Review of Broken Flowers (2005) by Max M — 09 Feb 2014

Don Johnston is an aging womanizer who receives a letter from an anonymous former lovemaker, and in this letter she informs Don that he has a son. So he goes on a cross-country trip to the four possible women who may have sent him the letter.

Watching Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers was kind of an odd experience for me.

Y U MAY ASK???

Well.

Usually when I am watching a film I am not digging too much, either because of lack of interest or because I think it is not so hot, I will turn it right off and put in a different one. Because why waste time finishing a film you are not into?

I was not really into Broken Flowers, but I did not want to switch films. I couldn't. Didn't want to. There was something absorbent about it.

Perhaps Bill Murray was too realistic at moping around, acting so apathetic?

Because the visuals did not stand out, the story did not really stand out, so I am at a lost why I was interested in this. Maybe I just wanted to see this depleted man end up caring about SOMETHING.

As I have said before, the visuals are not spectacular. And that is not to say they were bad, the cinematography just did not do anything worth noting.

The writing was not transparent. Meaning I did not think it was bad or good, it was just kind of there. Whether it was bad or good was not crossing my mind while watching it.

Which I suppose is a good thing.

The story was not original, but it was not really supposed to be so I cannot criticize that. But what I DID like about the story, was its structure and the meaning of its structure. Each little visit Don takes is symbolic for stages of life. When or if you see the film, think about it while you watch it and it will make sense.

Broken Flowers was not necessarily a bad film, nor was it really a good one. I think what it narrows down to is that if you are a lot like Don Johnston, you have a bigger chance of liking it than those who have less in common with him. As for me, I guess I am sort of in the middle, which is why I am more or less indifferent to the film.

Two-and-a-half mangos out of four.