Talking To The Screen

Ghost Dog:The Way of the Samurai :1999

The more I think about it, the more I lose sight of why I enjoyed this movie so 
much.  

Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is a hit man, who lives by the samurai code (or at 
least his modernization of it).  His master is Louie, a made-man in the Italian 
mafia who saved his life eight years before the film opens.  Ghost Dog is always 
professional and respectful.  While this is an admirable characteristic in a 
person, it doesn't make for an engaging protagonist.  There's no growth in a 
person who's mastered his profession, and lives by a code.  Their actions can be 
seen before they're done.  Ghost Dog inadvertently angers the mafia big shots, 
leading to a contract being put out on his head.  Action ensues.  

Textbook action plot, nothing new here, entertain me for a couple of hours and 
be done with you.

But this film is especially well made.  Movies often use clips of TV or other 
flicks to foreshadow or reiterate plot or character elements.  In 'Ghost Dog: 
The Way of the Samurai', the mafiosos watch old time cartoons (Felix the Cat, 
Betty Boop) and the boss's daughter watches Itchy and Scratchy.  This movie is 
the best example of this type of use of external media that comes to mind.  It 
doesn't try to get abstract; this isn't that kind of film.  It doesn't try to 
pay homage to any predecessor.  The use is very clean and effective.   

There is a well crafted relationship between Ghost Dog and Raymond, a Haitian 
ice cream man (Isaach De Bankol?).  Raymond speaks no English, Ghost Dog no 
French.  Yet the two are best friends, often repeating each other in their own 
tongues.

'Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai' is not a masterpiece, it's not even 
excellent.  But it is very very good.  It's a simple story kept simple, 
elegantly decorated by effective editing and an ironically, anachronistic rap 
soundtrack.