Review of Broken Flowers (2005) by Chads. — 29 Oct 2005

Don(Bill Murray) hardly seems to be a racist, but derrogatory terms like "spade" and "raisin" are used, albeit in a different context outside of Winston's hearing range. Don calls his wife "the sweetest grape on the vine," and in naming detectives to Winston's daughter, Sam Spade is evoked.

Curious, no, especially in light of the wonderful friendship Don and Winston seem to share. It's the film's chief delight. Jarmusch and John Sayles are two white men who often write great characters for African-American performers.

Winston's passion towards detective stories seems quirky, but that would be a racist notion, because there would be the assertion that a black man doesn't read. As for the women, my favorite stop, and performance, belongs to Laura, as played by Sharon Stone.

Jarmusch cleverly acknowledges the former sexpot is aging and passes on the nudity duties to her daughter/protege, as played by Alexis Dziena. The road trip might've been more fun with Winston(Geoffrey Wright) tagging along, but his presence in the guise of a mix tape is a clever subversion of the buddy movie.

"Broken Flowers" is an art film, but it's a lot easier to watch a long take of Murray on a couch than an obscure Thai actor sit in a tree in what seems like eternity(this is in reference to "Tropical Malady").

A long take, people, isn't categorically pretentious.