Biography:
At school he was dyslexic, and they thought he was stupid because he jumbled his letters. But he turned out to be smart, a good regurgitator, and passed exams easily.
Jarmusch went to Columbia University in New York, where he did a degree in English and French literature. New York was alive, exhilarating, as far removed from Akron as possible. It was the mid-70s, American punk was about to flourish, and he mixed with a bunch of musicians and poets and actors and performance artists - Joey Ramone, Iggy Pop, John Lurie, Richard Hell. They went clubbing at places like CBGBs and Max's Kansas City, and talked up their ideas.
Jarmusch himself played synthesizer and oddly tuned guitars for the Del Byzantines, a band that opened for many British bands, including Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order. He also wrote, and continues to write, poetry.
Foreign influence:
When one lists the number of filmmakers that Jarmusch alludes to, it reads like a dictionary of the cinema. A quick survey: Jarmusch had all of Antonioni's movies screened before shooting Down by Law (with its Wim Wender-like images provided by cinematographer Robby Müller) because, he has said, Antonioni is so elegant in the way he can let the scene go past its normal length, or the shot even, and the whole weight of the scene changes, the essence'. (Other filmmakers mentioned in the interview include Ray, Kurosawa, Ozu, Godard, Rivette, Eustache, Vertov, Ruiz, Fellini, Lang, Sirk, Ulmer and Vigo.) Why does he use homages? At times it is indeed a wink to his audience, underlining his status as a global filmmaker. More fundamentally, Jarmusch sees something inherently American about this clash (as opposed to integration) of references: 'America's kind of a throwaway culture that's made of this mixture of different cultures. To make a film about America, it seems to me logical to have at least one perspective that's transplanted here from some other culture, because ours is a collection of transplanted influences.' This sense of what it means to be American spawns the educative function of Jarmusch's cinema; his is a kind of model for other Americans who want to make films not based on established Hollywood or television style.
Broken flowers is dedicated to French director Jean Eustach. Jean Eustache made a phenomenal film in the 1960's titled, "The Mother and The Whore". He had an influence on John Cassavetes and likewise both had an influence on Jim Jarmusch. In an interview, Jarmusch said he felt close to Eustache for his commitment to making films in a unique and independent fashion.
Music:
Movies are very musical…To me, music is the most pure form of art in that it communicates something immediately and it doesn't necessarily have to be restricted by your understanding of a language. And film is a lot like music in that a film has a rhythm like a piece of music. You start a film and that rhythm takes you through the story that's being told or the length of time the film lasts. The same way with a piece of music. They're closely related with rhythm: the cutting of the film, the way a camera moves, and the way a story is put together.
Jarmusch as independent filmmaker:
"I'm stubborn. I have to fight. The studios want to be your partner in the creative process. That's why I find most of my financing overseas. I don't let the Money give me notes on my scripts. I don't allow the Money on the set. I don't allow the Money in the editing room. These days, even the little independent studios, they act like Hollywood. Some kid is making a movie for $500,000, and they want the final cut. Seems like the squares are taking over everything."
Jarmusch is every bit as cool as his characters - shades, silver chain attached to his black pants, that thick white hair he's had for ever, and a deep, deep Lee Marvin voice. He looks a little anachronistic, is uncertain about whether to smoke and, despite the great voice fails to catch the waitress attention.
Jarmusch's most perceptive commentator Jonathan Rosenbaum presciently wrote in a 1992 review of Night on Earth:
Jarmusch is mainly honoured and rewarded to the extent that he turns out familiar goods (attitude as style, star as icon, road as the world) rather than assumes any risks. The paradoxical upshot is that our most photogenic representative of artistic independence and freedom is often rewarded for doing the same things over and over again. (178-fifty major filmmakers)
To me, 'independent' means staying independent from your work being dictated to, or formed by, some concept of a marketplace…. 'Independent' means being artistically free.
At school he was dyslexic, and they thought he was stupid because he jumbled his letters. But he turned out to be smart, a good regurgitator, and passed exams easily.
Jarmusch went to Columbia University in New York, where he did a degree in English and French literature. New York was alive, exhilarating, as far removed from Akron as possible. It was the mid-70s, American punk was about to flourish, and he mixed with a bunch of musicians and poets and actors and performance artists - Joey Ramone, Iggy Pop, John Lurie, Richard Hell. They went clubbing at places like CBGBs and Max's Kansas City, and talked up their ideas.
