Movie Review: Broken Flowers

Broken Flowers is one of the best films I have seen in a long time. It was a movie about subtleness (I would have used 'subtility,' but somethings tells me that's not right). Jim Jarmusch, the director, never explicitly tells the viewers how to feel, or how the character feels (read: like most movies we watch). Instead, you FEEL it, in interpreting the actions of each character and listening to the conversations, while making assumptions as you go along. You start to feel the paranoia and intrigue that the characters feel. Besides, a little bit of full frontal never hurt anyone..

Don Johnston, played by Bill Murray, is a self-proclaimed bachelor (he has white hair!) who receives an anonymous letter from a past girlfriend, claiming that he has a son that has set out on a roadtrip to find him. Don sets out on a trip of his own to visit his past girlfriends to uncover the truth, and these encounters are what make up the bulk of the movie. [Note: I just watched the trailer, and it reminds me of the awesomeness of the movie.] The ending was at first unfulfilling, but now, I think it was perfect. We are just so used to happy, conclusive endings that we forget a movie doesn't have to have that type of ending to be good. In fact, in this case, the opposite is true (not that the ending isn't happpy.. well, just watch it).

Also very poignant is the camerawork. Just as you FEEL the story unfold, you also WATCH it unfold through Don's eyes. Some scenes seem insignificant, such as multiple 3-second shots of the rearview mirror reflecting the road, but these are the types of scenes that allow you to watch the movie through Don, creating a connection between the movie watcher and the character.

Again, Bill Murray is fantastic! He is so convincing, which is amazing considering how quiet his character is. The character development is very deep, and all of this is conveyed in action (and inaction). The story development is very similar. I think it's typical of Jarmusch- a depiction of everyday life, but in a strange scenario (Jarmusch's Mystery Train is hilarious and just as smart).