Earth And Water

“The Dead Don’t Die” and “A Bigger Splash.”

- Anthony Lane

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.