Ghost Dog may be my favourite film. The premise is complete nonsense:

A nameless man in the USA, called ‘Ghost Dog’, reads a book on how to be a samurai, and decides he will become one.

The film then tries to rationalize the nonsense, while including quotes from the book. This book - the Hagakure - came from a real samurai who later retired as a monk.

Samurai serve their master, so Ghost Dog serves a member of the local mafia, and refers to himself as the mafioso’s ‘retainer’.

Samurai must not be seen hungover (according to the Hagakure), so they should carry ‘powdered rouge’ in order to hide their pale complexion after drinking too much. The film interprets this as stealing licence plates in order to have a sort of ‘makeover’.

Samurai must go about problems in a long, roundabout way. They should tackle things head-on, “within the space of seven breaths”. The film takes has no trouble interpreting this, as it leads to the film’s only real fight scene.

While Ghost Dog puts theory into practice, the mafia live in unpractised fantasies. Every television set in the film displays only cartoons, and every cartoon shows something which Ghost Dog does in reality. Where he keeps pidgins, the Mafia watch Betty Boop keeping pidgins. Where he sees a woodpecker balancing on his rifle, the Mafia watch Woody Woodpecker.

Cartoons also provide a juxtaposition to the film’s violence. Where cartoon bullets fly everywhere, creating a spectacle, the film’s violence is extremely understated. In the opening, Ghost Dog walks into a room, shoots Handsome Frank mid-sentence. The death is only shown through sudden silence and a small, black hole in Handsome Frank’s skull. The samurai then puts another hole in Frank’s heart.

Random notes: