this one I do like because it's it's not even to me it's vampires, even though that is exactly what it is to me. It's just sort of like these ideas of immortality. Yeah. And what that really means and, and and how you view what your current, I don't know, just it speaks a lot of questions. And I think the sparseness of everything really, really helps. And the music, which is squirrel, the Jim Jarmusch's band. I've really dug the sound and feel like there's just like this sort of swimming in life and then the things that matter. But then there's also like, I don't want to ruin it, but there is a moment that happens with two characters that it makes me as mad as Percy and Green Mile. Oh, okay. Yeah. I don't know which one when. Well, I guess I'll just say it. It's fine. When. Mia. Yeah, well, when she does her thing, when she does that, she goes overboard and kill someone. Sucks him, sucks him dry. I, I was so angry, like I'm, I'm, I'm I'm Percy angry. I've never been more angry at any movie character in my life than Percy in Green Mile. And I am furious with her and I, and I did believe Tom Hiddleston, like when he was just like, I love the line. And he's like, you. You drank whatever his name was. Yeah. But then when she gets out and she's like, because she's like a child, like she she can't think of it. She's like, you're leaving me here. He's like, get the fuck out of my house. Go back to rotten LA where you're from. And she's like, you guys are the word. I was just like, so, but is she fucks up their entire right. They have to leave. And he did not want her to come for this reason. And what he thought would happen, happen. And now they got to pick up and go, yep. And they got to go. And it's not exactly easy. And it kind of, you know, and there's a, there's this strange sort of idea of what that ending means. So yeah, I'm a fan, I'm a fan. I think there's a lot of cool stuff here, but I yeah, you're right, you're right. You're not wrong. And if you can't get around it, you can't get around it. And I don't necessarily I can't agree that he's well cast. Yeah. Like I can't actually like say that. I just know at some point I got washed over. I think a lot of it was his voice. I think a lot of people like him more than I do, which is fine. Like, I don't dislike him. I've seen performances from I just didn't think you fit that well into this. But yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm in the minority here. Absolutely. I do think as kind of a general statement, the movies look different now. They're they're a little cleaner. They're a little wider. Yeah, yeah. And you're definitely right. Since post Broken Flowers I think you know he's he dips into a lot post broken flowers. And I think maybe in some ways the only like truly original Jarmusch movie he's made and say 20 years is the next one which is Paterson from 2016. And this is a film that only wants to be what it is. It is not trying to be something else. It does not have any cute, repetitive, tireless gimmicks. I mean, it does, but does it? They never get like old. It's just a simple movie about a simple guy living a simple life, a bus driving poet, a man who studies the smallest, seemingly unimportant things in life and makes little poems out of them. This whole movie, to me, feels like a dream, like the sets of twins, the cyclical nature of his dialog, the little coincidences. So there is some of that repetition, but the multiple uses of the noun Paterson, the perfect romantic partner, the just the routine every day. So yeah, I've, I know you're a huge fan of this one. We even talked about it with my dad on the place in the sun pod because he loves it. This is just this to me is Jim Jarmusch personified. Patterson. It. Yeah, it really is. And and I and I've seen it. I don't even know how many times. And I it never loses its charm to me. Yeah. It's just the complete observance of our day to day life and finding the beauty in it. And also, like I'm connected to it because of my stepdad, who's a poet, I still I love poetry, love it. I really try to write it. He tells me I'm not bad. I don't know, I have no idea. But I love what I love about poetry, which I think is what translates. Why I love Jim Jarmusch is because it's it's all about what's not said. And you give enough specific detail about something to where you're connected to it, and then the rest is up to you. Yeah, but how do you go about making those connections? I oftentimes will give Jeff a poem of mine, and then he'll just straight up tell me, take out this, this, this, this and this, and I'll be like, those are the most interesting things about the poem to me. And he goes, they won't be. And