Experienced womanizer Don Johnston once again does not find a common language with his girlfriend. Once alone, he finds a mysterious letter in pink from an unknown person in the mail. The girl reports that twenty years ago, after breaking up with Don, she was pregnant. Now their son went in search of his father, and the lone Don first realized himself as the parent of a ghostly child from an unknown mother.
Broken Flowers (2005) is an atypical road movie by Jim Jarmusch, a story about love and finding yourself in the faces of former girlfriends. The hero of Bill Murray barely has time to change Fred Perry tracksuits and choose new arms of pink flowers to match the character of passions from the past. But his women are so weird that it’s no wonder their unions broke up. The hero changes transport and addresses, but none of the gentle creatures seems ever to have been with him, let alone the birth of a child.
After a close acquaintance with Murray-Johnston, it becomes clear that his indifference to life and difficult character became the starting point on the road to his lonely old age. In desperation, he seems ready to admit defeat in the battle for happiness, losing his way in pursuit of an invisible child. The journey into the past not only sprinkled salt on old wounds, forced to give once beloved girls already broken flowers, but also played a terrible role for the hero of introspection, revealing the abscesses of mistakes and disappointments, so dangerous for the fragile soul of the eternal romantic.
There is only a moment between the past and the future.
Jim Jarmusch's film, which won the Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival, is very slow, lazy and muted - a real modern author's film. The main character is a retired bachelor performed by Bill Murray. He plays his static facial expressions, a silent face, eyes full of loneliness and alienation. This brilliant, original actor from the role of a sad comedian is often involved in the author's American cinema. In this film, the role is prescribed specifically for him and it is a delight for the viewer who loves a special, atmospheric movie with a deep meaning and his own handwriting.
The main character had many love affairs, but did not start a family, and he did not particularly aspire. And then another friend leaves him, he's lonely again. But in the course of the film, it seems that the deep seal of loneliness can no longer be removed - it became the second skin for the silent sofa hermit. After receiving a letter from one of the former girlfriends, the main character learns that he has an adult son. Without thinking, he goes in search of him. Finally, he has a worthwhile cause, hope, interest in life, but in his journey he encounters the tragicomic nature of life, with its mundaneness and worthlessness.
It's a deep, beautiful and leisurely road movie. Here the details are subtly, ironically noted, the dialogues are sharp and aphoristic, the surrounding landscapes are unsociable. The refrain is a beautiful instrumental composition by the founder of Ethiopian jazz. At the end of the film, the protagonist philosophically instructs his imaginary son: “The past is gone, I know it.” The future has not yet arrived, whatever it may be. That is what is now, that is all.
The past is over, I know that. A The future has not yet come, whatever it may be. So there's only one thing that's left now.
Jim Jarmusch's film Broken Flowers
It's a strange mixture of drama and comedy, which Bill Murray, the protagonist of the story, perfectly expressed. After all, the script was written for him, for his favorite actor director. No one else could play so tragically and comically at the same time. This film is a measured narrative that does not fascinate and almost does not intrigue, but chains to the screen. This is Jarmusch’s style: details, mediocrity of life, attention to episodic characters, finely selected soundtracks, in a word – beauty in small things. Just as easily he presents his philosophy in simple words.
Melancholy, unflappable and, unfortunately, aging Don Juan of our time with an ironic name - Don Johnston has been swimming in the ocean of female attention all his life. By his 50s, he is still single and has no plans to start a family. But when he gets a pink envelope with a mysterious letter stating that he has a son, a slight interest awakens in Don. His friend is excited to help find the woman who gave birth to the child.
Recalling his adventures in those years, Don goes on a trip to visit his former girlfriends, coming to each with a bouquet of pink flowers. A wave of nostalgia begins, causing different emotions in women abandoned 20 years ago. No wonder the film is called “Broken Flowers”, the name symbolizes unfulfilled hopes, missed opportunities. The banal plot contains a real drama, but without tears and scandals, telling the story of a man whose heart is so broken that in his old age he did not want to have a family. Only this letter stirred the stale heart, who knows, maybe he was waiting for her. Maybe he's been waiting his whole life. Jarmusch doesn't give us an answer to that question. However, it makes it clear that if you stun the past, face it, you will probably get nothing but frustration or disappointment.
In fact, there is not so much sadness, the film is full of satire and humor, like, for example, a funny reference to “Lolita”.
