Out of the Past: Down by Law
Written and Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni, John Lurie
Rated: R
Parental Notes: This film includes a dollop of violence, quite a bit of swearing, some nudity, and plenty of unsavory characters, and thus is probably not suitable for youngsters.
This week, courtesy of the lack of new movies I am willing to review at the local cineplex, your humble movie reviewer brings you a DVD review of the Jim Jarmusch classic, “Down By Law.” Released in 1986 and available on a spiffy Criterion Collection DVD, the only signs this film was made twenty years ago is that its stars look significantly younger than they do today and the ladies have surprisingly big hair. It is a charming, thoughtful story about three men who get a second chance.
Jack (John Lurie) is a pimp. Zack (Tom Waits) is an unemployed DJ. Zack’s girlfriend (Ellen Barkin, in fine form) dumps him as the film opens, telling him she can’t stand the way he messes up his future all the time. While Zack is out on the street drinking, a local criminal hires him to drive a car across town — which would be fine except there’s something in the trunk the police are very interested in, and Zack winds up in jail. Somewhere else in town, one of Jack’s ladies tells him that he keeps making big plans for tomorrow because he is screwing up today. She adds that if he were a “good pimp,” he would hit her instead of letting her disrespect him. Not only does he not hit her, he walks right into a set up by an enemy of his, and winds up in jail with Zack.
They immediately rub each other the wrong way, but find themselves united when Roberto (Roberto Benigni, in his first American feature film), an friendly Italian tourist, gets put in the cell with them. He is irrepressibly cheerful, childishly pleased with himself, and as happily chatty as Zack and Jack are sullen. He grows on them a bit as days pass, and when he reveals that he has figured out a way to escape, they decide to give it a try.
“Down by Law” is packed with plenty of cliches, but somehow in Jarmusch’s capable hands they don’t seem at all tired. Jack and Zack are classic pulp: tired, everyman-like antiheroes, they’ve messed up their lives but good and just need a chance to start over. Roberto is a cheery small-time criminal who had a moment of bad luck, and he just needs the opportunity to get past it. There are visuals replete with images we’ve seen before: Louisiana swamps full of dripping trees and knee-deep muck, shadows streaking a pale sidewalk as a man down on his luck sits on the curb, even men hanging around in prison, their arms stuck through the bars of their cells. And yet, somehow, these old, familiar moments work. They are as unforced and natural as Roberto’s camaraderie.
The expert black and white cinematography by Robby Müller suits the slow, thoughtful film perfectly. It’s something between a nightmare and a fairy tale, and the shades of gray greatly outnumber the spots of black and white on the screen, just as the central characters themselves are shady fellows. The lighting brings out so many different tones of gray that it becomes easy to forget there aren’t any rainbow colors on the screen.
“Down by Law” is a top-notch film for a quiet evening when you’re not quite sure what to watch. It’s for when you don’t want a mindless shoot-em-up, but you do want a happy ending; when you don’t want crass, stupid humor but do want to laugh. It’s a strange little film, but a very good one, and if an oddity is the sort of thing you are looking for, it will definitely hit the spot.