Jim Jarmusch

Filmmakers

James Robert Jarmusch (born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor, and composer. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, making his directorial debut with Permanent Vacation (1980). Other notable films in the 80s include Stranger Than Paradise (1984), with John Lurie, Eszter Balint, and Richard Edson; Down by Law (1986), with Tom Waits, Lurie, and Roberto Benigini; and Mystery Train (1989), with Youki Kudoh, Masatoshi Nagase, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Cinqué Lee, Nicoletta Braschi, Elizabeth Bracco, Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles, and Steve Buscemi.

Films in the 1990s include Night on Earth (1991), with Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Rosie Perez, Isaach de Bankolé, Béatrice Dalle, Benigni, Paolo Bonacelli, Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen, Sakari Kuosmanen, and Tomi Salmela; Dead Man (1995), with Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Gabriel Byrne, Mili Avital and Robert Mitchum; and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), with Forrest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva, de Bankolé, Victor Argo, and Camille Winbush.

Films in the 2000s include Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), with Benigni, Steven Wright, Joie Lee, Cinqué Lee, Buscemi, Pop, Waits, Joseph Rigano, Vinny Vella, Vinny Vella Jr., Renée French, E.J. Rodriguez, Alex Descas, de Bankolé, Cate Blanchett, Meg White, Jack White, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, GZA, RZA, Bill Murray, William Rice, and Taylor Mead; Broken Flowers (2005), with Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Mark Webber, Chloë Sevigny, Christopher McDonald, and Alexis Dziena; and The Limits of Control (2009), with de Bankolé,
Paz de la Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Gael García Bernal, Murray, Hiam Abbass, and Hurt.

Films in the 2010s include Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), with Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Wright, Slimane Dazi, and Hurt; Paterson (2016), with Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Barry Shabaka Henley, Cliff Smith, Chasten Harmon, William Jackson Harper, and Masatoshi Nagase; and the Dead Don’t Die (2019), with Murray, Driver, Sevigny, Buscemi, Swinton, Waits, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Perez, Pop, Carol Kane, Austin Butler, and Selena Gomez.

As a musician, Jarmusch has composed music for his films and released two albums with Jozef van Wissem. He studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, with fellow students and future collaborators Sara Driver (whom he’s been in relationship with since the 80s and has collaborated on several of his films in some capacity), Tom DiCillo (who was cinematographer on his first two features), Howard Brookner, and Spike Lee (who’s younger brother Ciniqué has appeared in a couple of his films). In 2002 Stranger Than Paradise was added to the National Film Registry.

He’s also acted in films like Alexandre Rockwell‘s In the Soup, with Buscemi, Seymour Cassel, Jennifer Beals, Kane, Stanley Tucci, Debi Mazar, and Sam Rockwell; Blue in the Face (1995), with Harvey Keitel, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, Jared Harris, and Esposito; and Sling Blade (1996), with Billy Bob Thornton (who also directed), Dwight Yoakam, John Ritter, J.T. Walsh, and Robert Duvall.

Each review will be linked to the title below. All listed films he directed, unless otherwise noted.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Permanent Vacation (1980)
  • Vortex (1982) – directed by Beth B & Scott B – actor
  • Stranger than Paradise (1984)
  • American Autobahn (1984) – directed by Andre Degas – actor
  • Down By Law (1986)
  • Straight to Hell (1987) – directed by Alex Cox – actor
  • Candy Mountain (1987) – directed by Robert Frank & Rudy Wurlitzer – uncredited actor
  • Helsinki-Naples All Night Long (1987) – directed by Mika Kaurismäki – actor
  • The Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989) – directed by Aki Kaurismäki – actor
  • Mystery Train (1989)
  • The Golden Boat (1990) – directed by Raoul Ruiz – actor
  • Night on Earth (1991)
  • In the Soup (1992) – directed by Alexandre Rockwell – actor
  • Iron Horsemen (1994) – directed by Gilles Charmant – actor
  • Dead Man (1995)
  • Blue in the Face (1995) – directed by Wayne Wang & Paul Auster
  • Sling Blade (1996) – directed by Billy Bob Thornton – actor
  • Year of the Horse (1997) – documentary
  • Cannes Man (1997) – directed by Richard Martini – actor
  • Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
  • Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002) – directed with Kaige Chen, Victor Erice, Werner Herzog, Aki Kaurismäki, Spike Lee, & Wim Wenders – anthology
  • Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)
  • Broken Flowers (2005)
  • The Limits of Control (2009)
  • Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
  • Paterson (2016)
  • Gimme Danger (2016) – documentary
  • The Dead Don’t Die (2019)*