Jim Jarmusch's 'neo-beat-noir' follow-up to his quirky debut feature 'Strangers In Paradise' was the in-film for the in-crowd when first released: a hip-to-distraction ersatz comedy in which the only joke is that there is no joke. With his deadpan disdain for the Hollywood mainstream Jarmusch might be accused of being a cinematic rebel simply for the sake of rebellion, offering as his only alternative a numb new form of motion picture in which most of the motion as been deliberately discarded. The result is either an exhilarating departure from convention or a supreme test of patience, filmed in handsome high-contrast black and white and bolstered by a trio of likable if not exactly memorable characters: Jack, Zack and Bob the Italian, three misfits who meet in jail and subsequently escape into the Louisiana bayous. That's about it. Recommended for aficionados of tongue-in-cheek obscurantism.
Review of Down by Law
