Image via WikipediaThe people of Earth are always coming up to Mr. World and asking me for my list. Everyone has a list, ya dig, and the fine folk out here must be catching on to the fact that I ain't no regular Jack. Follow me now, I'm talking about your top 10, 20, or even 100 flicks you can get down with the most. In some cases, to keep it all cool, I'll rattle off a few "must haves" just to keep the flow a go. But somewhere down the line I felt it was best to check in with The Professor and lay out some classics for my people to vibe on. After all, it's a need we all gotta feed. You have to sift through a whole lot of dogs these days to find a purebred.
So, the Man With the Plan was happy to kick me down his 20 favorites of all time and the World studied his lineup, believe that. It read like a road map to the real. Everything was represented, from the birth of the cool black and whites to the contemporary hip thrillers. Ya see, the trip is, the good Professor and I have a different set list. It occurred to me that, although everyone needs to quench their thirst, we all drink from a different well. Of course, the Professor had a solution; take the best apples from all the barrels and bake the people some sweet apple pie. Huh, you gotta dig that?
Without dropping too many culinary quips, the ingredient I'd like to add to the bowl first is a flick that has been looked over and passed by way too many times: Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.
Image via WikipediaBack in 1999 Jarmusch wrote and directed this cult classic with Forest Whitaker as his lead. The backdrop to this "character study" is the mean streets of Jersey City, New Jersey. Now, once you put a new school urban-hit-man (who happens to live by the code of the ancient Samurai) in a mobster flick you've got Mr. World's attention. Of course Jarmusch, being the innovator of cool that he is, laid in one of the freshest soundtracks of recent times.
Just when your planet was settled on the fact that white skinned, Italian mobsters generally whacked each other out in Armani suits, to slow playing string arrangements, Jim Jarmusch flips the script big time. Whitaker plays Ghost Dog; a black, hoodie wearing, contract killer with a thirst for ancient wisdom and a modern hip-hop collection. RZA wrote the music and it's way too cool for school man. The supporting cast, mostly made up of quirky mafia fools and a Haitian ice cream truck driver who only speaks French, are a perfect compliment to this surreal tale. Whittaker sets out as the unknown hunter but when a hit goes bad, Ghost Dog becomes the hunted.
The thing I dig most about my man Jarmusch is once you are in his world you are in it to the end. If you can get down with films like The Professional, La Femme Nikita, and The American, you'll be feelin' Ghost Dog all the way. It might even rattle your cage. Now, if you're gonna do it, do it right. Don't play it on your laptop speakers or watch it on your Iphone people. Put it on the big screen and let the beats bring you in. Can you dig it?
-Mr. World