what I find that I'm left with from his perspective. Yeah. Are these little tiny words, the details of and how without a narrative necessarily story that I try to put into it the I put in emotion poetry is almost like taking the emotion out. Yeah. And leaving the space for people to fill that with theirs. And so I think those Ohio blue tip matches where he starts out. Yeah, you know, where where that ends up going. And then how we look at like everything that we we were talking about chapstick last night. Yeah. Yeah. And I looked at the sick and it's called chapstick. Yes. We were talking about how that's like one of the brand things because we were like, what's that called? I went, it's actually lip balm. Like chapstick is a brand, like Kleenex. A lot of people want a tissue. They go, give me a Kleenex. Yes. Funny. Yes. And but then you actually, if you were to sit and think about what chapstick is and the feeling of taking off like that cap, the sound it makes, the smell of it before you put it on your lips, like all that shit. That's what this movie is. Yeah. And and then, yeah, you're met with like, the Monday through Sunday gives you that week kind of thing. I don't, you don't really know how to talk about it because. Well I like it's yeah, I love how it sets up all these scenarios that could go horribly wrong. Yeah. You know, the tough guys roll up in the car, that dog could be worth some money. And he's like, yeah, and the gun in the bar could have been real. But he just he all those situations are escalated with humanity just with talking like oh really? Yeah. I mean Adam Driver is perfect in this. He is talking about great casting like he is just so good. And I love the, you know, the thing of only writing poems in this notebook. And his lovely partner is urging him like, please make coffee. Like, yeah, please. Come on, you got to make copies, you got to share this stuff. And then what happens to that book? It's like, yeah, that can happen. Like when you're being this precious with your stuff and you don't, you know, make any copies, it can vanish like that. And I just love how that all plays out of love. His reaction I love it all. It's sort of amazing that that moment is the most emotionally affecting, like plot moment. And it you feel that you feel like not to a crazy degree, but you can actually feel like the tragedy of, of any sort of art that was being built that is been destroyed. Yeah. And the emptiness of that, that's why like, and his reaction to it is great because she is. So she puts the dog. Yeah. She's mad at the mad dog and she's just sort of like, I'm so sorry. Yeah. She does not throw it in his face that he didn't make copies. And then I love the next day. He's sort of wandering, like, he can't. He's sitting in bed, like, because he's not a very emotional guy, and but this is bothering him, and then he just lets out. There's a lot of venom in it, but he's like, I don't like you, Marvin. To the dog. Yeah. And, and yeah. And he's sort of like, you know, for a guy who lives a complete, like, life of repetition, this is a brand new day where I don't know how to start again. Yeah. And then he's met with that fellow poet and gives inspiration. That's the lead of Mystery Train. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's great on the little bench I love that. Yeah. And so yeah. So there's just so much to this movie where if you really are kind of paying attention to what it does, it is full of rewards in the, in the most human ways, sweetest ways. And just like blue collar, like it's very blue collar. Yeah. Just understands all the I mean, is a bus driver. Yeah. It understands all that stuff very well. And the conversations that you're eavesdropping on, the ones that are happening around you at the bar, the Romeo and Juliet. Yeah, yeah, all of it. Yeah. There's no there's no wasted motion here at all. Yeah, yeah, I this is like a signature Jarmusch film to me. I've always really been fond of it, and I'm not surprised at all that you like it this much. I love it. I'll end with the the the way that the movie ends. Because I want ruin anything. Because it's beautiful. Because it's sort of sums up how you like the point of the movie is he's talking about a poem that has the line, would you rather be a fish? But then it goes on to say, would you rather be this? Or would you read bit? But he goes, but the part I remember is would you rather be a fish if the rest of the song didn't have to be there? So basically it's posing a question would you rather be a fish? But the song is saying all these other things, and if the rest of the song wasn't there, you would just be like, would you rather be a fish? As