Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Dead Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 25, 2018

Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man" (1995) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; newly recorded Q&A sessions with the director; new audio commentary by sound mixer Drew Kunin and production designer Bob Ziembicki; deleted scenes; and more. The release also arrives with a 22-page illustrated booklet featuring critic Amy Taubin's essay "Blake in America", author Ben Ratliff's essay "Earth, Wind, and Fire", and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"The only job you're gonna get in here is pushing up daisies from a pine box. Now get out."

The Wild West as imagined by American auteur Jim Jarmusch has plenty in common with the place that the famous duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill visited multiple times over the years. It is one massive playground for adults where various goofy characters risk their lives and die in some truly awkward ways.

In Jarmusch’s Dead Man, Johnny Depp plays a young accountant from Cleveland named William Blake who is heading west to start a new life. He knows his final destination, a small mining town, and his future employer, the wealthy man that owns the only mine in the area, but not the exact nature of the job that he has been hired to do. All he has is a letter confirming his appointment, with a proper description of the mine’s location.

Shortly after he arrives in town Blake meets his employer, John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum), but he turns out to be an aging loon in love with his rifle who instantly declares that he no longer needs his services because he is late and there is already a different accountant working on his books. The stunned Blake attempts to change his mind but quickly realizes that the loon would not think twice about using his beloved rifle in his office. Later that night, Blake ends up in the town’s popular saloon where fate unites him with a reformed whore who now sells flowers to make ends meet. He visits her place and shares her bed, but when her ex-lover appears a lot goes wrong very quickly and he barely escapes with a bullet in his chest.

Bleeding and partially unconscious, Blake hides in the nearby forest where he is lucky to be saved by a strange Indian warrior named Nobody (Gary Farmer) who might have spent too much time using the great peace pipe of his tribe. Meanwhile, after Dickinson is informed that the cold body of his son was discovered at the whore’s place he hires a trio of kooky headhunters to track down Blake and bring him back to him -- preferably with a big gaping hole in his forehead.

The film has such a dry and elusive sense of humor that at times it looks like it is actually deadly serious about defining the nature of human existence while peeking through the same prism that its strange characters use to view the world around them and rationalize their actions. Or maybe this is precisely what the film sets out to accomplish and occasionally Jarmusch simply hits the brakes to let the brain cool off a bit and process all of the information that has been dispatched to it.

So, which is it?

The truth is that the film does a little bit of both. There is a part of it that aspires to be funny in a traditional Jarmusch-esque way and this is where all the quality quirky material emerges. (A good example is the entire subplot that involves the loony mine owner and the headhunters that are hired to get Blake). But it also promotes some quite unorthodox yet serious observations about the different ways in which human beings come to terms with their mortality and in the process begin to appreciate the world they live in. Blake’s unusual experiences after he arrives in the mining town are what initiates the bulk of these observations.

The end product is a very, very fluid film that is anything but easy to embrace. Most of the time it just feels like Jarmusch plays with massive concepts and ideas that casually drift away as soon as it begins to look like they would require serious analysis to either definitively endorse or dismiss. For a short period of time the lack of clarity proves to be a good thing as it becomes intellectually stimulating, but after that only Roby Muller’s brilliant cinematography and Neil Young’s improvised score prevent the film from evolving into a total snooze-fest.

Dead Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative at Roundabout Entertainment in Burbank, California. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The original 2.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm magnetic tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX. Please be sure to enable Dolby Pro Logic on your receiver to properly play the Dolby 2.0 surround soundtrack.

Transfer supervisor: Jim Jarmusch.
Colorist: Lee Kline/Criterion Post, New York."

The entire film looks as if it was shot less than a few months ago. It is incredibly healthy and frankly impressively vibrant. Everything from well-lit close-ups to indoor/darker close-ups to wider panoramic footage looks terrific now. Clarity and depth in particular is vastly superior, while fluidity is simply of an entirely different caliber. (I only have this Region-B release in my library and the gap in quality is indeed enormous). The grading is also very convincing. The primaries are solid, nicely balanced, and supported by a strong range of beautiful and healthy nuances. There are no traces of problematic digital tinkering. Image stability is outstanding. Lastly, there isn't even an accidental tiny stain or fleck. Top-notch presentation. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Dead Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is quite aggressive and with an oomph that will probably surprise some viewers that have not revisited the film in a long time. Rather predictably, the dialog is also very clear and free of balance issues. Also, Neil Young's score easily shines and adds to the peculiar atmosphere. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

Dead Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original Miramax Films trailer for Dead Man. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Q&A with Jim - in this new program. dierctor Jim Jarmusch answer a series of questions that were gathered after Criterion invited fans to submit them in 2017. In English, not subtitled. (48 min, 1080p).
  
