The Dead Don't Die

I don't really seek out zombie movie – in fact I tend to avoid them – but in this case the director's name was enough to guarantee me that it would be something more than just a mere killing spree. Fortunately, I wasn't wrong and in the end I quite enjoyed this cruelly parodic statement about the bleak state of the contemporary world, where almost all people constantly succumb tor consumerist cravings like some kind of gluttonous zombies. I was amazed at how masterfully Jim Jarmusch managed to touch so many raw nerves at the end. (75%) (10/02/2023)

“Cooofffeee..." A great comedy, but it’s certainly not for everyone. Jarmusch doesn't deny himself, and so the humor is drier than dry, but if you're on his wave, it's irresistible at the same time, and from start to the very end, the film offers one opportunity after another to burst out in laughter. Bill Murray and Adam Driver are absolutely amazing, and the apathy with which everyone involved approaches both the causes and consequences of the zombie apocalypse is irresistible, just like Iggy Pop as the best undead character that a film screen has ever hosted. (05/07/2019)

The talented Jim Jarmusch serves up a zombie comedy with a perfect cast, it feels like all the money was spent on the actors, but not much left for the film itself. It has rather ugly visuals, a very slow pace (slower than zombies), almost no gore, minimal tension and atmosphere, and the only thing that sort of works are the jokes, but even those don't wake you up from your micro-sleep. The director knew that a lot of people would be bored, so he snuck in at least a few movie references to keep the audience entertained. Didn’t like it. 40% (05/09/2019)

The Dead Don’t Die is a slow, hipster zombie satire based on repetition of the same jokes and situations which constantly makes fun of the fact that it is a slow, hipster satire based on repetition of the same jokes and situations. It sometimes works very well, sometimes not so much. In the context of Jim Jarmusch’s earlier genre deconstructions, the film is inspiring (not only are genre conventions exaggerated, but are also commented upon by the actors, who step out of their roles and express their opinions on the screenplay) thanks to a cast that has superbly mastered deadpan humor and numerous references to (Romero’s) zombie horror movies and other old films (a headstone with the name Samuel Fuller inscribed on it) and it is fairly entertaining throughout its running time. The film is neither a summer hit nor the peak of Jarmusch’s filmography (it is sloppy especially visually and in the interconnection/variation of individual motifs), where The Dead is found in the paradoxical position of a film that is simultaneously his least and most serious work (the planet is in a state of decay and in order for it to regain its balance, humans will have to get out of the way), but I rather imagine it is not the absolute failure that the responses from Cannes warned against. 75% (27/06/2019)

Jarmusch wrote the characters to fit his iconic cast, letting them make off-base comments and humorously react to what we know from zombie movies. Accompanied by mystical guitar riffs such as those used in Dead Man, but at a slightly brisker pace, with the forester Tom Waits observing the end of the world from a distance, a pure zombie role for Iggy Pop, who washes down the freshly bitten off bloody guts of a housekeeper with coffee from her coffee machine, not forgetting the passion and broad knowledge of young genre geeks. There is nice buddy chemistry between the cop duo of Murray and Driver, who represent two generations of Jarmuschian dramedy heroes. A pleasant chill-out movie with surprisingly full-fledged gore, The Dead Don’t Die is not groundbreaking in any respect, but still offers a refreshing take on well-used tropes. For the stalwart Jarmusch fans who once pursed their lips at the “commercialism” of Night on Earth, it will be another on of Jim’s “breaks”. I’m not sure, though, if it’s going to earn anything for Universal in the multiplexes - the body count is abundant and the CGI high-quality, but the popcorn-devouring youth might still find the whole movie overly traditional and not dynamic enough, while Jarmusch fans just don’t go to multiplexes. [Cannes] (15/05/2019)