Down by Law (film)

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Movie
German title Down by law
Original title Down by law
Down by law.png
Country of production USA , Germany
original language English
Publishing year 1986
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jim Jarmusch
script Jim Jarmusch
production Cary Brokow ,
Otto Grokenberger
music John Lurie ,
additional songs by Tom Waits
camera Robby Muller
cut Melody London
occupation

Down by Law is a feature film by the US director Jim Jarmusch from 1986.

action

On the pretext of wanting to reconcile again, an enemy colleague slips a minor into the pimp Jack, with whom Jack is then picked up by the police in the hotel room. Zack, the radio DJ who has just quit a job and then separated from his girlfriend after a heated argument, is confronted with a corpse in the trunk of the car that he was supposed to drive to the other side of town for $ 1,000 . The two end up in a prison cell together and don't get along well. They have just had a fight when the Italian Roberto joins them. As it soon turns out, he is not only an extremely communicative person, but also the only one of the three who has really committed a crime: Although he claims to be a good cardsharp, he was blown and had with the Chase an opponent killed with a billiard ball.

Initially, the wildly wheel breaking Roberto gets on his two cell mates hard on the nerves. Gradually, however, the mood improves. With his Italian, life-affirming temperament, Roberto breaks the ice between the three cellmates and a timid communication develops between the imprisoned men. Later Roberto discovers a way from the court to freedom and so the trio manages to escape. On the run through the swamps of Louisiana, the three finally end up in a small restaurant called Luigi's Tin Top , which is run by Nicoletta. Roberto and Nicoletta promptly fall in love and Roberto decides to stay there. Jack and Zack go their own way and part at the first fork in the road.

Reviews

In the tributes to Jarmusch's fairytale black and white comedy , a whole series of aspects were praised: The bizarre humor embodied by the three protagonists, the precise portrayals of Jack ( John Lurie ) and Zack ( Tom Waits ) fleeing into arrogant coolness , the furious presence the long-time speaker Roberto ( Roberto Benigni ) and last but not least the excellent work of the Dutch cameraman Robby Müller . Together with the music of John Luries and Tom Waits , the bottom line is that an impressive film has been created that has impressed numerous critics, especially in Europe.

  • Lexicon of International Films : An ironic comedy that tells, in a fairytale-like form, of efforts to protect humanity in a desolate environment; excellently staged and photographed, carried by brilliant actors.
  • Vincent Canby describes the film in the New York Times as a fable of poetic density. The performance of the three main actors is extraordinary. It is essentially supported by the work of the director and the cameraman, who show the three at the same time in the same scene in a simultaneous shot, thus enabling the excellent interaction between the three.

effect

With Down by Law , Jim Jarmusch has become known beyond the independent cinema scene. This film has also triggered a huge surge in popularity in the USA for the actors Roberto Benigni and Ellen Barkin .

title

Down by law is, on the one hand, an obscure English phrase from the atmosphere of jazz and swing , which means something like "particularly good"; Literally translated it means something like "suppressed by the judiciary", which alludes to the role of Jack and Zack, who are innocent in prison.

backgrounds

The two actors Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni actually got married on December 26, 1992 in real life. For the first 33 minutes, the action takes place against the backdrop of the old-fashioned architecture within the American city of New Orleans , Louisiana . The film is, just like the 1995 published Western Dead Man by director Jim Jarmusch, shot entirely in black and white. Regarding the stylistic device of black and white film images, cameraman Robby Müller explained in a video interview that is part of the bonus material on the bluRay disc by Down By Law : “ Black and white is like a poem. There are no superfluous words. Often information is conveyed in color film that is unimportant for the story [...] Color would not have benefited many scenes. You pay too much attention to your surroundings. “Originally, the water on which the film crew shot the escape of the three prisoners Jack, Zack and Roberto in a paddle boat in the bayou of Louisiana was brilliantly light duck green . In the finished black-and-white film Down By Law , the swamp water shows only a simple gray, free of any exoticism. For the recordings of the scene in which actor Tom Waits in the role of Zack drives the car through the evening streets with the corpse in the trunk, cameraman Robby Müller used very little film lighting so that the light of the urban street lamps comes into its own and during the Car ride dances over the face of actor Tom Waits.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Approval certificate for Down by Law . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , May 2014 (PDF; test number: 66 749 K).
  2. ↑ Down by Law. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 4, 2013 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Vincent Canby in the New York Times, September 19, 1986
  4. ↑ Roger Ebert on Down by Law
  5. ↑ Swing Slang: down by law
  6. ↑ Video interview with cameraman Robby Müller , 23 minutes, included in the bonus material of the bluRay Disc Down By Law , 2014, Arthaus - Special Films , Leipzig, + Studiocanal GmbH , Berlin. The video interview was conducted in the Hortus Botanicus botanical garden in Amsterdam .
  7. ↑ Video interview with cameraman Robby Müller , 23 minutes, included in the bonus material of the bluRay Disc Down By Law , 2014, Arthaus - Special Films , Leipzig, + Studiocanal GmbH , Berlin. The video interview was conducted in the Hortus Botanicus botanical garden in Amsterdam .

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