This afternoon, D and I watched Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law. The film is typical Jarmusch – black and white, minimalist, emphasis on character quirkiness rather than plot, lots of cigarette smoke – and it’s set in New Orleans. I like that New Orleans isn’t romanticized with the usual French Quarter footage, and Rockets Redglare (yes, that is really his name) is so cute speaking in the Yat accent he adopted for the role. On the other hand, the lead characters break out of Orleans Parish Prison to get lost in acre after unending acre of Louisiana bayou, leaving one to wonder when the hell OPP moved to Terrebonne Parish.
Billie Neal plays a self-assured, smart-alecky prostitute employed by John Lurie’s small time pimp, Jack. She lies there and lectures Jack, “My mother once told me America is a melting pot. When you bring it to a boil, the scum rises to the top.” That line stuck with me.
It’s time for another viewing of Stranger Than Paradise.
