“The Dead Don’t Die” and “A Bigger Splash.”
The idea of casting Iggy Pop as a zombie isn’t just an excellent joke. It’s also sound economics. Think of the savings! When it comes to hair, complexion, and costume, he’s ready to roll. In Jim Jarmusch’s new movie, “The Dead Don’t Die,” we find ourselves in a cemetery, after dark. The earth above a grave begins to shift, and a soiled hand breaks through from below, clawing at the air. To the surprise of no one, up pops Pop.
“The Dead Don’t Die” is an all-star zombie flick, which is something of a contradiction in terms. You don’t watch mainstays of the genre, like George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and “Dawn of the Dead” (1979), in the hope of spotting familiar faces. You want to see unfamiliar heads, not necessarily with bodies attached; it may be because we don’t recognize the victims, indeed, that all the chopping and chewing can be borne. No chance of that in Jarmusch’s film, which is stuffed with famous actors, and where fame turns out to be no guarantee of survival. Agents will hate it.
The setting is Centerville, U.S.A.— “A Real Nice Place,” a sign declares. The resident cops, all bespectacled, are Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray), Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver), and Mindy Morrison (Chloë Sevigny). Tom Waits plays Hermit Bob, who went to junior high with Robertson fifty years ago and now inhabits the woods. He bears a comforting resemblance to the
Cowardly Lion. Bob is suspected of stealing chickens from Farmer Miller (Steve Buscemi), whose cap sports the legend “Keep America White Again” and who frequents the town diner with Hank Thompson (Danny Glover). Selena Gomez plays Zoe, one of three young folks who show up in a vintage Pontiac. “Hipsters from the big city,” a local says, as if they were visitors from a more frantic planet.
Denne historien er fra June 24, 2019-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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Denne historien er fra June 24, 2019-utgaven av The New Yorker.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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MIRROR IMAGES
‘A Different Man” and The Substance.”
THE FOOTBALL BRO
Pat McAfee brings a casual new style to ESPN.
OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
Proximity to wealth proves perilous in Rumaan Alam’ novel Entitlement.”
EYES WIDE SHUT
How Monet shared a private world.
WITH THE MOSTEST
The very rich hours of Pamela Harriman.
HUGO HAMILTON AUTOBAHN
On the Autobahn outside Frankfurt. November. The fields were covered in a thin sheet of snow.
TRY IT ON
How Law Roach reimagined red-carpet style.
SORRY I'M NOT YOUR CLOWN TODAY
Bowen Yang's trip to Oz, by way of conversion therapy and S..N.L.”
SNIFF TEST
A maverick perfumer tries to make his mark on a storied fashion house.
LET'S HAVE A LONG TALK ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP JUST BEFORE BED!
Babe, are you nodding off? I know we’re both exhausted after a long day, a dinner party at which you made a three-word comment that left me feeling like you don’t know me at all, and the subsequent ninety-minute fight that culminated in a tentative truce.