Jarmusch Jim - American film director, musician, screenwriter, active supporter of independent cinema

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Jarmusch Jim, American film director, screenwriter, musician, was born on January 22, 1953 in the small town of Akron, Ohio. After graduating from high school in 1971, he entered the journalism department at the University of Chicago. After Jim Jarmusch transferred to the department of English literature, he had to continue his education already in Paris. In France, the future director became "sick" with cinema, which would later become the meaning of his life.

Return

A year later, Jarmusch Jim returned to America and transferred again, this time to Columbia University, where he was soon awarded a bachelor's degree in literature. Then he moved to New York and entered the university, the Department of Film School. There, fate brought Jarmusch together with the famous director Nicholas Ray, for whom Jim later became a faithful assistant.

Director Ray was ill with cancer at that time, and one day he was visited by the idea of creating a movie that would reflect the whole process of his death, long and painful. Filming has begun, and since for Jarmuschit was the first cinematic experience, then the film about the death of a friend became his debut. "Lightning over the water" - this is the name of this film-requiem. The production also featured director Wim Wenders.

Pen trial

About the same time, Jarmusch Jim started making his first feature film en titled "Vacation Without End". The picture with a microscopic budget of 15 thousand dollars was released and received good reviews.

Jarmusch Jim created his second film "Stranger Than Paradise" in 1984. The picture was associated with his thesis work on Hungarian emigrants. The film, shot in the chronicle documentary genre, was called "New World".

Director style

Originally, Jim Jarmusch, whose films were markedly different from other films made in Hollywood, was a supporter of the so-called independent cinema. He shoots in his own way a few more films, among them - "Mystery Train" and "Outlaw". These two films, along with Stranger Than Paradise, form a trilogy of sorts that presents America through the eyes of a foreigner.

In 1986, Jarmusch released a six-minute video "Coffee and Cigarettes" featuring two popular actors, Steven Wright and Roberto Benigni, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes while having a quiet intimate conversation. The result was a ready-made commercial, but Jim Jarmusch did not sell it, but laid the basis for a whole series of 11 short stories, inwhich famous actors chat over coffee and cigarettes.

Mysticism and parodies

Jarmusch is known for his ability to make compilation films from several plots. For example, the film "Night on Earth", released in 1991, consists of five short stories on the theme "Night, City, Taxi". The film tells about five cities in different parts of the world, about five chance meetings, and all this is presented with a kind, slightly sad humor.

In 1995, the director made the film "Dead Man" in the genre of mystical western. The film did not receive a proper assessment, and only a few years later at the Cannes Film Festival, critics gave a positive review.

In the film "The Way of the Samurai" Jarmusch parodies gangster action films. This film was the first sign in a series of films on the Japanese theme. After Jim Jarmusch, Edward Zwick, Rob Marshall, Quentin Tarantino, Sofia Coppola filmed their works about the Land of the Rising Sun and presented them to the audience. This fact suggests that independent filmmakers, such as Jarmusch, often become pioneers of new solutions in cinematic art.

Looking for something new

In 2005, the director began to lean towards the mainstream, his marginal protagonists giving way to successful personalities. Broken Flowers is a prime example of the new style. The protagonist, a successful programmer Don Johnston (played by Bill Murray), is trying to find the alleged mother of his unexpectedly revealed son. To do this, he remembers all his mistresses and begins to visit them systematically. For "Broken Flowers" Jarmusch received the Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival.

Jim Jarmusch: filmography

During his career, the director has shot about twenty feature films and several short stories. The following is a list of films created by Jarmusch:

• "Joe Strummer: The Future is a Clean Slate", 2007;
• "VIP", filmed in 2002;
• "Man of Cannes", painting created in 1996;
• "Sharpened Blade", 1996;
• "With a Dejected Face" film made in 1995;
• "Iron Riders", created in 1994;
• "In the Soup", released in 1992;
• "Golden Boat", filmed in 1990;
• "Leningrad Cowboys in America", painting created in 1989;
• "Candy Mountain", 1988;
• "Helsinki - Naples", film made in 1987;
• "Straight to Hell", 1987;
• "American Autobahn" painting created in 1984;
• "Fräulein Berlin", 1983 film.

Currently, Jim Jarmusch, whose filmography continues to grow with new films, is working on another film project.