Don’t get us wrong, though- they’re a great deal of fun (though most definitely dated by modern action standards) and occasionally quite righteously badass. This is more indicative of the tone of the film than any of the action sequences, most of which are made out of homage to other films ( Branded to Kill being a big influence and, of course, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai, which the whole damn thing is made in the spirit of), and feel oddly out of place in the calm quality of the rest of the film. When De Bankolé yells down at the man to ask him how, he responds in Spanish that he can’t understand them and he has to get back to work.

Ghost Dog, like much of Jarmusch’s oeuvre, is filled with moments of almost-surrealist beauty, such as the scene where Whitaker and Issach De Bankolé, here playing an ice cream man who speaks only French, observe a man building a boat on top of his roof and ponder how he’s going to get it down from there, each repeating the other’s thoughts, unaware that they’re saying the same things in French and in English. Though, to be fair, those expecting an exploitation-flavored extravaganza should steel themselves for the quiet and meditative nature of this film. It’s Whitaker’s best work by far (he makes a silent killer who communicates by carrier pigeon relatable!), and features some of the greatest soundtrack working of the last twenty years by the RZA, and it’s screening at the Coolidge Corner Theater this Thursday (May 25) as a part of their Cinema Jukebox series. What better way to start off a piece about Jim Jarmusch’s 1999 crime curiosity Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai with one of the many intertitle quotations from the Hagakure? The now-classic cult film about a hitman (Forest Whitaker) who lives according to the Bushido code and is forced to stand up for his principles against the Mafia men who employ him is nearly 20 years old now, and it’s exciting to see more people discovering this crazy-ass movie. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.” And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead. Falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease, or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. Being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake. Being thrown into the midst of a great fire. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords.

Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily.

“The Way of the Samurai is found in death.

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