“The beauty of life is in small details, not in big events.”
-Jim Jarmusch
In summation, Jim Jarmusch not only makes films about outsiders but he assumes the outsider persona himself. This persona, without intention, attracted the audience due to his subtle charm and aroused their curiosity with the mysteriousness that surrounds him and his work. This, in a way, becomes paradoxical, for Jarmusch by trying to keep away from mainstream through his work methods and themes unintentionally ended up achieving larger audiences.
He managed to produce a filmography filled with cult classics by never reaching for big studio producers or investors, but by creating a network of collaborators on his own, becoming the ultimate independent cinema hero. This leads to a very important detail that is crucial to understand Jarmusch and how he made a name for himself; the importance of individualism and to stay true to what you believe and want. Jarmusch never gave away to the pressure of doing a Hollywood film or asking for assistance from a major studio, as a film student I found this a very important aspect to learn; he made a collection of masterpieces and cult films without ever resorting to the easy way. Even his approach to music for his films is singular, the soundtracks being made specifically for his films, he does not use the same songs, scores or even composers that hundreds of other productions choose to use. The music in his films is obliged to be as individual and authentic as his storytelling is, because in a way the music is part of the story. As it was said before, the sound is the other half of the film.
Another extremely important thing to learn from Jarmusch is to incorporate everything you see, experience and learn in your work. These are the things that make an individual who he/she is and it is essential to apply it in the art they create, otherwise it becomes soulless and meaningless.
But in the end, I believe it is safe to say that strong collaborations and influences taken from his friends, other directors and even from writers and musicians are key factors in what makes Jarmusch’s films. Working with the right people who have a similar vision and who understand his work and style is vital to the development of his films. He constantly mentions the importance of these collaborators in his life; he sees many of them as mentors, from Nicholas Ray to Robby Müller and even Tilda Swinton since it is thanks to them that he learned everything. He show the importance of not only finding collaborators in people in film but also from musicians, poets and writers. For him, every art form is an inspiration and every type of artist is a collaborator.
During the writing process of this dissertation I thought I knew exactly what the final outcome would be, but ultimately I found out more than I was expecting which made Jarmusch’s films even more fascinating to me and, as a subsequence, made me appreciate them from a different and new point of view. Fortunately, I had the pleasure of seeing Jarmusch in person twice during his presentation of Paterson and Gimme Danger in the Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival. Even though I already had a lot of information from my research it was still very enlightening to listen to everything live and receiving a sort of confirmation of my research. It was not only a highlight in the research process for this dissertation but also for myself as a big admirer of his work.
Though I do not aspire to be a director but a cinematographer I still take his work as a big influence, not only because he works with my favourites cinematographers but because of his methods. I want to find a director with whom I can work with the way he works with his cinematographers and even though he is not a DP he does have a strong sense of visual references and of what he wants to be seen in his films and I do take inspiration from that too. By watching his films and reading about him and his cinematographers, I have also learned the importance of working with natural light and with what you have in that moment. Robby Müller also speaks of the importance to know when you should use colour or when it is better if it is absent and by looking at Dead Man and Mystery Train for example, two films that he photographed I can see this, Dead Man would probably not be as beautiful as it is if it was in colour and I do believe that Jarmusch learned this from Müller too.
To conclude, I believe that the most important lesson is just to do what you want to do because you if have the passion and you want to show people your point of view on the world it is best not to surrender to the pressure of doing it for the money, leaving out the soul.