As it has “Samurai” in the title it should be expected that there will be a certain amount of violence here but it is presented much as you would expect from a Samurai – precise, targeted, quickly done and deserved by the recipient. All that aside, and it is rarely gruesome in any way, the film has a gentle pedestrian and considered feel as it progresses in a thoughtful and measured path from instigation to conclusion.

So it’s based in Japan?, Well no – it’s based in the US in an unnamed city (though filmed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in case you’d find you’d like to visit), and the Samurai in question is Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker), a paid assassin who work for a local mobster called Louie (John Tormey), who seemingly saved his life as a youth. As payment of this debt Ghost Dog offers himself in occasional services of violence to Louie through the communications medium of carrier pigeon. Ghost Dog lives on the roof of an apartment building in a wooden shack adjoining a large pigeon coop where he keeps his birds.

After one of Ghost Dog’s hit jobs goes slightly awry, Louie’s bosses decide to eliminate him to cover their tracks. When they track his whereabouts by finding out about various pigeon lofts around the city, and pay him a call they find he isn’t home. Frustrated and also wanting to send a message, they kill his birds. Things rapidly deteriorate from there…

This isn’t a standard martial arts / hitman / John Wickesque movie – it’s much more layered than that, dealing with the relationship of a Samurai with his master, the belief systems of the Samurai, the obligations they take on and deep meditation on death. These thoughts are summarised with short readings from Hagakure Kikigaki, a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo which intersperse the various tone changes within the film and give it a completely different feel from the gritty urban landscape it is set in and the usual tone of the subject. Rather than revenge, it suggests, obligation, duty, service and possibly atonement.

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Cast: Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Henry Silva, Cliff Gorman, Isaach de Bankolé,

PRIME (£3.49) | YOUTUBE (£3.49 SD / £5.49 HD) / Music Magpie DVD (£1.99)

1 hour 59 mins