The cast is just off the scale: Sharon Stone, Francis Conroy, Tilda Swinton, Jessica Leng. These ladies give the heat.
Bill Murray is not himself in this movie. Because he does not move much, speaks little, almost does not joke, and generally creates the feeling that either he did not sleep well or just woke up. The script, to put it mildly, is uncomplicated. An American womanizer enters a midlife crisis, reflexes, wants to correct his sinful path by searching for an imaginary son. After watching the film, I thought that Murray and the director had the following dialogue: Director Bill, there is a script for you, you sit there on the couch, you turn your eyes, then you skate a little over former women and in the end you pester young boys. Oh, yeah, you're sleeping with Sharon Stone. Bill, after the pause. You sure about Sharon Stone? Did you call her? “Yes, I did, and Sharon Stone agrees.” Bill. Then send the papers for signature.” Actually, the main message from the picture is how a primitive script can sparkle and sparkle from a cool actor. Sleeping face down on the couch, trying to culturally strung vegetarian carrots on a fork, detachedly talking on the phone to the person in your room, touching lies, making the look of a charming cat that only Murray can. Another bonus is to see Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton in human form, light marijuana propaganda and a naked "Miley Cyrus." But despite the primitivism, the film remains in the memory and generally leaves an easy and pleasant pleasure.
This drama with elements of comedy, and, interestingly, detective, tells us about loneliness, about hope, and about living in the present.
Don (Bill Murray) receives a letter, allegedly from one of his former lovers, which carries unexpected news. After much thought, he sets out on a long road to find the sender and perhaps to find real happiness. There are only minor criteria by which you can find it - pink color paper, red ink and an old typewriter. Then, ironically, in almost everything Don encounters, there is something that points to it (pink business cards, red pens on the background, etc.). There are a lot of details and talking names. All these nuances bring a comedic background and cause a smile.
I liked the acting. The calm and balanced role of B. Murray in addition. It's interesting to watch the characters, especially the girl in Dr. Carman's waiting room. The doctor, it turns out, is a communicator in a very unusual field of activity. That's the case.
This is an unusual story.
- I like unusual stories.
This movie is similar to the movie “Difficulties of Translation”. The atmosphere of both pictures is light, and the ending is just as simple, but leaves a bit of sadness.
I would also like to note the title of the film, the comprehension of which after watching, brings interesting conclusions.
Don Johnston (Bill Murray) is a man who sits on the couch all day long. He made a fortune on computers, being known as a noble womanizer. On the day his last mistress leaves, he receives an anonymous letter from which he learns that 19 years ago, one of his former mistresses gave birth to a son in secret from him. Neighbor of the Don – Winston (Jeffrey Wright), compiling on the memoirs of the main character a list of possible women and a verified route of travel, forces him to go on a journey to find out who exactly is the mother of his child.
Broken Flowers is another Jim Jarmusch travel film, in which Bill Murray’s character is more likely to embark on a trip through the waves of his memory than on a long journey in search of the mother of his son. This highway will lead the hero to nowhere to those from whom he hastily retreated. And after the gift of a symbolic pink bouquet, he will realize over and over again that there is no need to stir up the past, which when met leaves nothing but regret or bruises.
Jim Jarmusch wrote in the script the role of Don Johnston especially for Bill Murray, his melancholy game emphasized the sophistication of the story about the futility of the past. But we cannot but mention the ensemble of luxurious age actresses who created comic images of the protagonist’s lovers, here Sharon Stone, and Tilda Swinton, and the main stars of the series “American Horror Story” Jessica Lange and Frances Conroy, do not forget about the French Julien Delpy, who played the same mistress who left at the beginning of the film.
This story sometimes creates rather awkward memories in the memory of each viewer, who can easily remember their sometimes incomprehensible and unsuccessful relationships of the past years, for which it is so shameful. But it gives us a clear understanding of how much routine and life squeeze us in their arms, and not letting us understand how important love is in life and how important it is sometimes not to miss it.
A man of phlegmatic temperament can be described as slow, unperturbed, with steady aspirations and a more or less constant mood, with a weak external expression of mental states. (Wikipedia)
How can you expressively play a phlegmatic, a person with inexpressive facial expressions?
This was under the power of Bill Murray, who perfectly played the role of the main character Don Johnston. Excellent mastery of halftones: half-smile, half-excitement, half-regret from the departure of the last girlfriend, half-disappointment from the trip, and many more half-hues can be enjoyed during the viewing process. In relations with his neighbor Winston, and especially with his children, repeatedly slips – his indifference is also semi-indifferent. Some details in the course of the film indicate that most likely, Don was not always like this.
