On being a dilettante:
After mentioning his tendency of being a dilettante for a second time, Jarmusch went more into depth about what it meant to him: “Life is too short to learn everything about one thing, there are too many things that interest me. Because Nick Ray instilled this in me too, it’s good to know about lots of different things if you want to make films. I discover that when I learn more and more about filmmakers that I love, that many of them had varied interests and it all feeds into making films. I love that John Carpenter makes his own scores, and that some filmmakers are painters.”
He paused for a bit before continuing. “My other thing before variations and dilettantes is that I consider myself so proudly to be an amateur filmmaker, and that I’m learning the form continually and that I do it because I love form.”
On editing:
He refused to introduce the next clip pairing, which was later revealed to be John Boorman’s “Point Blank” and Buster Keaton’s “The Navigator.” He first spoke on the antithetical nature of editing in the two films, and how the former “is made in the editing, while the Buster Keaton is made in the camera setups, timing, and the physicality,” before continuing on about Keaton’s career and legacy.
On giving up smoking:
After showing Abbas Kiarostami’s debut short “The Bread and Alley,” and discussing his love for Iranian cinema, particularly mentioning the directors Jafar Panahi and Bahman Gohbadi, Jarmusch introduced his final clip, the closing scene of Kihachi Okamoto’s “The Sword of Doom.” “It is the most nihilistic film I think I’ve ever seen — it’s very brutal, it’s about a sociopathic samurai who kills a lot of people just because he feels like it. It’s very particular, it’s a film I used for personal reasons. Over 5 years ago, I quit smoking — I’ve smoked since I was a teenager — so I cordoned myself off for the first week of stopping my nicotine delivery systems… I was totally alone for a week, so I stayed home and I watched “The Sword of Doom” like twice a day.” The audience erupted into laughter before Jarmusch continued: “You get really tensed up and angry and you relieve so much pressure!”
On DIY Filmmaking:
Before finishing, he listed a few more films that didn’t quite make the cut that helped inspire his earlier films: “Pull My Daisy” (dir. Robert Frank), “The Foreigner” (dir. Amos Poe). “These films were really formative for me. When I was first starting out, before I made my first film “Permanent Vacation,” I would sort of follow [Poe and Eric Mitchell] around. I loved what they did. I loved that Poe made “The Foreigner” by taking out a car loan and shooting around the streets of New York without any permits… I really loved the film, and Poe and Mitchell both mean a lot to me.”
He went on about the making of “Pull My Daisy” before continuing: “These films just made me realize that all films aren’t made by Hollywood professionals, which just opened the door for me… Robert Frank and Amos Poe, those two would have been another nice pairing in a very personal, inspirational way.”
He concluded: “But you know, I could do this twice a week for the rest of my life. Tomorrow night, we’ll be showing Japanese films from the 1950s with female protagonists!”
Update: watch the full video from the talk here.