opposed to what? What's the rest of the song? Yeah, that's sort of the idea of the movie. I love that, I dig that, yeah, this is a fun one to put on. It's an Amazon, it's always on Amazon. And I really thought he might have gotten he's never been nominated for an Oscar. Jarmusch like for nothing. And this I mean a screenplay noms could have been cool here. Why not? The Oscars are in Jarmusch cool, but I know, I know, but that's what I'm saying. Branch out a little bit. It was a well-received movie, like everyone liked it. Oh, it was small. Yeah, very critically acclaimed. Probably. I would maybe even as most other than Stranger Than Paradise. Yeah, a lot of them have been well received and that is definitely like one of the highest with the general critical community. Yeah, it just got passing grades by everyone. It was good. I loved Adam Driver and it's still do. He's great. He's great in working with Jarmusch. Yeah. Yeah. Well that brings us right to the next one. Here we go. Another genre movie from Jim Jarmusch, The Dead Don't Die 2019. I'm going to begin kindly this. I think the best thing about the movie is the cast I love Esther is Fern. That's Eva from Stranger Than Paradise. So seeing her as the waitress is, like, kind of funny. I really like that. I the first time I saw this, I didn't go to the no. I did go to the theater and I was like, okay. And I like it more when I watch it. Having like, I watched all of his movies in order for this episode. Yes, and I do. I get it a little, a little more the, you know, again, more repetition. And when I'm rewatching all Jarmusch's movies, you, you just I start to understand its place a little more. It's, you know, it is another Jarmusch John John movie that's hard. Jarmusch movie, a zombie thriller that, you know, it's a pretty clear satire that like the brain rot vices that are slow, that we're slowly destroying ourselves with. Like, I really love when they turn into a zombie. They're like obsessed with the one thing they love, like TikTok. Or it would be TikTok, but like coffee or like cell phone or, you know, Snapchat Chardonnay. And then it's not a bad satire. Like it has funny stuff. I don't mind it, really. The ending is kind of batshit, but kind of fun. It just has a huge downfall in it. A really a really minus, a really big minus. And that is between Adam Driver and Bill Murray as cops. They have these three different scenes where they are heavily meta to where Jim Jarmusch is being referenced by name in the script. Like, did you get the same script as me? It's so dumb. Like, it don't need this stuff at all. It doesn't add anything to anything. I misremembered that it was all throughout the movie, so I was kind of happy to be corrected that it just it's just between those two characters and they only do it three times, and it the first time is like, you go, Like, oh. And then the second time is a little clearer. The third one there, just like it's very explicit. They that they are, you know, Adam Driver and Bill Murray in this movie and I, I'm I heard drama's reason for it. If it's the one that you have it's not a good enough reason. But I mean you cut those lines out. The movie is a whole whatever grade or full star better. Couldn't agree more. And I gotta tell you, I did a 180 on this one, okay? Because the first time I saw it was in theaters and I was at a Q&A with Jim and I, I didn't, I didn't I didn't vibe with this movie. Yeah, I and then this particularly the meta stuff and his reasoning in the Q&A was I thought it was funny. Yep. That's the reason I found two. And that's that's not a good enough. He's not gonna read. But but it's the it's the Jarmusch answer. Yeah. Like and that was a very sparse Q&A because people were just asking him questions like, why did you even do this? And he's like, I wanted to make a zombie movie with my friends. Like, it feels like it feels like, yeah, but you are everything you said I agree with, because I think being in Jarmusch land, I did all these movies in chronological order, and I fell into this wonderful place, this world I would love to be in. So when I put this one on, I went in, I go, I didn't really care for this the first time, same as soon as I started. I go except for the meta stuff. I was like, really enjoying this. Yeah, like I like it all. I like everything that's going on right now. So I've done that 180. But you're right though, like if you're not kind of swimming already in this terrain, does this movie really kind of hold up on its own simply as that zombie satire? Yeah. Where as I do think in an example of only lovers Left alive, even though you did not care for that. I do think, like for the people that