“There is one thing I hate…” Jim Jarmusch does not mince words when asked about the future of cinema. Last proof to date, the interview – as rambling as it is passionate – that the director gave to the American magazine The Believer. The director, awarded at Cannes for Stranger Than Paradise in 1984 and Broken Flowers in 2005, tells, in addition to his passion for beavers and music, his deep indifference towards some of the most acclaimed films at the box office.
“Take the test yourself, take any action movie, he begins, excited. Look for a single shot that is longer than three seconds. To me, that’s almost insulting. The zero degree of realization. The camera has to move every three seconds. And again, three seconds is the maximum! After that, cut! One second, cut! Two seconds, cut! Three seconds, cut! I already have a headache.” It is therefore not so much the script or the acting as the editing work that arouses the ire of the American filmmaker.
Director, screenwriter and producer, Jim Jarmusch believes that the latest Hollywood blockbusters suffer from a lack of work and creativity. “I pick up! Honestly, go to film school, watch movies! Go read a book, look at paintings! Admire at least something! That’s nonsense. I can’t get used to it, ”he asserts.
Criticism comes up regularly among the great American filmmakers. In 2019, Martin Scorsese drew the wrath of the Marvel franchise, after rebelling against the massive production of films from the MCU universe. “Everything in these films is officially corseted… Everything is studied for the market, tested to conquer the public, verified, modified, rechecked and remodified until they are ready to be consumed”, he had regretted.
For Jarmusch, as for Scorsese, the observation is clear: American cinema is misguided in a purely commercial production, calibrated for the public, without artistic goal. Jim Jarmusch dwells moreover on the media pressure which surrounds these productions, pinning in passing the “cult” films of the cinema.
“There are specific things that I will never see,” he explains. I will never see any of the Star Wars, because I regret knowing so much about them, about the characters. Why is it in my head, when I’ve never seen one for real, why do I know R2-D2 and Darth Vader?, the filmmaker pretends to wonder. I’ve never seen Gone with the Wind, not now or ever. Quite simply because I feel forced to do so, and it’s something quite silly.
Should we take Jarmusch at his word? He himself is not short of a contradiction. “It’s all very subjective,” he concedes. I don’t like all this stuff that I’m pressured to see, but I will. As for Terminator, a masterpiece of cinema. A big action movie, in short. So I don’t really make a difference.”
In the eyes of the filmmaker, all films are equal, without any hierarchy. “I have my preferences, but I love enormously and deeply the art of directing, the art of making a film, he explains. And of course, the work of talented directors; but in truth, I look at all kinds of things. Recently, on the plane, I saw Cruella. I loved the Is There a Cop… movie series? because it’s so ridiculous! And I’m kind of in awe of the John Wick movies, just by how many people he manages to kill! But, I still haven’t seen the Twilights.”
The 70-year-old director is also a full-time musician in his rock band Sqürl, formed with his friend and producer Carter Logan. Their latest album Silver Haze, released in May, includes collaborations with singer and poet Anika, but also Charlotte Gainsbourg, for the title John Ashbery Takes A Walk. Music above all else, and for that to prefer films: such could be the summary of Jim Jarmusch’s activities. He is inexhaustible on film soundtracks; he often composes his own. The filmmaker also examines the question of inspiration and homage in the creative process. “In my case, it’s not really a problem: if someone stole my script from me, they wouldn’t do the same thing as me, you know? At the same time, it’s not very nice to take something from someone who hasn’t realized it yet,” he admits.
“Assuming there’s nothing in the world that hasn’t already been done, I don’t see why one couldn’t imitate or borrow. It’s weird to want to prevent that. If you steal a chord from someone and make it the opening notes of Stairway to Heaven…well that’s what Led Zeppelin did.” A phenomenon that the filmmaker compares to the work of director Quentin Tarantino, who uses a number of cinematographic references in his own films. “I am passionate about reappropriation, that is to say that you take something from somewhere, to do something else with it. It is the basis of all art,” he says.
Despite his reluctance, Jarmusch did not give up all hope for the cinema. A new feature film, “calm, funny and sad” is in preparation, had entrusted the director to The Playlist in April; filming is announced for this fall. The film may not include music. “It’s a very subtle, very fine film,” he explains. And I think the music might tip it one way rather than the other, because after all, it’s both a funny and a sad movie, right? In fact, the two are intertwined. I don’t know if I want to have music to add something on top of it.” Four months after this announcement, the question has turned into an obsession. “The world has so many possibilities to explore in music… So damn it, why do these commercial films all sound the same?” he laments in his interview with The Believer.
