i've decided that i need to begin stalking jay rabinowitz.
if you are jay rabinowitz, please drop me an email so that i can properly begin my stalking process. first i will need to get a hold of your work number, and then if necessary, your home number. if you could please submit this information at your earliest convenience, i would be eternally grateful. thank you.
if you are not jay rabinowitz, you're probably wondering why i need to stalk him. jay rabinowitz is the longtime editor of independent film god, jim jarmusch, director of down by law, stranger than paradise, dead man and most recently, ghost dog, starring forest whitaker and a supporting cast of aging mafioso type character actors. jim jarmusch plays out the fascinating intersection of traditionally opposing cultures in ways that make them seem to flow together in perfect symbiosis rather than clashing in ideology. he has proved this time and time again with his japanese characters in mystery train, native american characters in dead man and of course, the italian and black characters in ghost dog.
unlike his hollywood peers, jarmusch doesn't cast actors of color to prove how equal they are to their caucasoid counterparts, he does just the opposite. he makes it necessary to point out that that all his characters are very unique from both a cultural and an individual standpoint and that they are all vitally important in the progression of the story. his films could not progress if it weren't for the alienation and community from the different viewpoints that each character represents. it is also for these very reasons that jarmusch, like david cronenberg, refuses funding from hollywood producers, instead seeking money from japanese and european investors, who are more than willing to support his vision and do not demand artistic control over his work.
the editing style of jim jarmusch movies has always enraptured me. when i sit down in a darkened theater for a jarmusch film, i know that the performance will unfold before me at the steady pace of a practiced and experienced storyteller. there is no rushing to get to the next scene, no insistence on repeatedly forcing the plot down my throat and no blatant, unnecessary moments. every word in the story falls lovingly onto the page and every page is carefully applied to the screen. it is filmmaking as an art, not filmmaking as a commercial endeavor.
the analogy of the movie as a book is even more important in the telling of ghost dog. using a paragraph from hugga kurai's 'the way of the samurai' to open the film, jarmusch makes it explicit that this book will dictate the form of the movie. forest whitaker's character lives his life by the code of the book, and as the film transitions from one action to the next, jarmusch fades in with a new title card. the audience absorbs the meaning of the text and the movie moves steadily ahead, at its own cadence, allowing the story to float along to its inevitable ending.
it is because of the above reasons that i need to stalk jay rabinowitz. i think he probably needs an assistant editor. he probably needs an assistant editor more than he needs a stalker and i'm perfectly willing to make the compromise because honestly, i'm not that good of a stalker. <3.20.00>
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