Le 4 Nov 2014
Bon...je confirme : Je vais reprendre TOUT le dossier Jim Jarmusch
pour le developper autant que possible...
Un article sur DOWN BY LAW, c'est vraiment nul de ma part
(faut dire qu'à" l'époque" je n'étais pas bien dégourdi pour trouver de la doc
comme ce n'est pas pour demain,je met le lien IMDb
vers la fiche complète
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Down by Law (Sous le Coup de la Loi) est un film américain en noir et blanc réalisé par Jim Jarmusch, sorti en 1986.
Résumé
Réunis dans une cellule de prison par « erreur », trois « innocents » se rencontrent sans avoir rien en commun. Ils se voient contraints de se supporter surtout quand vient la possibilité d'une évasion. Alors, des liens plus forts vont se tisser. La plus grande partie du film est basée sur les interactions entre ces personnages, contrairement aux codes du genre des films d'évasion où c'est l'acte et sa construction qui sont mis en avant.Comme souvent chez Jim Jarmusch, beaucoup de silence mais aussi une lente progression vers la folie qui guette les évadés. Paranoïa, faim, perte de l'orientation seront les clés de cette progression.
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Fiche technique
Réalisateur : Jim Jarmusch
Chef opérateur : Rob Müller
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Cast
John Lurie : Jack
Tom Waits : Zack
Roberto Benigni : Roberto
Nicoletta Braschi : Nicoletta
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Subtle grace masquerades as jail-break film
Author: sidereal from New York, NY
27 December 1998
One of the most frequently heard criticisms of Jarmusch's work is that the pace is slow. I would like to make a case for patience. After all, if true beauty and grace were delivered in one massive hit, our poor brains and hearts would not withstand the blow. In Down By Law, Jarmusch invites us to take some time, some real time and devote it to getting deeply involved with his characters. Men in crisis. Misfits, jailbirds, heartbreakingly human. We accompany them on their journey, their escape from their confines.
It is a truly epic journey on a small geographical scale. We watch as they begin to mirror one another, as their individual egos become inextricably enmeshed in one another. We watch a friendship form. And how can we begrudge the time Jarmusch takes for this glorious exposition? How can we do anything but marvel at the fine detail in which the scenes are drawn, at the subtle movements of our heroes?
Every gesture signifies worlds of meaning and consequence. And Jarmusch does it better, with more skill and with more compassion than anyone. If you are prepared to get involved, if you are brave enough to commit to the journey, you will be rewarded with a kind of epiphany that few films can offer.
Author: bejasus from United States
29 July 2005
I first saw Down By Law when it first came out, and loved it. I watched it again recently, and it really hasn't aged at all. In fact, it has gotten even better. I'm not sure there's another movie like it (unless the other Jarmusch ones are -- I haven't seen them). There are very few movies that spend so much time on character development that still have great plots. Like the "Big Easy" where it is filmed, this one takes its time but has an easy charm once the plot gets where it was going. The dialogue is wonderfully written, and better acted. Each scene is like a work of art in how it is staged. The soundtrack uses one of the best albums ever recorded, "Rain Dogs" by Tom Waits, who stars. One of my all time favorites.
Author: cgierl from minneapolis
15 August 2002
Down by Law is a film that has mesmerized me for years. The first time I saw it, it sunk into me like the smile from a homeless person. It told me something I should've already known.
I've heard people use the word "quirky", when drawing comparisons to a Jarmusch character, but, I like the phrase: "Spot On". He has captured man's fear within himself, and, the ability to hide that fear. It takes a director of great courage and knowledge of self to pull that one off without boring you.
If you're a fan of Joel Schumaucher or James Cameron, this is not the film for you. But if your a fan of people, and, the human condition, the mirror reflects back, 2 hours at a time, and Jarmusch is right behind it.
Author: PeterRoeder from Lyngby, Denmark
19 December 2003
This is one of the best movies ever made. I cannot begin to emphasize how much heart is in it. It is really a story that transcends even realism and belongs to the realm of literature, music and art. One cannot claim to know anything about movies without having seen this one. It´s like Chaplin reading the classics of American literature. Nietzsche breathing the fresh desert air. Milton creeping into the left foot of Blake. Watch it! Watch it! Watch it! 10/10!!!
Author: pdeholczer from United States
14 October 2011
Jarmusch makes films about people.
This is, to my taste, his best film. If you like people and you like watching people, you will enjoy this film. Jarmusch shows us some strange but interesting people, and these characters are delightfully strange and interesting -- but, importantly, these people are believable and accessible. These people are of the kind ground down by the world and their own poor choices. For a moment, a wonderful moment we witness, they are given a new lease on life and new hope for a better time, a better life. How do they deal with this grind of the world? With anger, ennui, humor and hope.
Together, the cast is perfect. Perfectly cast, perfectly expressive, perfectly reactive to the world they inhabit.No fantastic chase scenes, no over-the-top explosions or CGI, no overdone melodrama. Perfectly tuned actors playing subtle notes. Like "The Remains of the Day" this film can quietly move you. Unlike that film, this one can finally lift you up as well. Wonderfully cast, wonderfully scored with just the right music, wonderfully filmed in black and white, this is an excellent movie of any kind. Of its own particular type, it is superb.
If you believe that the devil incarnate is a cross between Richard Nixon and Billy Rae Cirus, then logic states Tom Waits is christ reborn. For this weird looking, weird soundin tunesmith is in fact a terrific actor.
In by far and a way his most impressive role (he looks bored in Mystery Men, for example) Waits plays a free style jiving DJ, locked in a cell with an Italian lunatic and a middle American egomaniac (played brilliantly and adequately by Roberto Benigni and John Lurie respectively).
