Permanent Vacation
My new Jim Jarmusch box set arrived today. The Jim Jarmusch Collection Vol 1 - contains his first three movies:
Of the three, the only one I’d seen previously is Down By Law which I would thoroughly recommend it but this post is about Permanent Vacation which I’ve just finished watching. Jarmusch’s first film, it was allegedly made just after dropping out of film school in 1980, shot on 16mm film and costing just $15,000. I can certainly vouch for the budget, in fact I’m left wondering where it all went. The entire cast is made up of first time actors (most of whom have done little or nothing since), there are no sets to speak of, the music was scored by his pal John Lurie. They must have spent it all on coffee or something cos I can’t see where else it went, they could certainly have done with some better microphones because the sound quality is terrible.
Anyway, the film tells the story of a few days in the life of Allie, a bored young drifter who spends his time wandering the streets of New York meeting various other dysfunctional New Yorkites along the way. Nothing much happens and the dialog is pretty cringe worthy in places, there are a few good scenes though. I especially liked the scene where he stole the car.
Far from his best film but interesting in an art-house kind of way. You can certainly see the beginnings of his laid back style and casual wit & humour which come to the fore in his later films which you should definitely check out if you haven’t seen them already.
