Thursday 2 December 2010

Down By Law - Fail



Down by Law (USA,1986) is a black-and-white film by Jim Jarmusch.

Down By Law tells the story of three men.
At first their stories might seem unrelated.
Zack (wonderfully played by Tom Waits) is a disc jockey who's girlfriend just left him, with money problems and no idea where to go in his life.
Jack (John Lurie) on the other hand creates less sympathy in the viewer's mind as a ruthless pimp.
Bob (Roberto Benigni) is an Italien tourist whose understanding of the English language are restricted to textbook casualities.

The men all meet in a cell of jail in New Orleans. While Zack and Jack both have been set up and are not guilty – or in Jack's case, at least not for the crime he is there - , Bob has killed a man when he cheated on a card game.
While Zack and Jack fight a lot, through Bob's need to communicate constantly in his broken English they soon awkwardly bond. With a plan created by Bob thanks to an American movie displaying just this, they all escape.
They get lost and try to find their way on their own, the trio up together eventually.
They eventually find a house in the forest, the residence of Nicoletta (Nicoletta Braschi) who instantly falls in love with Bob, causing Bob to stay with her in the forest. Zack and Jack's ways seperate.

"Down By Law" has great characters, convincing actors, a good straight storyline, amusing scenes that don't seem added unnaturally but rather seem like they'd appear to in amusing moments in real life and a very mood-fitting slow-moving camera work.

I wish movies that I really liked wouldn't fail this but sadly they do, and this is one of them. Nicoletta does talk to the three men a bit, but there is no real character behind her, either, at least not from what we get to see. All we know about her is that she owns this house and gets confused about which path leads to the South or the North and that she loves Bob fully and completely, without even really knowing him.
The other women are a few prostitutes in Jack's bed and Zack's girlfriend, all very much serving into every female cliché there is. Not to mention that they all don't seem particularly smart...


Verdict: Fail & Recommended

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