do like that movie can actually stand on its own. I kind of wonder if you need, like, a warm up a little bit, maybe to, to get to get into this, or it certainly helped. It certainly helped going from every single one to landing on this one. So it was this seamless fit. So I agree with that statement as well. Caleb Landry Jones baby. Oh he's great. The cast is great. That's why I started with that. Yeah he's great I love them all. Yeah. So yeah I completely agree. And I like the reason I like the earth off of its axis. Yeah yeah it's funny. You know all of that stuff. So. And Tom waits hilarious. Like first line is like up your whole with a wooden pole. I love it like, hey, Cliff. Fuck, yeah, yeah, yeah. There can be a cool movie of just watching Tom waits as the, like, homeless guy. The woods guy. Yeah, yeah, just tracking it all. And I love the downer ending. Yeah, I did two, I did two. There's not much I don't like about it except those meta things which I just don't think work that well. Adam Driver is lying when Chloe Sevigny is freaking out in the car. He's like, Mindy, get it together. Yeah, they don't even seem like stress with everything that's going on. And she's flipping out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, I would actually go back and rewatch this and kind of like that same way if we're if I'm like, all right, I just want to like chill. Yeah I agree. Yeah I agree. It's I think this is one that you can put on more and have a little bit more fun with than some of the other ones we've talked about. Even though there are good movies. This is not it's not slow. No. And it's breezes by. It does watching I go, it's almost over. Yeah. Well all right. So yeah I've done I like this one I do too. I've come around to it a little bit more too. It's just that thing. Yeah. It's just that thing. All right. We're here. Mother, father mother sister brother. 2025. I saw it in the theater. This is, you know, it's it's a anthology movie. Three stories. It didn't. It didn't really necessarily wow me when I was in the theater. But then it lingered a little after, and I've still been thinking about it a little. I mean, part one is father with Adam Driver and Tom waits. I thought this one was the best, I agree. Yeah, I really liked that. And especially what we find out about him and the way that he's. Yeah, the way he's manipulating driver. That was you know that was I got a big kick out of it. And then the second one with the women was a little bit more of the same family. Great. You know, performers together and, you know, families sitting around having tea, saying words, but not a lot is they're not talking about anything like significant. Everyone's bouncing around the heavier topics. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the third one with the twins was a little point. I thought it was trying to go for more, more poignancy. Twins in Paris remembering their parents. Yeah. You know, I thought it was just okay. It had some amusing moments. I was a little I thought the second and third chapters kind of went on a little bit and kind of took me out. But again, it's not a bad movie. I just went, okay, it's 100% of Jim Jarmusch movie, and I really do like that first part. I think that's my that's the strongest part of the movie. But yeah, I thought it was okay. I actually would like to see it again. I would too, because I like yeah, I, I'm on board with everything you just said. I, I did like the third part more than you did, if I recall, but like, I want to kind of because, like, I like this idea of, like, he's basically talking about family and, and in all three of these scenarios, we're not really getting the happy stuff. Yeah, yeah, we're getting in the first one. You know, you were getting a thing where it's really sort of like, you know, because like the whole conversation that Adam Driver and his sister are having in the car is all a buildup to. So my relationships dad is like this. He doesn't do that with you. Yeah. He doesn't do that with the other. Like who didn't bother to show up to this? Yeah, yeah. And so we're getting this whole entire world view of what this family was like growing up and how they all relate to each other in a car ride, which is actually pretty amazing to get all that kind of exposition stuff out. Yeah. And then we sort of see, like this, like, hoarder type thing, and then we get a very Jarmusch awkward like meeting meeting and then the and it all works. It all works. It does. I want to watch that second one again, because I know what that idea was. The idea was about when you have these types of personalities that you just refuse as a family to ever be intimate. Yeah, the