When Neil Young and Jim Jarmusch discussed the Old Testament
Jim Jarmusch, the maestro of independent cinema, is renowned for his unhurried, quiet films that contrast starkly with Hollywood’s flashier, fast-paced productions. Celebrated for his unique oeuvre from the groundbreaking 1984 film Stranger Than Paradise onwards, Jarmusch has woven narratives filled with quirky and disenchanted characters, ingenious storytelling and a consistently pointed use of music. His love for musicians is evident, having included prominent musicians like Tom Waits, Joe Strummer, Iggy Pop, and members of the White Stripes and Wu-Tang Clan in his projects.
It was hardly a surprise, then, when in 1997 Jarmusch debuted Year of the Horse, a concert documentary focusing on Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse. This collaboration was not the first between Young and Jarmusch, however, as Young had previously composed the evocative soundtrack for Jarmusch’s psychedelic 1995 western, Dead Man. This creative collaboration endured and saw Jarmusch accompanying Crazy Horse on their 1996 tour, the footage of which culminated in the director’s first-ever documentary.
The film was a sprawling, tumultuous journey that magnificently mirrored the raw and unfiltered music of Young and Crazy Horse. Jarmusch embraced a stylistic technique of shooting with Super 8mm film stock and enlarging it to 35mm, which resulted in a dreamy and impressionistic visual style that was particularly impressive during the live concert scenes.
The film was not particularly successful – commercially or critically – and the late influential movie critic Roger Ebert famously detested it. Many felt the director was better suited to utilising music in films rather than making his films about music. In retrospect, few concert documentaries match Year of the Horse in terms of ambition and style. Unlike so many that have come since, Jarmusch’s film captures and depicts real moments while maintaining a singular style and palpable tone that nudges the doc into more arthouse territory.
There are also many gems to be found within it, and perhaps one of the most memorable is a conversation between Jarmusch and Young about the Bible. Nestled in the back of the tour bus as it lurches across the road, the two have a hilariously deadpan and possibly ‘under the influence’ conversation about the nature of the Old Testament.
The scene opens with a flashback to 1978, where Young is accosted by a man claiming to be Jesus. As he escapes the encounter, Young jests to the self-proclaimed messiah, “Hope you make it this time. Last time was rough.”
Fast forward to 1996, and Jarmusch and Young begin theologising. Young muses: “The Bible is quite a book… What’s the old testament?”
Jarmusch, quick-witted and stony as ever, replies: “The Old Testament is before Christ… It’s Moses and all that. And it’s when God is really pissed all the time.” He backs up his point by reading a violent passage from the Book of Ezekiel, which contains such delightful lines as “I will strew your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your carcass.”
After a huge silence, presumably for Young to properly digest this passage of scripture and process a coherent response, the musician looks out the window and begins an unrelated yet completely sincere and earnest anecdote about planting trees in his garden. It is, indeed, a meeting of minds – thank goodness Jarmusch’s crew had the good sense to film such a definitive and intersecting moment between two titans of film and music and ultimately provide us with cinematic gold.
Watch the clip below.