Unfortunately, we will never know what happened in his life, which is why he avoids family relationships. The image of the main character would be perceived more multifaceted, if the author of the film hinted - what is so afraid of Don, why he is still a bachelor by his 50 years. But apparently, the versatility of the main character is exactly what was least included in the plans of the master of moods and inefficiencies Jim Jarmusch.
Don's journey and meeting friends from "20 years ago" add little to his image. “Exes” are still beautiful women, interesting, different, and... excited by his appearance. But Don's cool. It is important for him to find out whether he has a son - this is the purpose of the trip, and communication with "these" women seems an annoying necessity on the way to the goal.
A visit to the cemetery in connection with the death of one of his beloved touched him to tears. Death can still throw him out of balance.
The film begins with the curiously dynamic journey of a pink envelope containing exciting news for computer scientist Don Johnston – he has a son. But as soon as Don himself appears in the frame, time seems to slow down, and ... a slow, unperturbed, slightly viscous state increasingly penetrates into consciousness. You can even feel as if you are a phlegmatic. I think this is an interesting and even useful experience.
And then it's not hard to answer the question: "How did it turn out that a man like Don Johnston can match the popularity of women with such a temperamental hero-lover as Don Juan?" The answer is simple to banality... it’s all about the “eternal female thirst for love”. Apparently, the “female thirst for love” symbolizes the pink color so often found in the film.
The author ironically hints that to succeed in women, you do not need to be someone particularly outstanding. You need to “love girls”, know a little about them ... and use it.
It is only at the very end of the film that something incredible happens.
The future has not yet arrived.
You can't bring the past back.
There is a choice in the present.
A wealthy and lonely womanizer with extensive experience in relationships with girls, leading a calm and closed lifestyle, receives an anonymous letter from one of his former girlfriends with information that he has a son born about 20 years ago. Such an interesting and promising event does not inspire the main character, does not knock him out of the usual life routine, and without being impressed, the hero shows a letter to his friend - a lover of detective stories with a high opinion of their own abilities of the detective, thanks to the persistence of which they make a plan of action to identify the woman who sent the letter.
Slowness, measured and uniform development of events, smooth, leisurely narration is an indispensable and integral component of the overall integrity of the picture, setting the viewer on a special wave from the very beginning. The melancholy and ease in which the picture is sustained immerses the viewer in his world, in which the hero, getting involved in a small journey, travels in his car in search of the key to the solution to thoughtful and viscous music.
With great skill, the film is sustained at one pace, there are no transitions from fast and energetic action to slow and calm and vice versa, the film is like a boat that slowly sways on the waves of the current and leisurely carries the viewer to the solution of the story.
The character of the main character, perfectly played by Bill Morray, is quite consistent with the style and pathos of the film, which is manifested in the awkward behavior of the hero, in an indifferent and absent look, in the complete absence of any manifestation of emotions and feelings, in a mood devoid of vivid impressions and experiences. The plot and brilliant play of the actors are fastened by a successfully selected musical accompaniment, sounding in unison with the main content of the picture.
The storyline is quite simple and the development of events is predictable, but oddly enough, this is not a drawback. You should not look for a conceptual component and hidden meaning in the picture - you should evaluate the film as a whole canvas, which you look at in the museum, collecting all the details together and forming an impression of the whole picture as a whole. And this direct look at the film will allow you to fully appreciate the skill of the director and enjoy watching.
Don Johnston is not a young, wealthy man. Despite his age, he is single and childless. Among friends, he is reputed to be a ladies' man and seems to us a kind of Don Juan on the fly. One day, another girlfriend leaves him, who has not waited for steps to develop a relationship, and an unusual letter comes printed on pink paper and packed in a pink envelope. From the text it follows that twenty years ago one of his lovers became pregnant, but learned about it after their separation. The child left, but the windy father decided not to disturb and raised his son on his own. At the age of nineteen, he left home in search of his father. No names. No addresses. No hint of who it might be. About this letter learns the neighbor of Don, Winston, fond of detectives and wanting to try himself in the role of Sherlock, and at the same time to disinhibit the gloomy neighbor, makes him remember mistresses twenty years ago. Then he draws up an action plan for him to find the mother of a suddenly appeared son and calls for action. Under the pressure of a friend in the Don, interest and parental instinct wake up, and he, burning with the desire to correct the mistakes of youth, goes in search.
