Director: Jim Jarmusch
Screenplay: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, John Hurt, Crispin Glover, Robert Mitchum, Mili Avital, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Jared Harris, Billy Bob Thornton
Year: 1995
Country: USA, Germany, Japan
BBFC Certification: 18
Duration: 121 mins
Criterion’s new 4K UHD release of Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man arrives as a revelation, transforming an already visually stunning film into something approaching a religious experience. For those unfamiliar with the film, this 1995 anti-western stars Johnny Depp as William Blake, an accountant who travels west seeking employment only to find himself mortally wounded and journeying toward death alongside Nobody (Gary Farmer), a philosophical Native American who mistakes him for the famous poet.
For a review of the film itself, please go here to David’s review of the original Criterion Blu-ray release, and I will get into what is new for this release.
Everything about this film makes you want to step inside it. Whether it’s the harsh arid landscapes, the saloon or the hot and grimy steam train, it all feels like at any moment it could just spill out into your living room. The amazing black and white cinematography by Robby Müller is stunning any way you see it, but having the upscale to 4K to see the textures, tonal gradations and depth just adds to the experiential quality of the film.
Some standouts early on are aboard the train where Johnny Depp’s Blake meets the Charon-like fireman played by Crispin Glover. Glover, covered in soot, is even more arresting with the HDR as we get to see the way it is unevenly applied to his skin and how he contrasts with the flawless complexion of Depp. When Blake reaches Machine, the industrial grime of the factory town becomes almost tactile.
But it’s in the wilderness sequences where this transfer truly sings. The forest scenes, with dappled light filtering through trees, show wonderful depth and layering between what’s near and what’s far. The black and white photography no longer feels like an absence of color but rather reveals itself as a carefully orchestrated symphony of grays, with each shade precisely calibrated. Müller’s decision to shoot faces close-up, often centered in frame, takes on new power when you can see every pore, every line, every flicker of emotion.
Special Features
The special features package is identical to the 2022 Blu-ray release:
- 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Jim Jarmusch, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Q&A in which Jarmusch responds to questions sent in by fans
- Footage of Neil Young composing and performing the film’s score
- Interview with actor Gary Farmer
- Readings of William Blake poems by members of the cast, including Mili Avital, Alfred Molina, and Iggy Pop, accompanied by Jarmusch’s location-scouting photos
- Selected-scene audio commentary by production designer Bob Ziembicki and sound mixer Drew Kunin
- Deleted scenes
- Trailer
- Color photos from the film’s production
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: Essays by film critic Amy Taubin and music journalist Ben Ratliff
All special features are housed on the accompanying Blu-ray disc, allowing the 4K disc to maintain the highest possible bitrate for the feature presentation. Apart from the commentary by Ziembicki and Kunin, which remains essential listening for insights into the film’s sound design and production aesthetics, these supplements are covered in depth in David’s original review.
For existing Blu-ray owners, this is a marginal upgrade unless you’re particularly invested in seeing Müller’s cinematography at its absolute best. For everyone else, this is the version to own.