As a long time Jim Jarmusch fan, I'm only finally getting to his older work. Permanent Vacation was a pleasant look at his roots and early style, but is seriously lacking in substance.
The film plays like a character study. There isn't much of a story, and the movie is short enough that it's over before you realize it is. The voice over could have worked, but the script was weak and occasionally cliche, and no one in this movie was a professional actor.
What this movie does have is an enthralling soundtrack and raw sound. The combination of sound and grainy footage gives the movie a powerful atmosphere that can be hard to find in recent Hollywood films. However, Jarmusch's later movies like Ghost Dog and Only Lovers Left Alive reproduce the urban jungle, with the added bonus of being better films overall. This is not a movie for the uninitiated, and it offers little that wasn't improved in Jarmusch's later work.
The film plays like a character study. There isn't much of a story, and the movie is short enough that it's over before you realize it is. The voice over could have worked, but the script was weak and occasionally cliche, and no one in this movie was a professional actor.
What this movie does have is an enthralling soundtrack and raw sound. The combination of sound and grainy footage gives the movie a powerful atmosphere that can be hard to find in recent Hollywood films. However, Jarmusch's later movies like Ghost Dog and Only Lovers Left Alive reproduce the urban jungle, with the added bonus of being better films overall. This is not a movie for the uninitiated, and it offers little that wasn't improved in Jarmusch's later work.