Year of Release: 2005
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Jeffrey Wright, Julie Delpy, Mark Webber, Alexis Dziena, Christopher McDonald, Chris Bauer, Larry Fessenden, Pell James
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
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Synopsis and Review
"Broken Flowers" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival of 2005, where it was met with good reviews, winning in the process the Grand Prize of the Jury. The film focuses on Don Johnston, a middle-aged man, whose current partner decides has had enough, and decides to leave him. Don has retired since he has amassed a small fortune in the computer industry and for the most part, lounges around, listening to music and watching classic movies. Don receives a pink envelope containing a message from one of his former lovers informing him that he has a 19 year old son, who may be looking for him. While Don doesn't intend on doing much about it, his neighbor Winston devises a whole plan for him (including flight logistics and accommodations) to visit the women that most likely sent the card. He starts by visiting Laura, who has a teenage daughter by the name of Lolita, who is doing quite well as a closet organizer. He soon realizes that she's not the mother of the boy. He then goes to visit Dora, who is now a realtor and is married to Ron, also a realtor. While cordial and friendly, there's a lot of tension in that conversation. He also moves on with the same feeling as before. He then visits Carmen, who works as an "animal communicator", and does so quite successfully. He also realizes she's not the originator of the card, and that he's not welcomed there. Finally he visits Penny, who is openly hostile when he shows up. He ends up being punched and left in the middle of nowhere. As he gets back to his home, he sees another pink letter, this time around from Sherry, his current girlfriend, expressing she still likes him.
"Broken Flowers" is a film that easily flows, but one that is surprisingly shallow in the depiction of its supporting characters, particularly all the women who cross paths with Bill Murray's Don. The way the central character is portrayed is quite ingenious, in the sense that Don doesn't come across as the traditional heartbreaker or lothario: he's someone who is quietly assured of himself, who knows what he has gone through in life, who accepts and enjoys his current life with tranquility. He wears his charisma with confidence and is self aware enough to navigate difficult situations with a certain ease. When the extraordinary situation presents itself, his neighbor Winston makes it more of an episode even more than Don himself. And for the most part the film manages to be quietly assured of itself, tracing just enough of Don's behaviors to understand who he is and how he faces life. Sadly his prior romantic female partners feel both underused and under-developed. And that is more noticeable in the vignette featuring Tilda Swinton, who is almost a blink and you missed it type of experience. It's a film that is nonetheless engaging, mostly because of Bill Murray's composition, who adopts a somewhat minimal, yet warm and ironic stance with the character. Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy and Tilda Swinton are great in their segments, as is the case for Jeffrey Wright, Chloe Sevigny and Alexis Dziena. The production team is effective, including the cinematography from Frederick Elmes and production design by Mark Friedberg. Worth watching.
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