Death does not die of examination

By Rosie Knight

This is a screening. The Dead Don & # 39; t Die opens its doors on June 14, 2019.

Like any good zombie movie, The Dead Don's Die takes place somewhere in Pennsylvania. If you do not immediately understand why, almost all of George Romero's iconic series, Dead, have been placed there, this movie might not be right for you. However, if you are a fan of Jim Jarmusch and / or Zombie Horror, then you will probably be charmed by this pleasant-if-light zom-com.

The basic setup is simple: two ruined cops, Ronnie (Adam Driver) and Cliff (Bill Murray), face an environmental crisis that encroaches and seems to make the dead … undead. In the era of The Walking Dead and the saturation of zombie pop culture, the gruesome comedy of The Dead Don & # 39; t Die may seem a little behind the cultural climate. Jarmusch and his friends are clearly enjoying exploring and making fun of the tropes that are now an integral part of our contemporary conversation.

Although it's about his latest film, The Dead Don's Die certainly feels closer to some of Jarmusch's earlier work. It's a simple story that relies on an overall cast and that could be considered – apart from the resurgence of the dead – as a movie where nothing happens. Just like the zombies at the center of the movie, there are loads of things that go from one joke to the next, but that 's not a bad thing in reality. The directionless nature of the film actually works because the film is at its best as a piece of atmosphere, strangely and strangely with a comedy that oscillates between metahumor and a self-awareness that might squeak some.

With actors as superimposed as we are used to thinking of Jarmusch's films, we find pillar cameos from the author's catalog like Iggy Pop and Eszter Balint, as well as regular collaborators like RZA – that are particularly effective if they are underused The delivery man "Wu-PS" – and Hollywood stars like Danny Glover and Steve Buscemi. One of the director's favorite muses, Tom Waits, plays the role of semi-narrator Hermit Bob. The forest wanderer seems to be the only person in town smart enough to stay away from the undead invasion and assume the role of the stern Walking Dead-esque voiceover that reminds us of how much life is futile and that we struggle to obtain it. After all, maybe the capitalist humans have always been the real zombies.

It is in this message that the movie misplaces a little. The satire of Jarmusch sometimes resembles a ouroboros of references to pop culture eating slowly. At the height of its heyday, it is increasingly difficult to understand if the anticapitalist analogies on the nose are heavy enough to mock the once-striking but now exaggerated trope or because Jarmusch really hates the people who are at home. phone. All the time. It's a small flaw, but it's a shame; If it had been a little more decisive and about 15 minutes shorter, The Dead Don's Die would have been a real little bite of zombie goodness.

That's not to say that it's not a good watch, though. It seems that the driver was forced to wield a machete and deliver (no) dead end prophecies about the end of the world. His sincere turn as deputy sheriff of the city is another riff on the worldwide success of the popular AMC zombie show, and it's hard to wonder if Jarmusch wrote the screenplay after viewing it excessively the television phenomenon too serious and thinking that he could do it. to be removed an ankle or two. Murray is very much a Driver's partner, and the two are united for most of the film by Chloe Sevigny's Mindy, who feels a little lost but still has a lot of fun as a hysterical woman in the story. .

For what is essentially an easy-to-watch horror comedy, it feels that the Dead Do not Die is likely to be quite divisive. The zombie rhythm and the absence of a real conflict or a definitive resolution may mean that many mainstream movie fans might not get what they expect when they're in the dark. they are watching him. And hardcore fans of Jarmusch may be surprised at the simplicity and wide appeal of the film; it's undoubtedly his most accessible movie since he started his career in 1980. Despite this, The Dead Don's Die is a fun watch with solid performances, a fun scenario, a beautiful cinematography and a new visually interesting vision for the zombies and their. inevitable, which is a difficult thing to achieve after more than 50 years of undead movies.