From the film to the special features and its accompanying booklet, “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” is one of those Criterion Collection titles that was most definitely worth the wait. A shining gem in filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s oeuvre and a Criterion Collection release that is highly recommended!
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TITLE: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai – The Criterion Collection #1057
YEAR OF FILM: 1999
DURATION: 116 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, 1:85:1 Aspect Ratio, Dolby Digital 5.1, English SDH
COMPANY: The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: November 17, 2020
Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Produced by Jim Jarmusch, Richard Guay
Co-Produced by Diana Schmidt
Music by RZA
Cinematography by Robert Muller
Edited by Jay Rabinowitz
Casting by Ellen Lewis, Laura Rosenthal, Jeanne McCarthy
Production Design by Ted Berner
Art Direction by Mario Ventenilla
Set Decoration by Ron von Bloomberg
Costume Design by John Dunn
Starring:
Forest Whitaker as Ghost Dog
John Tormey as Louie
Cliff Gorman as Sonny Valerio
Dennis Liu as Chinese Restaurant Owner
Frank Minucci as Big Angie
Ricahrd Portnow as Handsome Frank
Tricia Vessey as Louise Vargo
Henry Silva as Ray Vargo
Gene Ruffini as Old Consigliere
Victor Argo as Vinny
Damon Whitaker as Young Ghost Dog
Jim Jarmusch combines his love for the ice-cool crime dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville and Seijun Suzuki with the philosophical dimensions of samurai mythology for an eccentrically postmodern take on the hit-man thriller. In one of his defining roles, Forest Whitaker brings a commanding serenity to his portrayal of a Zen contract killer working for a bumbling mob outfit, a modern man who adheres steadfastly to the ideals of the Japanese warrior code even as chaos and violence spiral around him. Featuring moody cinematography by the great Robby Müller, a mesmerizing score by the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, and a host of colorful character actors (including a memorably stone-faced Henry Silva), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai plays like a pop-culture-sampling cinematic mixtape built around a one-of-a-kind tragic hero.
Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch is well-known for films “Broken Flowers”, “Paterson”, “Only Lovers Left Alive” but back in the ’80s and 90s, Jarmusch became a major figure and proponent of independent cinema.
From films such as “Stranger than Paradise” (1984), “Down by Law” (1986), “Mystery Train” (1989) and “Dead Man” (1995).
But in 1999, Jarmusch would write and direct the film “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”, a possible nod to films such as Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 crime-drama “Le Samourai” and also featuring references to films such as Suzuki Seijun’s “Branded to Kill” and would star Forest Whitaker (“The Last King of Scotland”, “Black Panther, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”), John Tormey (“Stay”, “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion”), Cliff Gorman (“All that Jazz”, “The Boys int he Band”, “Angel”) and more.
The film featured a soundtrack by Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and suffice to say, the film is a cult classic that many have hoped for a release from The Criterion Collection.
And in November 2020, that hope has become a reality as “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” was released on Blu-ray and DVD.
The film begins by an introduction to a man, Ghost Dog (portrayed by Forest Whitaker), who meditates, takes care of pigeons, is appreciative of traditional Japanese culture and reads the Hagakure (a spiritual guide for a warrior written by a clerk Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a former retainer to Nabeshima Mitsuhige, the third rule of what is now the Saga Prefecture in Japan).
We then are introduced to members of the mafia and Ray Vargo (portrayed by Henry Silva) tasks Louie (portrayed by John Tormey) to take care of a gangster named Handsome Frank who has been sleeping with his daughter, Louise (portrayed by Tricia Vessey).
Louie contacts his main hitman, who happens to be Ghost Dog. Ghost Dog looks at himself as Louie’s retainer and carries a brief case with weapons and gadgets that allows him to break into cars and we see him going to a hotel where he goes to assassinate Handsome Frank, who is with Louise (who happens to be reading the Japanese novel, “Rashomon”). Ghost Dog makes the kill but he lets Louise live.
But because Handsome Frank is part of the mafia family and doesn’t want him and his associate Sonny Valerio (portrayed by Cliff Gorman) to be implicated in the murder, they want Ghost Dog dead.
But that is the problem, only Louie knows how to reach him and that is through a homing pigeon. Also, Louie emphasizes that Ghost Dog is the best hitman they have and he should not be messed with. But his bosses don’t care, they want Ghost Dog to be taken care of.
When asked of how Louie got to know Ghost Dog, Louie said he saw him being jumped by others and he ended up saving his life and killing them. And now, Ghost Dog feels indebted towards Louie. For Ghost Dog, Louie has become his retainer and when the mafia start tracing homing pigeons and trace it back to his building, they slaughter all his pigeons.
