I’ll never forget seeing this film for the first time. Tom Waits is my one “desert island” musician/songwriter and he’s wonderful as Zach, a DJ down on his luck. As I was mentioning to someone the other day, Tom has spent decades portraying a ceaseless number of characters in his music, so it’s not really a surprise to see filmmakers requesting him. He always comes through beautifully (Coffee and Cigarettes, Dracula, Short Cuts). The teaming up of Waits with John Lurie _{another great musician} is inspired, and the addition of wild-card Roberto Benigni (before Life Is Beautiful made him internationally known) is absolutely perfect. They must have had an incredible time making this; it’s great to listen to Criterion’s bonus features in which Jarmusch calls each of his three actors from a pay-phone and they reminisce on the making of the film.