Jarmusch himself played synthesizer and oddly tuned guitars for the Del Byzantines, a band that opened for many British bands, including Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order. He also wrote, and continues to write, poetry.
Foreign influence:
When one lists the number of filmmakers that Jarmusch alludes to, it reads like a dictionary of the cinema. A quick survey: Jarmusch had all of Antonioni's movies screened before shooting Down by Law (with its Wim Wender-like images provided by cinematographer Robby Müller) because, he has said, Antonioni is so elegant in the way he can let the scene go past its normal length, or the shot even, and the whole weight of the scene changes, the essence'. (Other filmmakers mentioned in the interview include Ray, Kurosawa, Ozu, Godard, Rivette, Eustache, Vertov, Ruiz, Fellini, Lang, Sirk, Ulmer and Vigo.) Why does he use homages? At times it is indeed a wink to his audience, underlining his status as a global filmmaker. More fundamentally, Jarmusch sees something inherently American about this clash (as opposed to integration) of references: 'America's kind of a throwaway culture that's made of this mixture of different cultures. To make a film about America, it seems to me logical to have at least one perspective that's transplanted here from some other culture, because ours is a collection of transplanted influences.' This sense of what it means to be American spawns the educative function of Jarmusch's cinema; his is a kind of model for other Americans who want to make films not based on established Hollywood or television style.
Broken flowers is dedicated to French director Jean Eustach. Jean Eustache made a phenomenal film in the 1960's titled, "The Mother and The Whore". He had an influence on John Cassavetes and likewise both had an influence on Jim Jarmusch. In an interview, Jarmusch said he felt close to Eustache for his commitment to making films in a unique and independent fashion.
Music:
Movies are very musical…To me, music is the most pure form of art in that it communicates something immediately and it doesn't necessarily have to be restricted by your understanding of a language. And film is a lot like music in that a film has a rhythm like a piece of music. You start a film and that rhythm takes you through the story that's being told or the length of time the film lasts. The same way with a piece of music. They're closely related with rhythm: the cutting of the film, the way a camera moves, and the way a story is put together.
Jarmusch as independent filmmaker:
"I'm stubborn. I have to fight. The studios want to be your partner in the creative process. That's why I find most of my financing overseas. I don't let the Money give me notes on my scripts. I don't allow the Money on the set. I don't allow the Money in the editing room. These days, even the little independent studios, they act like Hollywood. Some kid is making a movie for $500,000, and they want the final cut. Seems like the squares are taking over everything."
Jarmusch is every bit as cool as his characters - shades, silver chain attached to his black pants, that thick white hair he's had for ever, and a deep, deep Lee Marvin voice. He looks a little anachronistic, is uncertain about whether to smoke and, despite the great voice fails to catch the waitress attention.
Jarmusch's most perceptive commentator Jonathan Rosenbaum presciently wrote in a 1992 review of Night on Earth:
Jarmusch is mainly honoured and rewarded to the extent that he turns out familiar goods (attitude as style, star as icon, road as the world) rather than assumes any risks. The paradoxical upshot is that our most photogenic representative of artistic independence and freedom is often rewarded for doing the same things over and over again. (178-fifty major filmmakers)
To me, 'independent' means staying independent from your work being dictated to, or formed by, some concept of a marketplace…. 'Independent' means being artistically free.
Peculiarities of Jarmusch’s films:
- He has great emphasis on music in his movies.
- His camera moves so slowly that senses look like stills.
- His movies often have no obvious beginning, no obvious end, and not much of the story in the middle.
- His characters seem so self-consciously cool that you want to slap them.
- His stories are absurd to the point of being unbelievable.
- What makes his stories funny and humane is that they are riddled with uncertainties.
- His characters tend to be losers, drifters, and strays. They’d never say as much, but these are people who don’t know home is.
- His films are existential road movies, whether the characters are driving (Night on Earth, Stranger than Paradise), riding horses (Dead Man) or running and swimming to freedom (Down by Law).
- Often casts musicians as actors in his films.
- His films often involve travelers as well as life after midnight.
- His films are about communication or crippled communication. People who love each other or grew to love each other can talk to each other.
- Dramatic moments are often offstaged in his films.
