From the organizer: This month’s double feature showcases a pair of American independent films that deftly mash up genre (sci-fi+road flick and gangster+samurai+hip hop) to create two lasting cult favorites.

Each film follows characters off the beaten path who nevertheless live by a set of standards, as laid out in The Repo Code and the Samurai Code respectively.

Released in the heart of Ronald Reagan’s America, REPO MAN is a science fiction comedy film written and directed by Alex Cox. Starring Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez, it received widespread acclaim and has since achieved cult status. Estevez stars as Otto, a suburban punk who lands a gig working for an eccentric repossession agent named Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). At first, Otto is reluctant to work as a repo man, but he grows to love the fast-paced job. After learning of a Chevy Malibu that has been given a $20,000 price tag, Otto embarks on a quest to find the car with the beautiful Leila, who claims the trunk's contents are otherworldly. REPO MAN is full of endlessly quotable sharp humor, biting social commentary and rocks a deliciously subversive punk rock soundtrack.

After deconstructing the western genre with 1995’s DEAD MAN, Jim Jarmusch next took on the gangster film by way of samurai meditation with 1999’s GHOST DOG: WAY OF THE SAMURAI. Forest Whitaker stars as the title character, the mysterious "Ghost Dog", a hitman in the employ of the Mafia, who follows the ancient code of the samurai as outlined in the book of Yamamoto Tsunetomo's recorded sayings, Hagakure. Ghost Dog is a contract killer, a master of his trade who can whirl a gun at warp speed and moves through this world like a phantom -- stealthy and evanescent. In the spirit of the samurai, he has pledged his loyalty to a small time mobster named Louie (John Tormey) who saved his life many years before. Critics have noted similarities between the movie and Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 film Le Samourai. 

The two films will be presented by UNIS Hanoi film teachers Colin Campbell and Jackson Garland, who will provide some historical context for the films and lead us in an open roundtable/Q&A discussion after each screening. 

Come on down, grab some popcorn and let's do film!

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