Like all of Jim Jarmusch's movies, it is part dream, part nonsensical comedy. It doesn't entirely make sense. There is not a linear narrative per se. Big gaps are left for you to use your imagination. Suffice to say, the dream is part nightmare, part epiphany, part prophecy.
Most people won't watch this movie, just as most people will never hear a Tom Waits record. No great shame, as the rest of us know that in Tom Waits we are in the presence of genius, and in Down By Law the genius is harnassed by a director of no little talent. Down By Law is, to use the beautiful parlance of boxing, pound for pound the greatest movie ever made.
What I really enjoy about "Down by Law" is not the fact that it is a road movie, nor that the characters suffer a rite of passage through their imprisonment and subsequent flight, nor any of the other characteristics mentioned by other users; it is in how the film presents human life and human relationships as a series of misunderstandings, coincidences, accidents and miracles.
The three protagonists are tramps. Two of them think they are cool and smart, and yet they are so stupid and naive that at the same time they become delightful and memorable characters. Roberto lights up the screen in a Chaplin-like manner.
As a whole, the picture leaves the viewer with a feeling of intelligent delight in a completely non-hollywood-esque style --with no closed ending, a rhythm of its own, tender but never kitsch, sordid and intimate, yet inspiring and deliriously funny. "Down by Law" is the filmed proof that silly characters plus comedy (in the classic sense of the word) do not necessarily result in vulgar humor. I believe it's one of a kind.
I watched Down by Law twice in one day when I got it on DVD (an exceptional DVD for Jim Jarmusch fans, by the way). I wasn't expecting too, and I fast-forwarded past a couple of smaller scenes the second time around, but overall I found this to be a sort of sensational film in the most subdued way, if that's possible. It's realistic in some ways, but also sticking to many of the ideals that go with the 'prison' picture (a kind of sub-genre Jarmusch obviously loves and is tipping the hat to).
It's also a comedy that juggles between Jarmusch's knack at subtleties ("hey, hey, not the shoes" is a hilariously low-key line by Waits) and also a key supporting role from Roberto Benigni, in his first film outside of Italy. His is a balancing act between Lurie and Waits, who for a lot of the film try to act too cool for school, so to speak, despite the fact that they're in jail. He's the obvious, but needful force that gives Down by Law its kick just when you think it might be getting a little dull.
And somehow Benigni gives this character a dimension from Jarmusch's script; he's funny, and also has a slightly serious side too, an earnest one, which is shown in one of the best scenes of the film at the fire where Benigni tells the story of the rabbit.The acting (not necessarily 'professional', but truthful, and surprising considering Waits being almost always an eccentric musician) would've made Down by Law a good movie on its own, however Jarmusch's direction - and more particularly the contribution of Robby Mueller as DP - is a delicate act of black and white finesse.
Mueller understands this story, and these actors, and also gets down this whole down-on-the-bayou area of America without a flaw. In particular the cool shots that get the camera moving, like when the three of them are on a boat in the bayou, and the camera just seems to float along at times, this despite the impeding danger of the characters being caught. Like Stanger than Paradise, Jarmusch's previous films, Down by Law is also partly a movie on the road (this time on the run), with eccentric characters and gritty settings, and so the camera-work compliments this.
That it looks so much more beautiful on DVD is an added bonus.Down by Law is, if nothing else, a sort of 'genre' picture that goes beyond its limitations by way of a distinct style, some fascinating performances, and music that comes in a of spooky way that also adds another level to the film's effect on a viewer. Not for all tastes, as per usual with Jarmusch's work, however not without its pleasures; those who want a Benigni fix after checking out his Italian films need no further than to look here.
Author: georgep53 from Boston, MA
7 March 2013
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I recently saw a 35mm print of "Down By Law" for the first time and really had no idea what to expect but as an admirer of independent film I was curious. Needless to say "Down By Law" almost single-handedly defines independent cinema with its seedy characters and willingness to push the boundaries of conventional filmmaking. Zack (Tom Waits) is a disc jockey who can't seem to keep a job and spends most of his time in an alcohol induced stupor.
Ellen Barkin is memorable in a small role as Zack's long-suffering girlfriend. It's sad Barkin didn't get more opportunities in her film career. Jack (John Lurie) is a pimp who's fond of saying that he knows how to treat his girls and in one scene Jarmusch gives us a prolonged shot of Jack as seen from the perspective of a naked, outstretched prostitute. Obviously neither of these two ne'er do wells is destined to amount to much of anything so as fate would have it they end up sharing a prison cell where they argue incessantly.
When an Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni) joins the two they learn that he too is a victim of bizarre circumstances. Benigni does a great job and practically owns the film from that point on. It's a great comedy performance. After this it's easy to see Benigni scaling the seats at the 1998 Oscars after winning for "Life Is Beautiful". Eventually there's an escape and the 3 convicts must dodge police trackers through the Louisiana bayou. Robby Muller's black and white camera-work adroitly creates a dark, surreal atmosphere. The Tom Waits songs are great and he and John Lurie play off each other beautifully. This is a great little work of cinema art by Jim Jarmusch. A must-see.
The only persons I was familiar with in this movie when I started watching it were Ellen Barkin and Tom Waits (Waits as a singer with a very distinct singing style). I knew from previews that the storyline was about three prison escapees but I never realized that by the end of the film, I would be so totally satisfied in a yarn that had taken me on a fascinating journey through New Orleans. The viewer gets to see the down side of New Orleans and some of the 'countryside' during the movie, but the ending is a work of art.
I loved the fact that there was no violence or the usual 'blood-letting', but most importantly, having been filmed in black and white, the film obviously relied on the characters and the story to keep the audiences in their seats. As in any sort of photography, black and white will triumph over color if the subject is exceptional. This is certainly the case here.