sort of tragedy of all of that like to just falter on, like when you were a kid, you did that and never to actually know, right? I'll never know who my mom actually is. My mom will never know who I actually am because there's a refusal to become intimate. So I'd like to actually watch that again, to really take in, which I can only imagine. There is a lot of specific stuff going on there. There has to be there. And all those actors are so good. So I want to see that one again. And then the third one, that was the one there was, there was that was kind of giving you more of those ideas that Jarmusch has thrown out there. But then it's all in grief. Yeah, it's all in grief. And but yeah, those are the three stories. And that was it. I, I, I'm happy that that Jarmusch at his age is still doing his thing. Me too. Me too. Yeah, absolutely. And I and I and I'm ready for the next one. Yeah. I mean, hopefully it won't be six years. We'll see you. But yeah, I am too. I'm again not not hating on it. It is not a bad movie. All right. Have we reached the time we have. We're gonna. That's that's the filmography that was. Wow. That was a fun discussion. Because, you know, some work for me, some aspects don't. But I thought we had a very good discussion. Treated every movie fairly. And now he did make 14 feature films. And we're going to do top ten. So four will be omitted. But yeah, let's do it ten through one. All right. You can start. We're going to go with it. Starting off number ten. Only lovers left alive okay. Good for you. Yep. Now. My number ten is the Limits of Control. Yeah, yeah. Wow. That's cool, that's cool. Yeah. Got in there because that is my number nine. Okay, okay, cool. Even though I talked a lot how much I loved it. And when you read it with the rest of them, it's there. Yeah. I mean right, it just gets hard. So that was your that's your number nine. Yep. My number nine is sorry night on Earth. It's a it's a little high. That's okay okay. That's okay. I. Actually kind of surprises even on there. Well yeah. When the. Yes yes it is here I can't believe it's not ten. Not because I like. No, I like a lot of it except one, you know, segments. One man, one man. Yeah. Number eight. Okay. Number eight for me. Not on earth. Okay. Wow. Okay, so we're going a little closer I like it. Numbers number eight for me. Dead man. There it is. Number seven for me. She's a. So you're you're just tracking me here. You're tracking you, baby. Number seven from you is dead man number seven for me. Permanent vacation. Oh. Like it a lot like it a lot. Number six. Couldn't get it in my top five. I really wanted to. I had to give top five to something else. But number six is broken flowers. Oh, cool. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's I have a same dilemma with my number six and you're really not going to like it. And I wanted it to crack top five. But six would be Patterson. Wow. We're we're now we've now crossed over in the list where like, I really highly enjoy all the movies I'm going to list from here on out that I don't the others. But I'm like, yeah, it gets it. Got hard to rank here. Yeah, yeah, they get hard. Yeah I agree I actually had I have a really hard time with the rest of these five I had. So you know there's there's no more of a vibe I get from any Jarmusch movie other than this one. And we talked about a few of them. There's a lot of this that doesn't work for me, but I could throw this on at any time and feel a feeling that I felt when I first saw it artistically inspired. Love it for everything that it is and when it's not okay. Coffee and cigarettes. Number five for you, it means. It means so much to me because of when I saw it and the fact that I can still put it on and I'm just, I guess it's a vibe. It's a feeling. I can always connect with it. Number five for me, it may seem a little high to people stranger than Paradise I yeah, I know it may seem a little high. Wow. I enjoy the film. Don't take that placement as anything, you know. Bad five. Strange. The Paradise number four. Number four for me. Yep. Patterson. Patterson. Oh, well, I thought that might creep into number one there. I know there was there was a there was a version of the list that were it was I. