Jim Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer whose films often feature music and explore characters living on the fringes of society, drawing inspiration from his experiences studying film in Paris and New York City as well as his love of music. His films are known for their minimalist style and tone, use of non-professional actors and soundtrack music. This document provides biographical information on Jarmusch and summaries of his major films from the early 1980s to 2013.

1. JIM
JARMUSCH
WRITER, DIRECTOR & MUSIC FIEND
By Heather Andres
“For me, the music is always like the small rowboat I get into at the very
beginning of my process.” JJ

2. BIO
That’s where I saw things I had only read about and heard
about – films by many of the good Japanese directors, like
Imamura, Ozu, Mizoguchi. Also, films by European directors
like Bresson and Dreyer, and even American films, like the
retrospective of Samuel Fuller’s films, which I only knew from
seeing a few of them on television late at night. When I came
back from Paris, I was still writing, and my writing was
becoming more cinematic in certain ways, more visually
d e s c r i p t i v e .
—Jarmusch on the Cinémathèque Française, taken from an
interview with Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times,
O c t o b e r 2 1 , 1 9 8 4 .
Born James Roberto "Jim" Jarmusch in Akron, Ohio in 1953, to a journalist
mother and businessman father, Jim spent his young years wanting to be a
writer; more specifically, a poet. He earned a degree in English and American
literature at Columbia University. Writing fiction, he grew increasingly interested
in film as a means of expression. During his final year at Columbia, Jarmusch
moved to Paris, for what was initially a summer semester on an exchange
program but turned into ten months.

3. Returning from Paris
in 1976, Jarmusch
was broke and
working as a
musician in New
York City. He
applied to the Tisch
School of the Arts,
where he studied for
four years, before
working as
assistant director
on Lightning Over
Water (1980). He
went on to make his
first film, Permanent
Vacation (1982), for
roughly $15,000

4. FILMOGRAPHY
2013 Only Loves Left Alive
2009 The Limits of Control
2005 Broken Flowers
2003 Kava i cigarete
2002 Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (segment "Int. Trailer Night")
1999 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
1997 Year of the Horse (documentary)
1995 Coffee and Cigarettes III (short)
1995 Dead Man
1991 Night on Earth
1990 Red Hot and Blue (TV movie) (segment "It's All Right With Me")
1989 Mystery Train
1989 Coffee and Cigarettes II (short)
1986 Down by Law
1986 Coffee and Cigarettes (short)
1984 Stranger Than Paradise
1983 Stranger Than Paradise (short)
1980 Permanent Vacation

5. ① Stationary camera
(deadpan).
② His films often involve
travelers as well as life
after midnight.
③ Show s and view s the
American landscape from a
non-commercial viewpoint
④ Often casts musicians as
actors in his films.
Info Courtesy of IMDB
TRADEMARKS
Above, with Tom Waits
Below, with Neil Young

6. PERMANENT VACATION (1980)
Shot on 16 mm film,
it has photograph-
like qualities, but as
an early attempt, does
have an amateurish
feel. A journey
through New York
among its outcast,
this marks the
beginning of a career
which follows a
distinct path down
the outer fringes of
society.

7. STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984)
Jarmusch kicks off his
signature minimalist
deadpan humor, his
unique and exquisitely
present soundtrack,
and early signature
neo-noir style. The
original soundtrack
was done by jazz
musician, friend and
leading character of
the story, John Lurie.
What set this film apart was Jarmusch’s cast of non-professional actors.
Starring alongside Lurie was Richard Edson, the drummer from Sonic
Youth, and a Hungarian violinist, Eszter Balint. The film began as a 30
minute short, but was later expanded to full length.
http://www.crit
erion.com/film
s/252-
stranger-than-
paradise

8. DOWNBYLAW(1986 Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni play cellmates
incarcerated for crimes they never committed. The film follows the
dynamic between them behind bars and throughout their escape.
Robby Müller's slow-moving camerawork beautifully captures the
Louisiana bayou and the architecture of New Orleans.

9. COFFEEANDCIGARETTES(2003)
A series
of short
vignettes
that take
place
whilst
sipping
coffee
and
smoking
cigarettes
.
MYSTERYTRAIN(1989)
Three
stories,
connected
by Elvis.
NIGHTONEARTH(1991)
The
separate
stories of
5 different
cab
drivers in
different
cities on
the same
night.

10. The only of Jim’s films that can
be categorized, it does so in the
most abstract way possible.
Technically, this is a western,
when really the whole thing may
just be a metaphor or visual
poetry.
William Blake (Johnny Depp)
sets out for the town of
Machine, passes through hostile
Indian territory and when he
arrives, is refused a job and
happens to kill a man. On the
run, he meets an odd Indian
named "Nobody" who prepares
him for his journey beyond.
A twangy, ethereal soundscape,
the score is done completely by
Neil Young. Magnificent
soundtrack, once again.
DEAD MAN (1995)

12. Forest Whitaker plays
a man called Ghost
Dog, a hit man who
models himself after
the ancient samurai.
This is considered to
be Jarmusch’s most
commercial film, The
soundtrack entirely
comprised of hiphop
by The Wu –Tang Clan.
GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI (1999)

13. Music: Don's neighbour, Winston
(Jeffrey Wright) burns a CD for
him to listen to on his travels.
Mainly jazz by Ethiopian musician
Mulatu Astatke, it is singularly
inappropriate both for Don and for
the American landscapes over
which it plays. Like everything
else in the film, it just is.
BROKEN FLOWERS (2005)
Don Johnston (Bill Murray) is
dumped by his girlfriend and
receives an anonymous letter
informing him that he has a
son who may be looking for
him. The situation causes
Don to examine his
relationships with women
instead of moving on to the
next one, and he sets out on
a journey, in search of old
flames with clues.

14. Isaach De Bankolé
plays a man on a
secret mission. As De
Bankolé travels
through a surreal
reality by train, in
Spain, he encounters a
cast that includes
Tilda Swinton, Alex
Descas, Gael García
Bernal, John Hurt, and
Bill Murray.
“I’m not calculating, so the idea
was to make a film where I was
open to finding connections and
layers even as we went along. So
I started this project with a 25-
page prose story that I wrote, and
I said “I’m not going to write a
conventional script. I’m going to
start from here and just start
building things.” So for me, as
always, I kind of start collecting
details and then piece them
together along the way.” JJ
THE LIMITS OF CONTROL (2009)

15. “Only Lovers Left Alive is an
unconventional love story
between a man and a woman,
Adam and Eve. (My script was
partially inspired by the last book
published by Mark Twain: The
Diaries of Adam and Eve —
though no direct reference to the
book is made other than the
character’s names.) These two
lovers are archetypal outsiders,
classic bohemians, extremely
intelligent and sophisticated —
yet still in full possession of their
animal instincts. They have
traveled the world and
experienced many remarkable
things, always inhabiting the
shadowed margins of society.
And, like their own love story,
their particular perspective on
human history spans centuries —
because they happen to be
vampires.” JJ
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (2013)
Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston
(Adam and Eve) are permeated with
music, science, history, the fate of
the world and each other in this
gorgeously addictive romance.

16. ADAMANDEVE
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17. SOURCES
http://www.jim-jarmusch.net/
http://www.avclub.com/article/jim-jarmusch-27753
interview By Scott Tobias from A.V. Club
http://filmfactory.ba/faculty/JimJarmusch.html
http://www.jim-jarmusch.net/bio/
http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/jimjarmusch.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000464/?ref_=nv_sr_1