10/24/2013

Broken Flowers (2005) - Hip search for son and self with Jarmusch and Murray

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Road Movie of the Year


Star Bill Murray looks unsure of the situation, standing on a doorstep with a bouquet of flowers on this poster for Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers

A former Don Juan, who is now a very domestic aging, single gentleman, gets a letter that says he has a son, and he decides to head out and visit former lovers to learn more about this circumstance.
 
Broken Flowers is written and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Permanent Vacation (1980)), based on an idea by Bill Raden and Sara Driver (Sleepwalk (1986)). It is Jarmusch's 9th feature.  
It is an excellent 'little' film. 'Little' because the existential crisis and emotions expressed by its lead character Don (Bill Murray (Hamlet (2000))) are so limited and underplayed.
The film has a stellar cast of women that are all enjoyable, - especially Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under (2001-05)), who has a priceless dinner scene involving Don and carrots. The other women are Jessica Lange (Frances (1982)), Julie Delpy (L.A. Without a Map (1998)), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom (2012)), Sharon Stone (Border Run (2012)) and Chloë Sevigny (Mr. Nice (2010)). Also Jeffrey Wright (W (2008)) is a joy as a male compadre to Don, and both the editing by Jay Rabinowitz (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) and the Ethiopian jazz score by Mulatu Astatke (Little Heaven (2011)) are wonderful.
Murray seems throughout the movie to be a fragile, confused man with severe hangovers, and his part is nearly too close to the one he plays in Sofia Ford Coppola's modern classic, Lost in Translation (2003).
SPOILER Broken Flowers' has an open ending seemed unresolved to me, but the film is still a gift.
 








Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 47.3 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.73 times its cost)
[Broken Flowers premiered 17 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place from November 2004 - ? in New York and New Jersey. The film opened #16 to a 780k $ first weekend in 27 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 433 theaters (different weeks), grossing 13.7 mil. $ (29 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 9 mil. $ (19 %) and Germany with 4.2 mil. $ (8.9 %). The film won an award at Cannes (Jury Grand Prize), was nominated for a European Film award and an Independent Spirit award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Jarmusch returned with Raconteurs: Steady, As She Goes (Version 1) (2006, music video) and theatrically with The Limits of Control (2009). Murray returned in The Lost City (2005). Broken Flowers is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Broken Flowers?
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