Jim Jarmusch is back!

No time for a full review today, but Filmbrain just wanted to share that Broken Flowers is Jim Jarmusch's best film in ten years, and is more than deserving of the Grand Prix Award it won at Cannes. Bill Murray gives the performance of his career (you've never seen him like this), the supporting cast is magnificent, and the story (which is far more dramatic than comedic) has an almost Hong Sang-soo feel to it. Stripped down, mature, and perhaps slightly subversive, it's a film that will no doubt cause a rift amongst Jarmusch's fans -- some will complain that Broken Flowers, with its tale of a fifty-something man revisiting pieces of his past, is a mainstream commercial sell-out. How very wrong they will be -- this is JJ at his independent and artistic best. Check back Monday for a complete review.

Comments

[the narwhal]

I find these claims almost unbelievable. Will definitely check back. After Cigarettes and Coffee, which I consider to be Jarmusch's worst film by quite a bit, I'm skeptical as to the quality of this film. I've seen the trailer and see very little in it that would hint at the film being very exceptional. Anyhow, I'm happy to be convinced otherwise. "Stripped down, mature, and perhaps slightly subversive" is a road that can go both ways. I might just have to see it to believe it.

[Filmbrain]

As someone who was also let down by Coffee and Cigarettes, I walked into this with a healthy dose of skepticism. Plus, I thought Bill Murray would once again be playing the "Bill Murray" character (Lost in Translation, Life Aquatic, etc.), but was surprised at how different the performance is.

The trailer is very misleading -- clearly they are trying to make the film more appealing to the masses.

[burritoboy]

I'm wondering about the connection of this film with Griffith's Broken Blossoms, which Jarmusch has identified as one of his favorite films. I have not seen either Broken Flowers nor Broken Blossoms, but the similarity of titles cannot be purely coincedental.

I wasn't quite as disappointed by Coffee and Cigarettes as you alls seem to have been. Perhaps that's my lust for the velvet painting of Lee Marvin talking.

[Filmbrain]

The film has an on-screen dedication to Jean Eustache. In the press kit, Jarmusch mentions how he had The Mother and the Whore in mind when he wrote the screenplay.

The only nod to Eustache I could spot was a pair of J P Leaud-style sunglasses.

That's interesting about Broken Blossoms -- it's been years since I've seen it, so I probably would have missed any references to it (if indeed there were any).

[md'a]

I'm sorry, but this film, with its tale of a fifty-something man revisiting pieces of his past, is a mainstream commercial sell-out.

[Filmbrain]

Mike -- I know you gave it a fifty-something on your daily Cannes summary, but did you write it up? I'm curious to know why you think it's a sell-out.

[Aaron Hillis]

I'm with you on this one, Filmbrain.
Jarmusch's best since Dead Man, as little as that may say.
And commercial is not the same as accessible, since I think this still has an uphill marketing battle.
I hope to write it up myself!

[la_depressionada@yahoo.com]

i hate bill murray so much as an actor it makes my teeth hurt (especially painful because i thought he was promising in the razor's edge). so jj has reclaimed his wit has he? fb do you remember the del-byzanteens? i LOVED them. why isn't la mamman et la putain isn't more popular here. i love it so. it really depicts my paris.

we should drink some champagne to roman polanski's vindication. salut roman.

[md'a]

I'm pretty sure I addressed it in my blog for Nerve.com, which is probably inaccessible now to non-members. Basically I just think this is a very cozy, glib, and fundamentally safe movie; it reminded me of both Sideways and Lost in Translation, both of which I found wildly overrated. It's not bad, but I can't begin to comprehend how somebody could consider it great. And I don't see Murray doing anything remarkable here—it's the same sad-clown routine he's been offering up since Rushmore, and it's starting to ossify.

[S. Tarzan]

If you don't mind an off-topic question, Filmbrain, have you written something up on _Memories of Murder_? I saw it recently and was very impressed, and I was curious what you thought of it.

[Matt]

Hey, Filmbrain, could you change the link to my site on your sidebar so that it points at my new address? 'Twould be much appreciated.

[lezopher]

going to see Broken Flowers tonight at the Laemmle's Sunset 5 - Jarmusch doing the Q&A thing - laters...beach!!!

[Avinash]

completely off topic of course, but I'm curious to know what people think of this paper...from a site which doesnt normally get featured on this blog :-)

from the national bureau of economic research...

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11486

Filming Images or Filming Reality: The Life Cycles of Movie Directors from D.W. Griffith to Federico Fellini

---- Abstract -----

Why have some movie directors made classic early films, but subsequently failed to match their initial successes, whereas other directors have begun much more modestly, but have made great movies late in their lives? This study demonstrates that the answer lies in the directors' motivations, and in the nature of their films. Conceptual directors, who use their films to express their ideas or emotions, mature early; thus such great conceptual innovators as D. W. Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein, and Orson Welles made their major contributions early in their careers, and declined thereafter. In contrast experimental directors, whose films present convincing characters in realistic circumstances, improve their techniques with experience, so that such great experimental innovators as John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and Akira Kurosawa made their greatest films late in their lives. Understanding these contrasting life cycles can be part of a more systematic understanding of the development of film, and can resolve previously elusive questions about the creative life cycles of individual filmmakers.

[philippe]

Jarmush's best film since Dead Man !! That's promising and intriguing.
And i agree with md'a, Memories of Murder is a fascinating movie.

[Adam]

Sorry to continue the off-topic tangent but I disagree fundamentally with that paper Avinash posted. I've never heard such an absurd notion and I'm astounded such an article was ever publish. And on a most basic level, who decided which films are great? Personally I would take Stray Dog, Drunken Angel or One Wonderful Sunday over bloated tat like Kagemusha any day. God, 'academics' eh?