  1. Introduction
  2. Peyote
  3. Subverting the Old West
  4. Robby Muller
  5. Neil Young and Iggy Pop
  6. "As a dilettante..."
  7. How many bullets?
  8. Casting
  9. "Can I be in one of your movies?"
  10. Character actors
  11. Earth, Wind & Fire
  12. Who would make a good western?
  13. The cut worm
  14. Summit Mall
  15. Miramax
  16. Beekeepers
  17. The Makah Village
  18. Nobody's character
  19. Mitchum
  20. Calypso
  21. Space
  22. Bad Reviews
  23. What is it about
  24. The score
  25. Dolemite
  26. William Blake
  27. The Ornery Mitchum Boys
  28. Pumpkin ravioli
  29. "Music in your films"
  30. Cheer up
  31. A final questions

• Gary Farmer - in this new video interview, actor Gary Farmer (Nobody) recalls his first meeting with Jim Jarmusch and discusses his contribution to Dead Man. The interview was conducted in 2017. In English, not subtitled. (27 min, 1080p).

• Reading Blake - presented here are audio recordings from 2017 and 2018 of actors Mili Avital reading from "Auguries of Innocence", Alfred Molina reading from "The Everlasting Gospel", and Iggy Pop reading from "Proverbs of Hell". They play over location scouting photos taken by Jim Jarmusch in California, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington to show the look of the film to potential investors. In English, not subtitled. (8 min, 1080p).

• Deleted Scenes - a large collection of deleted scenes. In English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080i).

• Neil Young - presented here is raw footage from a recording session during which Neil Young is seen performing material that will eventually be used in the soundtrack for Dead Man. The footage was shot by Jim Jarmusch. In English, not subtitled. (26 min, 1080i).

• Music Video - presented here is a music video for a song from the film. The video can be seen with a recording of Johnny Depp reading a poem by William Blake. (4 min, 1080/60i).

• Blake and White in Color - presented here is large collection of vintage color photos from the film's production. (1080p).

• Gary Farmer - in this brand new selected-scene commentary, sound mixer Drew Kunin and production designer Bob Ziembicki discusses some of the locations that were chosen for different sequences; some particular stylistic choices; the film's unusual blending of humor, violence, and the metaphysical; the image of the west that is promoted in the film, etc. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2017.
  
  1. Shaking the train
  2. Purveyors of bones and hides
  3. Mud that looks like mud
  4. Marit's designs
  5. Horses and boom microphones
  6. Aspen forest
  7. Nobody gets you
  8. Violence
  9. Arizona lava fields
  10. Off-camera shooting
  11. "Grass Pants, Oregon'
  12. "We sure don't"
  13. The Makah village
  14. Whaling boat

• Booklet - 22-page illustrated booklet featuring critic Amy Taubin's essay "Blake in America", author Ben Ratliff's essay "Earth, Wind, and Fire", and technical credits.

Dead Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perhaps this is what it feels like while being under the influence of peyote -- you unleash the true power of your mind and have experiences that temporarily convince you that you can see life from an entirely new angle and then grasp the true nature of your existence; or you just get sent on a whacky trip that ends abruptly with an awful headache. I don't know and do not plan to find out, but I am pretty sure that Jim Jarmusch was thinking along those lines when he conceived Dead Man. It is an interesting concept for a film, but the end result is just too fluid to take seriously or enjoy as an off-beat comedy. If you disagree and have been waiting for a proper presentation of Dead Man, you will be very pleased to know that Criterion's new Blu-ray release is sourced from a top-notch 4K remaster that was finalized under the supervision of director Jarmusch. RECOMMENDED, but only to fans of the film.