In 1875, mild-mannered William Blake (Johnny Depp) arrives in the 'godforsaken' town of Machine to accept the job of an accountant, only to find that it has been filled. Dejected - and told to leave the office at the point of a shotgun by boss Mr. Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) - Blake takes comfort in the arms of a prostitute. When her old beau turns up and shoots her in a jealous rage, wounding Blake in the process, Blake instinctively shoots and kills the assailant, who is in fact Dickinson's son. He soon finds himself on the run, led into the wilderness by a Native American named Nobody (Gary Farmer), who believes he is the poet William Blake. Hot on his heels are three gunmen hired by Dickinson to bring him back - dead or alive.

Dead Man, to use a bit of a cliché, is like no western you've ever seen before. Thoughtful westerns have been all the rage lately, with everything from The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada to Brokeback Mountain altering the way we think about the genre. While Dead Man is often quite violent, it takes its time getting where it is going and never sacrifices that for the sake of a shoot-out. Like walking the fine line between life and death - the same line that William Blake walks in the film - the viewer is taken on a journey somewhere along the edge of storytelling. The film is almost plotless, although that is kind of the point. William Blake is a man near death - a dead man walking if you will - and there is a sense of the unreal in everything he sees and does. The lingering camera, the hidden meanings and the powerfully atmospheric guitar score by Neil Young bring an incredibly dream-like quality to the film. Like Dante's voyage through purgatory, we are neither in heaven nor hell. Unlike that epic, the final destination would not appear to be 'Paradiso'.

Tremendously important to a film such as this is a strong character-driven cast. Led by Johnny Depp, playing one of his most complex characters to date, this film features a dream cast of Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Crispin Glover, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Jared Harris, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina and Robert Mitchum. These characters provide much of the humour - the very black humour I should add - in the film. Especially amusing is the cannibalistic Iggy Pop in a dress and bonnet. I want to be a fly on the wall at the meeting where that idea was brought up and proposed to Mr. Pop.

So Dead Man caused a fuss a few years back, and perhaps that is a good thing. Often these controversies attract more people than dissuade them, and I certainly would have overlooked the film had it not been banned and had I not been at the impressionable age of 17 at the time of its release. Years later, the things that caused its initial ban may seem ridiculous, but the guidelines that almost caused the ban are still in place and still restrictive. Films like Dead Man are necessary because they continue to challenge the status quo. Dead Man achieved this by not only challenging the conventions of the traditional western, but inadvertently challenging the boundaries of Australia's classifications laws. Last year, 9 Songs became the first film featuring a prolonged actual sex scene to be awarded a R18+ rating, so it would be unfair to claim that no progress has been made. (Unfortunately, 9 Songs itself was neither challenging, confronting or interesting). Let's just hope there are a few more films like Dead Man on the horizon.

This is a tricky one to review. The picture quality varies throughout the film, although some of this is obviously intentional and some is the result of the print being used. However, in no way does it seem as though this is the fault of the DVD transfer. Don't blame the precious DVDs! They can't defend themselves! Unless the light hits them and they blind you. Then you wouldn't be reading this review, of course. Unless someone is reading it to you, and then you've both got way too much time on your hands. (Says the guy who just wrote a paragraph about DVDs defending themselves).

Presented in black and white, in something resembling the original aspect ratio, there is a fair bit of grain about. The shadows and lighting aren't always consistent, but then again, I'm not sure they are meant to be all the time. The picture is by no means murky, but the grain and the dark lighting mean that it gets a little dark at times.

Otherwise, it's just hunky dory.

Like everything else in a Jim Jarmusch film, the DVD soundtrack is quite minimalist. A Dolby 2.0 track is the name of the game, and while it would have been interesting to hear this remixed in a 5.1, it probably isn't necessary.

Dialogue is reasonably clear for the most part, but there is a low-level hiss on the track that often requires you to pump up the amp to hear the dialogue. Of course, that just makes the hiss a bit louder. I should say that this is not overwhelming, and I'm not being paid to be pedantic. Indeed, I'm not being paid at all. Anybody want to pay me?

Of course, the big draw-card for the film is the hauntingly beautiful score by Neil Young. The guitar-driven score swells and swoops at various points, perfectly complementing the dream-like quality of the pictures. It comes up quite loud at times, especially if you've cranked up the speakers to hear the dialogue.

A solid, if not especially dynamic, track.

Outtakes and Deleted Scenes (14:41)

Without any explanation as to why these were cut, some of them are a little obscure. Still there is some interesting footage here, if you are willing to sit through something even more disjointed than the film itself. There are seven scenes in total. While I can't say they would have added to/detracted from this otherwise plot-less film, they are interesting to watch as they are, in some cases, alternative takes to final scenes in the film.

Original Theatrical Trailer (2:29)

Lovely! These are left off so often lately that it is always a pleasure to find one in tact on a DVD. Probably worth watching after the film, as I feel that a little too much is given away in this brief clip.

Music Video - Neil Young - "Dead Man Theme" (3:19)

Images from film and some footage of Neil Young interplay in this brief music video of the main theme from the film. The footage of Neil Young playing in front of a screen in his studio is probably worth most to fans, and the video keeps in the spirit of the film.

Madman Propaganda

Here we get two trailers: One for Russia's The Stroll and the other for Shohei Imamura's The Eel.

While I didn't quite "get" Dead Man when I first saw it eleven years ago, the benefit of hindsight - and shiny DVDs - allows one to go back and find new meaning to films each time. A little older and little film-wiser, the film works on a number of levels, and for me it is the dreamy elements that work the best. While Johnny Depp has created a brilliantly outlandish character in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, the minimalism he uses here shows just how versatile he is as an actor. Jarmsuch has certainly gone from strength to strength since the release of this film. Just last year he won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes for Broken Flowers.  

The film is also part of the recently released Jim Jarmusch - Directors Suite Boxset II, and is packaged with Permanent Vacation and Mystery Train. That set retails for $69.95.

Recommended.