Review of Broken Flowers (2005) by Ross C — 05 Mar 2010

Okay, so the trillion women you've slept with have worn you slowly down, breaking you down generatively into a lethergic, track-suit wearing, blank-epression wearing, nihilistic old man with nothing but well-masked sorrow and regret. The whole world is pink and you are drab. You watch yet another girlfriend walk and all you have is your Peute Rocan,detective novel obsessed, pot smoking neighbour with his multiple children and happy marriage to cheer you up. What do you do? Why, a soul-searching metaphorical road trip towards re-birth of course!! Throw in the fact that you've just recieved an anonymous letter informing you of the dubious fact that you are a father and, to me, thats one hell of a hook.

It had to be Jim Jarmusch. His ecclectic choice of music keeps a playful, film noir-esque paranoia rythm set throughout the film. In the form of a "detectives mix cd" given by friend Winston Don's (bill Murray) adventure is punctuated by an ice-cold, jazzy art vibe that enhances the explorative element of his quest ad naueum. Also worth note is Jarmusch's sensational use of colour. The idea of pink emerging as both innocent and tarnished (or "Broken" if you will) beauty amidst the dark and drab surroundings is crucial. It also had to be Bill Murray. His portayal of ageing Don Juan Don Johnson may well be the most powerful of his career to date. He is broken and tarnished by a loveless present, yet remains sarcastic, deadpan, and defiant. he complains about his rental car, is often confrontational and even goes and sleeps with one of the potential mothers again! And yet, there's vulnerability. An awesome scene at the grave of one of his old flames, along with the ending establishes a broken and sad man, desperate to clinch to his protective defiance. There is a tragic sense of a slow moving, unemotional man that winds up alone in the finish and knows it will stay that way.

The plot is told essentially through a myriad of stories, each one corresponding to another ex, another stop on the quest. The first is a flirtacious yet balanced Sharon Stone. Her and her daughter Lolita live a free and promiscuously liberal existence. Don finds no son, but does find one last night of passion. Then comes the trainwreck: the women who's heart Don Truly shattered. Still waering his pearls, she lives an ornate and loveless life, still clinging to the man who showered her a mpment of love that evaporated forever. Then comes the lesbian animal communicator, representing the great "I dont give a damn that we slept together" school of ex girlfriends. Again, no son. Just an angry lesbian in the form of Chloe Sevigny. Finally, the biker chick of the brittle heart, a violent woman left scorned in the wilderness. Her bemused expression says it all and represents my favourite ideal of the movie: that of the life changing moments of minutae that only we can ever truly remember and that shape us irrevocably.

I love the idea that the pain caused in the past is never depicted or even given voice for that matter. I love that the ending is as strange, non -commital and ambiguous as film has offered. I love that the journey ends up where it started. I love that its stylish and dunny and tragic. I love...this movie!

Check it out, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A PAST!