Ghost Dog – The Way of the Samurai

Jim Jarmusch’s 90s classic GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI is a superbly sharp, unique thriller featuring a magnificent lead performance from Forest Whitaker (Bird) in an iconoclastic mix of hip-hop, gangster movie and martial arts, with influences from Kurosawa, Suzuki and Melville. Forest Whitaker (Ghost Dog) lives above the world, alongside a flock of birds, in a homemade shack on the roof of an abandoned building. Guided by the words of an ancient samurai text, Ghost Dog is a professional killer able to dissolve into the night and move through the city unnoticed. When Ghost Dog’s code is dangerously betrayed by the dysfunctional mafia family that occasionally employs him, he reacts strictly in accordance with the Way of the Samurai. Featuring moody cinematography by the great Robby Mller (Paris, Texas), a sublime score by the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, and a host of colourful 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. Described by Time Out as “very funny, insightful and highly original”, the film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and remains one of Jarmusch’s best-loved films.