(Rated R, 114 mins.)
Opens March 10th
A story that ingeniously re-creates the gangster picture as a cross cultural fusion of Eastern philosophy, hip-hop music and urban darkness in one of writer, director, producer Jim Jarmusch’s best achievements yet.Forest Whitaker stars as Ghost Dog, a man of few words who shares his rooftop home with dozens of pigeons. Ghost Dog lives by percepts of the eighteenth century warrior text Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, practicing the ancient disciplines of the samurai and applying them to his work as a contract killer. Whitaker’s magnificently still performance is complemented by the film’s music, in which the soundtrack underscores both the hit man’s Zen -like qualities and the lurking menace of his environment.

The story is filled with Jarmusch’s signature humor and odd characters reminiscent of his earlier and stranger 1995 feature “Dead Man,” but this time with a samurai philosophy that is delivered through Whitaker’s light and versatile performance, yet maintaining spiritual impact.