Broken Flowers
rated - SIMMERING
This is such a classic Jim Jarmusch film. It has all the elements we fans know and love: stillness, episodic structure, non-sequiturs, cool music, cigarettes & coffee, fairly low production values, travelling scenes, and weird locations like motel rooms & rental cars.
Jarmusch wrote this film for Bill Murray. Since both specialise in stillness, it makes sense that they come together. Early on there's a wonderful scene in which Jarmusch audaciously holds the camera on Murray for an absolute age (it's the champagne-drinking scene).
Jeffrey Wright plays a terrifically eccentric character who is Murray's next-door neighbour. He's become a wacky danger to those around him because these days everyone can do everything on the net – and that could be very bad indeed!.
Jarmush indulges himself by creating a series of fabulously strange female characters of a certain aga (and isn't that a delicious development?). So we get to see Sharon Stone (Laura), Frances Conroy (Dora), Jessica Lange (Carmen) and Tilda Swinton (Penny), as well as Julie Delpy, bringing the age demographic down a bit. We also get to see Stone's character's daughter, called Lolita, with heart-shaped earrings instead of sunglasses. And we get to see her in a bikini too.
Jessica Lange's character is hilarious: she's Dr Markowski, Animal Communicator. She helps people. "It takes a lot of courage to say what you said," says a patient to his rabbit. And of course, as Chloe Sevigny announces, " Mr Realdo & Skippy are waiting in the session room". If only we got to see them!
Typical Jarmusch non-sequitur: Sun Green is the name of the kind flower shop girl. Sun Green was the name of the young heroine in Neil Young's first feature film (made under his pen-name of Bernard Shakey), called Greendale (2003). I saw it at the Sydney Film Festival in 2004, and you can see my review by clicking on that link or by going there via the Sydney Film Festival button on my home page.
As usual with Jarmusch, there's an amazing score - strange african beats are mixed with hammond organ. At one stage a train's whitle and a horn play together.
It's a pleasure to see all these mature actors acting up a storm under the eccentric baton of Jim Jarmusch. Long may it continue!