Jim Jarmusch is one of those directors who doesn’t like to rush. Filming at three or five years old, he remains true to himself. This performance is due to the specific niche in which he creates independent cinema. He proudly continues to do what he wants, with whom he wants and how he wants, not wanting to be sold to large film companies, with the help of which it would be much easier to find money for new projects, but in return he would have to give up his rights and creative freedom. Believing that the author in the film should be the author in everything, he is not limited to directing. He comes up with stories, writes scripts, rehearses to exhaustion with actors, picks up music, nature for shooting... in short, does everything to make the label “Jim Jarmusch film” as true as possible. He is an existential thinker who likes to observe life in moments where seemingly nothing interesting happens. Which, as a rule, remain behind the scenes, but it is in these moments that a person is himself. Jarmusch enters a territory where few people have walked and invites us to watch people driving in taxis, watching TV, loitering idle, going to the goal, but very vague and without specific reference points. Being an outsider himself, he observes with interest those like himself: people who are not built into society, touching the smooth surrounding reality with their uneven angles. Every time he tries his hand at different genres (a crime film, a western, a gangster action movie, a melodrama, a vampire saga), he does not reinvent them, as if he goes through the “blind zones” left between the editing joints of their best representatives.
Broken Flowers was written specifically for Bill Murray, one of the director’s favorite actors. I don’t think anyone else could have played this character in such a funny and tragic way. To convey all the loneliness, meaninglessness and hope of Don Johnston. No, not Johnson as a famous actor, but Johnston, with a "t" after a "s." Jarmusch is restrained, even minimalistic, and direct. If he wants to show the emptiness and lifelessness of the character, he puts him in a huge, meticulously cleaned house, more like a crematorium in the atmosphere than the place in which they live. And in contrast, to enhance the effect, gives him neighbors the complete opposite - a cheerful African-American of Ethiopian origin, whose house is in an eternal mess, full of children and love. But life wins, and here is a sad nerd, embarks on a dubious adventure, sinking into the depths of the past. Whatever Jarmusch did, he gets a road movie, but not simple, but intellectual. The characters of his films are constantly moving somewhere, from time to time meeting mysterious personalities, pouring on them streams of abstract information, merging into a rather bizarre alloy under the name of our life. At the same time, his films are filled with humor, although quite specific and cool. The hero of Broken Flowers is also moving, but the movement is downward. Every time he meets, he has hope and an understanding of why he did it. If the first meetings are held in light colors and former lovers are happy to see him, then by the end of the paint gloomy and he is met with open hostility and even aggression. The last one goes to the cemetery in heavy rain. We'll never know who the baby's mother was, whether Don will meet his son, who he now sees in every twenty-year-old boy. Was it his son or was the whole story an attempt to move his ex-girlfriend? Jarmusch breaks our expectations for the final and leaves him in complete confusion, as does his character standing in the final shots at the crossroads, broken and lost.
For fans of independent and auteur cinema, the name of the director and screenwriter Jim Jarmusch will tell as much as, say, the names of Lars von Trier or Gus Van Sant. But Jarmusch had his outlandish ability to bring his tapes to an approximately close level, as ordinary full-length films are shot, but always leaving his trademark as a slight understatement, as well as a slow mode of narration, as if you read the first book that comes into your hands, which turns out to be metaphorical, deep, but at the same time very clear, accessible and calm. The most interesting thing is that of the thirteen paintings shot by Jarmusch, you can not find one that seems completely unnatural and too extraordinary. Jarmusch is a great individualist and original, but he always takes care of his audience. These tapes can be safely attributed to the drama "Broken Flowers" with comedian Bill Murray in the title role.
Murray's hero is an aging Don Juan, and quite wealthy, who made his capital on computers. The first scene catches us when another of his passions (Julie Delpie) packs up and in a calm, balanced voice declares that he is not made for a long and serious relationship. Seeing the fact that the hero of Murray does not even flinch his muscle, but only raises a full or indifference, or bored look, you understand that the girl is absolutely right. And suddenly the hero receives a letter saying that he has a son, the existence of which he was not close to aware. His best friend (Jeffrey Wright), a lover of detectives, clings to the story and asks him to go in search of Murray’s son. He rests, referring to the melancholy disposition, but still goes... There he is waiting to meet his former lovers, who now have their own lives. Walking down the path of memories, something changes in Murray's character, but wasn't it too late to change anything? As said, Jarmusch will leave to look for an answer to the viewer and decide for himself how he would act if he were in the place of the main character.
