Down By Law

Watching any Jim Jarmusch movie is an experience in itself. He definatly doesn't subscribe to the Hollywood movie archetype. This film is no different. Featuring Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni in two of the lead roles, it's hard to imagine two vasltly different actors taking up the majority of the screen time.

Shot entirely in black and white and set in New Orleans, the story follows 3 men who are imprisoned for various crimes. It took some time to get into the swing of things with this movie, but once I got into it there was no looking back. Most of the time when I watch movies anymoreI watch them on my laptop, which then affords me the the option of doing many things at once. I generally will play poker or check email while the movie plays in the background and pay attention when it sounds interesting. By half an hour into this movie I shut everything else down and just sat back and enjoyed this movie.

The dialog of Benigni is hilarious, mostly because this was filmed in the mid 80's and he barely spoke English. Tom Waits provides alot of the music, but also turns in a brilliant performance as a man who is set up and sent to prison.

So far this is the second best film I've seen of the year.