Do I sound like a bitch ?

**Gemby!** · 10-21-2004, 07:59 PM

In this essay ?

‘Ghost Dog : The way of the samurai’ (Jarmusch, 1999) is a modern day adaptation of how a samurai lives his life. It is directed by Jim Jarmusch, who has also directed films such as ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ (1986/2003) and ‘Dead Man’ (1995).

The film is a slow paced one, making very few cuts and long, drawn out scenes. This creates a relaxed, tranquil, and at times smooth atmosphere to the film.

The most common technique used is the dissolve or the fade. It’s often used when we see the pigeon flying overhead, and when the captions appear. This creates a calm transition from one shot to another, which reflects the relaxed attitude of the film. However, by using these so much it becomes tiresome and makes the scenes seem to take longer, and not gain excitement over the film. Even the fighting scenes were slow and with few cuts, which created a too calm attitude.

With such a slow pace to the film, there is no thrill to it, and at the end we are left with a sense that we didn’t get the action we expect from a samurai film. Maybe if the film was a faster pace at times we would be able to appreciate the calmness of the scenes.