Quotes:
- "I am interested in the non-dramatic moments in life. I'm not at all attracted to making films that are about drama. A few years back, I saw a biopic about a famous American abstract expressionist artist. And you know what? It really horrified me. All they did was reduce his life to the big dramatic moments you could pick out of any biography. If that's supposed to be a portrait of somebody, I just don't get it. It's so reductive. It just seems all wrong to me."
- "It's great that the audience have their own different takes on what they have just seen, and don't know all the answers. Often, I don't know all the answers either.
- "The beauty of life is in small details, not in big events."
- "Aw, man, is that the only adjective they know? It's like every time I make a goddamn movie, the word "quirky" is hauled out in the American reviews. Now I see it's being applied to Wes Anderson, too. All of a sudden, his films are quirky. And Sofia Coppola is quirky. It's just so goddamn lazy."
- "I know. It's all so . . . independent. I'm so sick of that word. I reach for my revolver when I hear the word 'quirky.' Or 'edgy.' Those words are now becoming labels that are slapped on products to sell them. Anyone who makes a film that is the film they want to make, and it is not defined by marketing analysis or a commercial enterprise, is independent. My movies are kind of made by hand. They're not polished -- they're sort of built in the garage. It's more like being an artisan in some way."
- "I consider myself a dilettante in a positive way, and I always have. That affects my sense of filmmaking."
- "I feel so lucky. During the late 70's in New York, anything seemed possible. You could make a movie or a record and work part time, and you could find an apartment for 160 bucks a month. And the conversations were about ideas. No one was talking about money. It was pretty amazing. But looking back is dangerous. I don't like nostalgia. But, still, damn, it was fun. I'm glad I was there."
- "I prefer to be subcultural rather than mass-cultural. I'm not interested in hitting the vein of the mainstream."
- "I'm happiest when I'm shooting the movie. Filming is like sex. Writing the script is like seduction, then shooting is like sex because you're doing the movie with other people. Editing is like being pregnant, and then you give birth and they take your baby away. After this process is done, I will watch the movie one more time with a paying audience that doesn't know I'm there, and then I will never see it again. I'm so sick of it."
- "I never talk to actors as a group. Only one at a time. I talk to them about being their characters. Never, ever, about the meaning of the scene. I don't want the actors overladen with research, so they grow stale."
Golden Rules of Jarmusch:
- There are no rules. There are as many ways to make a film as there are potential filmmakers. It’s an open form. Anyway, I would personally never presume to tell anyone else what to do or how to do anything. To me that’s like telling someone else what their religious beliefs should be. Fuck that. That’s against my personal philosophy—more of a code than a set of “rules.” Therefore, disregard the “rules” you are presently reading, and instead consider them to be merely notes to myself. One should make one’s own “notes” because there is no one way to do anything. If anyone tells you there is only one way, their way, get as far away from them as possible, both physically and philosophically.
- Don’t let the fuckers get ya. They can either help you, or not help you, but they can’t stop you. People who finance films, distribute films, promote films and exhibit films are not filmmakers. They are not interested in letting filmmakers define and dictate the way they do their business, so filmmakers should have no interest in allowing them to dictate the way a film is made. Carry a gun if necessary. Also, avoid sycophants at all costs. There are always people around who only want to be involved in filmmaking to get rich, get famous, or get laid. Generally, they know as much about filmmaking as George W. Bush knows about hand-to-hand combat.
- The production is there to serve the film. The film is not there to serve the production. Unfortunately, in the world of filmmaking this is almost universally backwards. The film is not being made to serve the budget, the schedule, or the resumes of those involved. Filmmakers who don’t understand this should be hung from their ankles and asked why the sky appears to be upside down.
- Filmmaking is a collaborative process. You get the chance to work with others whose minds and ideas may be stronger than your own. Make sure they remain focused on their own function and not someone else’s job, or you’ll have a big mess. But treat all collaborators as equals and with respect. A production assistant who is holding back traffic so the crew can get a shot is no less important than the actors in the scene, the director of photography, the production designer or the director. Hierarchy is for those whose egos are inflated or out of control, or for people in the military. Those with whom you choose to collaborate, if you make good choices, can elevate the quality and content of your film to a much higher plane than any one mind could imagine on its own. If you don’t want to work with other people, go paint a painting or write a book. (And if you want to be a fucking dictator, I guess these days you just have to go into politics...).
- Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
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