MOVIE · 1986
Down by Law
ComedyCrimeDrama107 min
Thrown into a New Orleans jail, a disc jockey and a small-time pimp wind up sharing a cell with an Italian tourist whose chatter and optimism throw their wary alliance off balance. Tom Waits is Zack, and John Lurie's Jack meets his cellmate Roberto with suspicion before the three men break out and drift into the Louisiana bayou. Roberto Benigni gives the tourist a buoyant, unpredictable presence that keeps nudging the story away from noir and toward something stranger. Shot in crisp black and white, the film moves through prison cells, back roads, and swampland on deadpan exchanges and mismatched companionship.
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