At the end of the first paragraph, it was emphasized that Broken Flowers is a drama, and the main role was played by comedian Bill Murray. It was hard to imagine him in this way, but Murray certainly coped. He could make the spectator laugh when he played with just one eye movement, and now he could show how he could make the same movement sad. As empty inside, as if he didn’t need anyone, he remains the loneliest man in the world. There are women, there is a best friend, there is money, there is the fame of a heartthrob, but suddenly you clearly realize that in fact he has nothing but friendship, and even then a friend is occasionally jealous of his wife. But we can conclude that the hero of Murray is also to blame, when he did not get a family in time, and now he is elderly and few interesting ex-Lovelas. Visiting his former girlfriends, it would seem, he can find his happiness or at least find something new, for which you could become a little different person. But does this happen in real life? Life is not always a fairy tale. Now you understand what a range of emotions and feelings gave this soulless, seemingly man, perfectly played by comedian Bill Murray.
And still striking in the film "Broken Flowers" is the selection of female performers: Sharon Stone, Francis Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, named above Julie Delpy, and Chloe Sevigny, who, however, has a small role. Each was given its own specific and important episode, as if the meeting of the present and the past in the fate of the main character. Someone has changed and someone is the same as they were. From the first meeting, when he was again in the bed of his former passion, he was met worse and worse. And it is clear that this attitude he deserved. So different actresses -- some are a sex symbol and some are a drama star -- and they have different characters, from happy to quite aggressive. And in everyone's heart, Murray's hero left his indelible mark. The viewer may even ask the question after watching the film: should Murray stop looking after the first meeting with his ex? Maybe we should have started, or maybe we shouldn’t have started. Here are the acquaintances with the women of the hero Murray and here are the questions... Murray will come home, there will be a meeting, but is this the meeting he was looking for?
And this you will see for yourself, if you are interested in a film in which you will encounter completely different characters, especially women, and the meeting of the past with the present of the main character will ask you several important philosophical questions, which will be interesting to give your own answers.
8 out of 10
When you look at the broken flowers behind the Tenenbaum Family, it seems like Don (Bill Murray) borrowed a pair of costumes from Chas (Ben Stiller).
And Winston (Jeffrey Wright) is horribly reminiscent of the overfed dude from the series “Clinic” (Donald Fason). They're not brothers, are they? Even in a suit like the janitor from the Clinic, ha. Well, that's a departure from the topic.
When the first half of your life is over, you come back to it. Not in the depths of your memories, but in reality. It’s not like that, in a word. Once again you meet people with whom you were close, and again you see the places where you once lived.
All this journey through the past is interesting to watch the viewer. That’s why I recommend you watch this movie.
“The past cannot be returned, but the future must be waited for. Everything that is real comes out.
You can also watch this movie to see Bill Murray.
P.S. Don's got a cool couch, jealous of the whole movie. And I note that it's cool when throughout the film there are so-and-so flowers and paintings.
The picture, like almost any film, creates a special melancholy mood. I don’t want to talk about that film, I don’t want to talk about it, it feels like it is addressed to each viewer personally. After watching it, it becomes sad at heart, but this sadness does not burden and allows you to think about something important.
The plot of the film is simple in the form of the narrative, but deep in its essence. The story of an absolutely ordinary person who became successful, but remained unhappy really touches. To some extent, it even allows you to assess your life priorities.
Bill Murray did a wonderful job in his role. The character turned out not just a hero of a work of art, but also an ordinary living person. His exes are shown in absolutely different ways, each of them is an individual person. But at the same time, something elusively similar to them.
The film is very measured and static. Each frame is essentially a staged photograph so much attention to detail here. The music is very unobtrusive, but at the same time coloring every action in the right tone.
This movie is hard to recommend to anyone. To truly penetrate them, you need to see him in the right mood and then he will play with other colors.
Broken Flowers is a soulful movie with elements of drama and comedy directed and screenwriter Jim Jarmusch in 2005. There are some great American stars in this film, so the film definitely attracts attention. In the history of this picture there is drama and comedy. When watching it causes a different range of emotions, so I liked this film.
We see the main character - an elderly bachelor who receives an anonymous letter from his ex-wife that there is a son who is missing and maybe he is looking for his father, whom he has never seen. The elderly bachelor begins to remember all his women and soon goes on a journey across America, to each of his passions, to find out who gave birth to his son and where he was born.