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Number four for me. Coffee and cigarettes. Oh yeah. Nice. Because that's the one I've seen the most. And it never, you know again I like maybe some don't work for you. Even the ones that don't work for me aren't bad. What? I mean, sit there with him. Yeah. Yeah, it's it just cruises by. It does. Top three. Top three baby. Oh. All right, here we go. Yeah. So I got it. Number three I got Mystery Train. Cool. All right I love how high it is. Yep. Mystery train number three. Number three for me. Down by law. Oh love down by law. Yep yep yep. Number two. Stranger than Paradise. Okay. Yeah I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Number five wasn't even fair. Number two for me. Mystery train, I love it. Well, I'm trying to clock what your number one's going to be. Damn, dude. Fucking. You know me. It's down by law. Okay. Yeah. Good, good. I'm glad I didn't know if you were going to sneak in. Oh, no. You said limits of control. My bad. I was like, are you going to sneak that? Well, really quickly before you give me your number one? Do you know what that title means? Actually means down by law. Down by law. That they fucked you over. No. So this is really cool. So that's what everyone thinks it is. And because they're prisoners, they're like they're they're like down by the man, right down by law. That's not the title's meaning. Okay. So the title comes from Jarmusch taking about in the 1920s. This was African-American slang for being like, I am my own person. I have my own code. I'm down by law. Okay, I dig that. Isn't that I know that, yeah, that is cool. And I felt when I learned that I was like, dude, that kind of changes the whole entire, like, meaning of the movie. It does. And the characters, like, they're all like, they're all like for themselves and but they're with their own code. And then when you look at the way that it ends, Roberto finds that that's his. And they go there other because you kind of wonder why you guys just go the same way, right? Right. They're their own men. You're down by their laws. I love that. Cool. Yeah. And I love that that's your number one like that. Yeah, that mystery train. I love that they're so high for us. My number one I it's it's not even a question. It's not even debatable for me. I adore everything about this movie. I think it is a truly great movie. Broken flowers. Yeah I love Broken Flower. I had no idea he loved it. Yeah, that that was going to be so high up there for you. And to say that that was Bill Murray's best performance for you, I love that I have to actually think of it was a very, very good point. I was stunned that he wasn't nominated. That was so stupid. They really should have nominated him. But I love broken flowers. I can watch it, man. Almost any time of just. Yeah, I've always loved that one. So the ones that are off for me are mostly based. Ghost dog is off. Only lovers dead, don't I? Then father. Mother isn't Jara but that you know little too new to make it the only one that that we have different. That's not on the top ten list is. I don't have permanent vacation. And you don't have only lovers left alive. Yeah. That's okay. That's the one that's not in that ten. Yeah. You're right, that's not bad. It's not bad at all. All right, well, this is fun. Good enough, good enough. Jim Jarmusch, what are you watching? We're here. We made it. Oh, JJ, you got one? No. Well. Jesus Christ. Let me go first. All right, if you want. No, I'll do a double down. I'll pick the one that I recommend people to see the most. We'll do that first, then go. Now you do your first. Okay, well, mine is not a double down because it's lazy. Mine. As I mentioned, my 2026 challenge is one new to me. Criterion a week, at least one new to me. Wow. Did I find a favorite? Like a few weeks ago, this thing just bounced out at me. I never even heard of it. I am so in love with this movie. 1986. It's called Betty Blue French movie. Yeah, yeah. Directed by forgive me, Jean Jacques, Benny BNA, Beatrice style. Who is the blind woman in Night on Earth and yeah, yeah, her. She's not blind in real life. I mean, she's the one of the leads of Luxottica with the gas barn away. One she's the director of of that. And it was listening to that commentary which I just put on randomly with her and Gaspar for Lux Turner, where she mentions Betty Blue. It's her first performance. I mean, the director's cut is over three hours, like three hours and ten minutes. It's on criterion breezed by, breeze by. Watch it three times I my God, I love it. I gotta buy it. I just, I love it so much. It is the most one of the most coded movies I have discovered since we've had this pod. I love it, it's just it's my kind of love. Sorry. Captures it all. The flame, the passion, the rage, the anger. Big things. Little things. Like how you know, you fall in love with this mysterious, fun woman and you, like, forget to do your job. You know, you just like art. Making it to work on time and then going other places. Beatrice Doll is an absolute force in this. Completely on fire. My kind of movie. I loved Betty Blue. