Review of The Limits of Control (2009) by Drew S — 24 Jan 2010

The Limits of Control isn't really a movie that you, or anyone else, is supposed to like. Sure, it has a great cast, but it doesn't do anything with them. Damn if Isaach de Bankole isn't the coolest looking dude in Hollywood, but complete emotional paralysis and almost no dialogue beyond "yes" and "no" doesn't exactly create a compelling protagonist. Plenty of other venerated cinematic figures are enlisted to ask Bankole if he speaks Spanish, spew some senseless dialogue about drugs or science or film, and then inch the plot forward ever so slowly by exchanging a matchbox with him. And as fancifully as Jim Jarmusch has outfitted them, they are immediately jettisoned from the movie without an ounce of importance to their name. There's no true story to speak of, merely a protracted following of one man's doing a job, which eventually reaches an entirely ambiguous conclusion. The viewer has learned nothing, found nothing to grow attached to, and most likely has found no excitement or suspense in what is supposedly a suspense film.

The sheer pointlessness of it all is rescued, to an extent, by The Limits of Control's primary theme: the power of imagination. All those pointless figures Bankole finds himself surrounded by represent different knowledges and cultures and fascinations - again, drugs, science, film. In the end, he finds that capitalism (or something resembling it, it's not really clear) stands in direct opposition to all of these things that we've been indirectly immersed in, and thus he takes a stand. A lot of viewers are going to find this movie "dull," as I did, because there is quite simply nothing there. What The Limits of Control seems to want from us is to fill in the blanks using our - you guessed it! - imagination. In this way, the film is like a much less offensive though equally difficult Funny Games, drowning us in the point it's trying to make. Again, like Funny Games, that point will not necessarily be appreciated by those who watch it, which you can't really fault anyone for. I can't say for a second that I enjoyed this, but I found it fascinating, not only for its message but also for its composition. Aesthetically, there's a really interesting circle motif, which is the movie's possible bid at an ancillary theme about how numbing repetition can be. The soundtrack's great too. And again, the cast is too sumptuous to be ignored. Unfortunately, for a lot of people these things aren't going to be viewed as merits, but mere casualties in a film that's too boring to be redeemable. I want to recommend it, but just by writing this I'm afraid that I'll have poisoned someone's perception of the film, not to suggest that my words are all that influential. Like Antichrist, what you get from this film will probably mirror what you put into it.