Ghost Dog, played by Forest Whitaker, is a hit man for the mob. He is also a samurai. He is also a car thief, and a philosopher.
When he was younger, Louie (John Tormey) stopped three punks from beating Ghost Dog to death. Four years later, Ghost Dog informs Louie that he is in Louie's service. They work out a deal. On the first day of autumn, Louie pays his retainer for all the work he has done the past year. In three years, Ghost Dog has performed twelve perfect hits.
Now, he has been contracted to kill Handsome Frankie (Richard Portow) a member of Louie's own crime family. It seems that Frankie has been having an affair with Louise Vargo, (Tricia Vessey) daughter of Don Ray Vargo (Henry Silva).
Ghost performs his hit flawlessly, stealing a lexus to drive there, care and caution not to be noticed, clean gun, etc. There is just one little problem; Louise doubled back. She is out of Ghost Dog's line of sight when he kills Frankie.
She is very collected, not unafraid, but in control of herself. They discuss the book she was reading; Rashomon. She liked it, and gives it to him. He leaves.
Now here comes the problem; The Dons are upset that Louise was present at the killing. They decide that since Handsome Frankie was one of their own, his killer must be eliminated. It is the way of the mob. Even though they ordered his death, the triggerman must die.
Here is the problem. Louie only communicates with Ghost Dog through carrier pigeons. He can't tell the Dons his real name, address or phone number. Further, Louie is very reluctant; this gives him a bad taste in his mouth. Ghost has performed flawlessly, he values him as a resource, and fears him as an adversary. The Dons inform him it is either Ghost Dog or Louie, but someone is dieing. The code demands it.
But Ghost Dog's code demands things too. First, he must consider his master's welfare before his own. Second, he must address this threat to his master's and his own life, and third, he must address the matter of being disposable. He is not theirs to waste.
That follows is a surreal tale of cat and mouse between the mob and the modern day samurai. The drama unfolds, (folds?)like origami, convoluting to create meaning. The end will surprise no one who watches Japanese films, but it is a wonderful rich journey getting there.
The cast of characters of this movie are unique. Each has oddities that define, or offset them.
First, of course, is Ghost Dog. Ghost lives his life as a samurai. He reads religiously from the Hagakure a book published in 1716 by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a samurai who wrote on the way of the samurai, codifying their behavior to fit the "lost ideal of an earlier age." He lives simply, in a shack on a roof, with his pigeons. He takes obsessive care of his weapons, and he reads.
So why is he an assassin? Why is he a car thief with a penchant for luxury rides? Why does he work for a gangster? Is he Samurai, or Yakuza?
The answer is neither. The Hagakure speaks of the spirit of an age, and how it dies, and changes, and moves on. Many reviewers focus on how he is not a samurai, or more like a Yakuza...the point is, he is not either. He is someone who found something to cling to in this world that would give his life meaning. It is a code of a bygone era, a spirit of a time now dead. But Ghost has changed it into something that can give his life meaning, and provide him with a path.
His Master, Louie, is a made man, middle management in the mob. He is a remnant from the old days. He has a code, he lives by it. He is troubled by the bad behavior of his superiors, but he does what he must, because he has no choice.
The Dons, what a trio. Old Consigliere,(Gene Ruffini) is an ancient old leg breaker of a forgotten mold. He walks with a cane, and is not afraid to call a spade a "N-word", heck, it never even occurs to him he shouldn't say such things, and loudly.
Sonny Valerio (Cliff Gorman) is an old man, vicious, mendacious, but with a surprising love of rap music.
Finally Don Ray Vargo; what a wonderful performance. When Ghost Dog was compared to an indian, he listed several names, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Black Elk. In an interesting tidbit of trivia, Henry Silva has played all those characters. And when he did his elk imitation, I nearly peed myself, I laughed so hard. Ray's thing is old cartoons, Felix the Cat, etc. In fact, all the Mafiosos seem to have a thing for cartoons, and they come from their own era; Ray and Felix, Louise watches Itchy and Scratchy.
Raymond (Isaach DeBankole) is Ghost Dogs best friend. He runs the ice cream truck. Raymond only speaks French; Ghost only speaks English. Yet the two have a kindred spirit and fellow feeling. Through the magic of the subtitle, we see that they frequently speak of exactly the same thing, even though they do not understand the others words. This does not stop their friendship, and they play chess, and share a few precious moments together. Raymond takes Ghost Dog to the roof of his building to show him something wondrous he has found; across the way, a man is building a boat on the roof of his building. They both wonder how he will get it off. They holler to him, but alas, he only speaks Spanish.
The other important character is Pearline (Camille Winbush). A little girl, she carries a lunch box the way Ghost Dog carries his attache case. But in her box are books, Wind in the Willows, The Story of Black Souls and others. Ghost gives her the copy of Rashomon he got from Louise on the condition that she tell him what she thinks of the book. At the end, he gives her the copy of Hagakure. Why does she befriend Ghost Dog? Why does he allow her? Is she to be his replacement, his legacy? These questions are never answered, but are fun none the less.
The whole of the movie moves at a leisurely pace. It has a good deal of action, but it is not an action flick. It has many humorous elements, but it is definitely no comedy. It fits many qualities of a drama, but it is not precisely that either. As strange as it seems, it is a samurai movie; that strange form of drama where giri or duty, drives the hero to his inevitable end.
Visually compelling, it uses the urban decay of Jersey and the counterpoint of nature, usually birds, to portray the conflict in Ghost Dogs soul. When you take everything in, I think you will agree, he was neither samurai, yakuza, nor assassin, but something new and different, born of the conjunction of the dreams of the past, and the reality into which he was born.
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