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Broken Flowers
The latest from cult American independent director Jim Jarmusch resembles a comedy with all the punchlines removed. That may not sound like a great night out, but this somber, wry midlife crisis movie exerts a distinctive charm, and it's perfectly tailored to the deadpan melancholy of star Bill Murray. He plays Don Johnson - no, not that Don Johnson. He is about as confirmed a bachelor as could be; in the opening scenes he's watching Douglas Fairbanks in The Private Life of Don Juan on TV, and he obviously considers his near namesake if not a role model, then a kindred spirit. Like Murray's character in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Don is a successful guy beginning to feel his age and wonder what life has left in store for him. And like Steve Zissou, he is confronted with news that he has a grown son he never knew about. The message comes in an anonymous letter, and egged on by his neighbour, Winston (Jeffrey Wright), who's an amateur sleuth, Don reluctantly embarks on a cross-country tour to catch up with five old girlfriends, each of whom may have borne his child. 
Embarrassed and unsure about his own motives, Don doesn't come right out and ask any of them. Instead he flounders, casting about for the old spark, watching keenly for a hint or a clue. Its part of the schema of things that this anti-comedy is also a mystery without a solution: audiences will come out debating which (if any) of the candidates wrote the note. There's Frances Conroy (from Six Feet Under), a former flower child now married to a respectable real estate entrepreneur (Christopher McDonald - their meal-a-trois is a lovely exercise in unspoken feeling). Sharon Stone is a stock-car driver's widow with a nubile daughter, Lolita (Alexis Dziena). Jessica Lange is an animal shrink, and very successful at it. And Tilda Swinton is up to her ears in redneckery. And so on. 
Murray and Jarmusch collaborated before on the side project Coffee and Cigarettes. Two master minimalists, they can make a little go a long way. At its best, Broken Flowers has a poetic sensibility which is full of yearning, regret for lost years mixed with relief at roads not taken. But it's a fragile picture. Jarmusch has said that he wrote the script in two and a half weeks, and sometimes it feels that way: is it just Don who fails to get past the surface of these confounding women, or does the film itself draw a blank where the opposite sex is concerned? 
Jarmusch tends to make movies that are both episodic and repetitive (Mystery Train and Night on Earth are typical: road movies which don't go anywhere). The echoes and patterns he sets up flatter the audience that they're in on the joke. He's very good at doling out motifs and running gags, very smart about casting iconic figures in laconic roles. but he can be too clever for his own good, covering up the cracks with his hipster affects and studious cool; he's coasting when a more rigorous, driven artist might strive to push further and harder. I came out of Broken Flowers moved, amused, but with a nagging sense of dissatisfaction. Maybe that's appropriate for a movie taking a long term view on short term relationships. Or maybe it's just that in the end, I don't see what's wrong with punch lines. Tom Charity 
More information about Broken Flowers » Critics' ReviewsNew York Times With BROKEN FLOWERS, Jim Jarmusch's sly, touching new film, Bill Murray reaffirms his status as the quietest comic actor in movies today USA Today BROKEN FLOWERS exudes some of the twinkle-eyed, deadpan humor from LOST IN TRANSLATION... FLOWERS is smartly observational Time Out Don Johnston (Bill Murray) listless, retired computer wiz looks on as his lover (Julie Delpy) moves out,... read more on www.timeout.com Members' ReviewsReviews Voted Most HelpfulMost Recent Reviews |