Ghost Dog knows that he must get revenge by killing Vargo and his men or else they will kill him and his master.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” is presented in color (1:85:1 Aspect Ratio). According to the Criterion Collection, the new digital restoration was created in 16-bit 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35 mm original A/B camera negative. Thousands of instances of negative and positive instances of dirt and debris, scratches, splices and warps were manually removed using MTI Fim’s DRS and Digital Vision’s Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker and small dirt.
The film looks absolutely great on DVD, the best I have watched of this film, but if you want the best presentation of this film, then you would want to go purchase the Blu-ray version of this film..
As for audio, the original 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered from the35 mm magnetic print master using Avid’s Pro Tools and iZotope RX. Dialogue and music are clear, no issues with audio.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” comes with the following special features:
- New Q&A with Jarmusch
- New conversation between Forest Whitaker and Isaach De Bankolé, moderated by Michael B. Gillespie
- New interview with casting director Ellen Lewis
- New interview with Shifu Shi Yan Ming, founder of the USA Shaolin Temple
- New video essay on RZA’s original score
- Deleted scenes
EXTRAS:
- Comes with a 42-page booklet which contains “Ghost Dog as an International Sampler” by Jonathan Rosenbaum, “By the Book” by Greg Tate and “Variations on a Theme” – An Interview with Jim Jarmusch. Plus a small booklet featuring excerpts from Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s “Hagakure”.
I first watched “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” during my last year in college and at the time, I think I was more affected by the racial undertones of the film and a message about racism. From Ghost Dog being jumped when he was younger, to a scene involving two white rednecks who have slaughted a Black bear and warning him that they don’t see Black people around those parts.
But how a White man had saved him and if anything, how Ghost Dog would be indebted to him by being a hit man that follows the “Hagakure”.
Watching this film again in 2020, almost 20-years later, I have a different feeling about this film.
I have reviewed Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Le Samourai” and having read the accompanying booklet, filmmaker and writer Jim Jarmusch was inspired by Melville’s film and there are some similarities between the two.
But while Melville’s film has “Le Samourai” for its title, the title is more about a lone hitman who is expression-less when he kills.
For Jim Jarmusch’s “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”, Ghost Dog is a man who reads the Hagakure and appreciation for traditional Japanese books, especially when it comes to being a warrior and a samurai. He follows the code strictly as a retainer and in this case, getting revenge because he must protect himself and his master, the man who saved his life, a member of the mafia named Louie.
It would have been interesting to know more about the backstory of Ghost Dog and how he became a hitman, not long after being rescued by Louie but he has become a man who is a lethal and calculating warrior, makes a lot of money for his kills but because of his code as a warrior, he doesn’t want to get paid right after, he would rather get paid once a year. If anything, what he does is for his master who retains his services when he is needed.
Twenty years ago, the film brought a lot of discussion back in my college years, some thinking (without watching the film), that it was about cultural misrepresentation and since the release of “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”, we have seen Black characters as samurai in the popular anime series “Afro Samurai” but we have also started to learn more about a real life samurai who was an African slave named Yasuke, a name granted to him by Oda Nobunaga.
And how the film had an effect back then, I do believe that now, the film has an even bigger impact, especially with the cultural divide happening our country today.
From the mafia guys referring to him as a “N” word, the racist comments by the redneck hunters and also the reactions of characters Raymond and Pearline. Raymond speaks French and has an ice cream stand, but despite the language barrier between him and Ghost Dog, they understand each other, but you also see Raymond’s fear of being a businessman in the city.
Pearline and also Ghost Dog show themselves as people who love to read and discuss what they read. For people to not judge people by their color and show how these two individuals of color, are intellectual but also their reactions show their environment. I’m not going to spoil the film, but Pearline’s reactions at the final 10-15 minutes of the film, was quite impactful to me, today, moreso than 20 years ago.
And as I touched upon Ghost Dog, Pearline and Raymond, even the mafia characters were interesting. From Ray Vargo rapping to Public Enemy, the mannerisms of each character, I think that Jim Jarmusch did a great job in planning the direction of these characters and the writing was just enjoyable.
I absolutely enjoyed “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” and it was a film that I have been waiting for the Criterion Collection to release and I’m glad they did.
From the film to the special features and its accompanying booklet, “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” is one of those Criterion Collection titles that was most definitely worth the wait. A shining gem in filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s oeuvre and a Criterion Collection release that is highly recommended!