The Dead Don’t Die (2019) Review
‘Night of the Living Dregs’
Jim Jarmusch’s most recent cinematic outing, fresh off the success of his moody, character driven vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), is a zombie comedy, sort of…
To be perfectly honest, this Jarmusch film reads much more like an effort from Wes Anderson than anybody else. There is the same irreverent kind of humour with an all-too familiar deadpan delivery; the presence of Bill Murray doesn’t exactly help either. This is not to say that the film is bad, far from it, it is incredibly entertaining and uniquely satisfying, in an understated sort of way. But the film has drawn a mixed response from its critics, and I think I know why.
The whole thing is just so unlike the man (Jarmusch, that is).
Jim Jarmusch is well known for his meandering (often tangential) and occasionally languid in pace, mood pieces. Slow burn would be the correct phrase, I think. However, that should not be to suggest that, on occasion, a director may not step outside their comfort zones. One such example would be After Hours (1985), a comedy from Martin Scorsese that evokes more a sense of John Landis in Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), than it does the director of Taxi Driver (1976). And although Jarmusch has his quirks, they have rarely if ever strayed so completely into the realms of out about comedy.
Taking place in small town USA, the dead are on the rise and hungry for… coffee! And it’s up to sheriff Murry and Deputy Adam Driver to put a stop to it. Right from the off the film makes you plainly aware of its intentions, not to break new ground in the genre but rather to poke fun at established zombie conventions. The whole film has this winking self-aware quality, from zombies craving coffee and chardonnay, to the fact that Driver’s character seems totally aware that he is in a film (he was even allowed to read the script), and let’s not forget the attractive youngsters who are plainly destined to get munched on. Then, there are other little touches that leave you scratching your head in confused, if laughable perplexity, such as Tilda Swinton playing a Scottish-accented Samurai mortician, who may or may not be an alien (seriously, what is it with Jim Jarmusch and Samurai?).
Let us not be mistaken, if you are expecting Shaun of the Dead, you will be disappointed. That said, if Shaun of the Dead is a comedy film that features zombies, then The Dead Don’t Die is a zombie film that just happens to feature comedy. This film is not necessarily a parody, but rather a lightly humorous re-working of well-worn territory that will seem familiar if you should happen to have watched Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead.
It is certainly not for everyone, and in my humble estimation will most likely only appeal to a certain number of people (especially those who go into this film with no expectations). But, should you be looking for a film to while away an hour and forty-five minutes you could certainly do a lot worse than this film.
