Down by Law
By Charlotte Stace
La Filmoteca de Catalunya is showing the 1986 American black-and-white film Down by Law. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, it stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni.
This independent noir comedy film centres on the arrest, incarceration, and escape from a Louisiana jail of three men. They are an unemployed DJ (Tom Waits), a small-time pimp (John Lurie), and a strong-willed Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni). The film is a mix of gangster movies, blues songs and jailhouse chronicles.
It discards jailbreak film conventions by focusing on the interaction between the convicts rather than on the mechanics of the escape. A key element in the film is Robby Müller's slow-moving camerawork, which captures the architecture of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou to which the cellmates eventually escape. Get your tickets to see it now.