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Oh my God, I love it. Go watch it. All right, well, because Jim Jarmusch is my guy. Yeah, I will end. I will end the pod with some few thoughts. Okay. And just to sort of kind of, you know, because for anyone watching that hasn't experienced Jarmusch is curious about it. I think if I had to recommend one movie to start with as sort of like an introduction to the Jarmusch world, where I think if you can kind of if you can kind of get with this movie, then if you find anything in it at all, you could probably then to continue. And I think a fair assessment of that would be Mystery Train. Yeah, I love that. I think that's a great wreck. That would be the one because I get it. People don't like black and white. So yeah, that can be a stopper for a lot of people. But I think there's enough going on in Mystery Train. If you were to kind of get into that to to continue on. But here's the thing. This is just a guy, you know, we talk about so many different types of artists and filmmakers on this show. This is truly a unique soul. He's got his own. He's down by his law. Yeah. He is down by his law. And he sees the world with such curiosity, human tenderness. And if any of this sort of speaks to you, then I can't recommend trying this director out for yourself. Right? Seeing if any of this holds up. And like we've been saying, like he can't. He's not for everyone. If you do not want this slow, kind of paced moment to moment, but when those moments add up to something that is at its very best, you'll have a profound feeling you could have never thought you could have gotten from cinema. That's all there. There is moments, those things that are there in his world, not all the time, but it's it's his exploration as a filmmaker. It's what he's done with his life. Every. And that's what I love the most about him is like this guy that's put all of his interests. He he goes full on into all of it, and he leaves it here for you to kind of find your own way and love him. Thank you, Jim Jarmusch, for your artistry. And inspiration is one of the biggest things to the point where I didn't even during there I go. It's so enough stuff in you. Yeah, it's just in me. And so Kindred Spirit, I want to thank the fans for encouraging us and motivating us and pushing us to do this. And then you and I had a lot of fun talks about it leading up to it, and it was fun for me and good for me to read all of his work. Fairly like sitting down. No cell phone, no fast forward, none of that. It just watch them all straight. And yeah, I appreciate something in all of them I do. Any negative thing I said is just they're really just personal personal taste stuff. Yeah. That's fair. Yeah. That's it. This isn't sinners. Why'd you have to do that? Right at the end? I don't even know. I'm I'm nervous, I don't. You can cut it. Well, no, it's funny, because maybe it loses. God, maybe it loses. We'll see. We'll see you in less than 24 hours, the Academy Awards. Jarmusch won't be there. It's probably never been. I don't think so. Why would I don't even think if he was, I don't think I don't know, I truly don't think he cares about that. Like I agree, you've talked about like, you know, these people are like, oh, you would love it if you got an Academy Award. He's like, I don't think I would. Yeah, yeah. I mean, maybe that's true. He hasn't seen any of his movies that he makes. Yeah, I love that. And he doesn't watch. He doesn't care if you like him or not, but he's very appreciative if you do because that means you got what he was trying to do. He's like, yeah, I was trying to do something. And if it connects with you, that's all that I could ever want. That's it baby. All right, let us know what you're watching. Let us know what you think. Jim Jarmusch at W underscore podcast. But as always, thanks for listening and happy watching. I put a spell on you. New outro. Hey everyone, thanks again for listening. Go to our brand new website. A podcast for everything. Episode categories. You can write to us. Donate. If you're feeling generous by our brand new merch and you can find us on socials. Go to W a podcast for all of your what are you watching needs next time? Oh, it's going to be a fun one. It's going to be a fun mixed bag episode. We're going to start with a brand new, out of nowhere, scorching Oscar hot take. That just came into my head and I unveiled it for Nick. We had a lot of fun bantering with that back and forth. We reviewed the drama. We talk about some fun changes to the podcast. We talk about a whole bunch of stuff. 4K is the best 4K on the market. New criterion I'm watching all sorts of stuff. Stay tuned.