Bill Murray is a great American actor and I have loved him since I was a kid. Murray always plays comedic roles and emotional, life situations, so he was perfect for the lead role in this film. He can be touching, sometimes comical, there are a lot of things in it, but Bill is certainly a very talented and subtle actor. In the roles of his women, it was nice to see Jessica Lang, Tilda Swinton and Sharon Stone. All three of them are great, American actresses with experience and all together gave this film more charm and charm. “Broken Flowers” is a movie about what is most important in our lives, a movie about how fleeting our life is and ruthless in time, and a movie about reflection and loneliness, about unfulfilled dreams and unlived, some other lives whose path the main character did not choose.
Unusual, intelligent and mysterious - these are the words that can describe the films of Jarmusch. Broken flowers are probably one of his most understandable paintings. The movie is about Don Johnston, who visits his ex-women and tries to find his son. A film about loneliness, about finding yourself. The whole film is digging into the past at the end of which Murray’s character still concludes that “everything we have is the present.”
The plot. The film is built on memories, on digging in yourself. Every woman of the main character is not like the previous one. Everyone has their own life, priorities, goals and ambitions. And the only thing that brings them together is a former lover, Don Johnston. Don is the equivalent of a pink color that runs through the film and is seen in various trifles. It would seem clear, but at the same time vague plot. Smart, subtle and unobtrusive humor, which is present in almost every Jarmusch film, is here.
Actors. What can I say? Jarmusch is always putting together a great cast. Here and Jessica Lang, and Tilda Swinton in the image of a rocker (with dark hair just do not know), Sharon Stone, Francis Conroy, Jeffrey Wright... should I continue? And of course, this pack of talents is headed by the melancholy Bill Murray. How does he manage, with the same facial expression throughout the film to cause the viewer different emotions: compassion, sadness, rage. That's the kind of talent you need. And how wonderful that these two talents (Murray and Jarmusch) are friends with each other and the first is constantly present in the films of the second.
Picture/Music.Film Travel. The road as a symbol of the way of life. And how beautifully removed this road. Wonderful camera work (almost in every of his films you can single out this plus), a fascinating picture, which so you and drag, and intoxicate. And it's all to beautiful music. How nice to see a wonderful movie, and also get, thanks to him, replenishment in the playlist.
Result. It’s a simple and at the same time very clever film that gives food for thought. Not everyone will understand it and many will find it boring and dull. In fact, he is. But Jarmusch, such a talent, managed to make a tedious, melancholic film with an atmosphere of hopeless longing and sadness, and that it delighted and fascinated us and made him love and love. And you know, if you are not familiar with the work of Jarmusch, then you should “prepare” for viewing, evaluating his other works.
Don Johnston (Bill Murray) is a lonely man who is already approaching his venerable age. All his life, Don was a bachelor and, as his neighbor endlessly pokes, the real Don Juan. Simply put, an eternal lover, even if he never married. Don made an impressive fortune on computers, lives alone, in a large house, all day staggering around, sometimes visiting a neighbor Winston, who has a wife and five children. One day, when his girlfriend, with whom they have been together for some time, leaves our hero in the morning with his suitcases, Don finds a pink letter in the mail, on which it is written in red ink that he, it turns out, has a son who is 19 years old and he went to look for his father. Unfortunately for Don, his married neighbor is obsessed with detectives and encourages a friend to find out who exactly wrote him, because there is no return address and signature in the letter. Don actively resists, but when Winston shows him a plan of action that he has developed for a friend, Mr. Johnston reluctantly agrees. The only evidence is that the text of the message was definitely printed on a typewriter. So now Don has a mission to visit his four exes, Laura, Dora, Carmen and Penny, and try to find out if one of them sent him an ill-fated letter.
I remember immediately smelling something wrong. Something wasn't so decisive with everything from the characters to the soundtrack. Never for a second did I escape the feeling that I had stumbled upon something alien, almost unfamiliar, and only after waiting for the ending did I realize what I was dealing with. Here, my friends, is a sample of when movies are allowed to be shot by hipsters. What do I mean by that? Well, let's figure it out.
For starters, Don Johnston himself. The hero behaves as if he is tired of life itself: he rolls his eyes, sighs hard, and all the proposals of the neighbor Winston answers “no” and makes the face in the spirit of “not interested”, but at the same time, when the friend has done all the work for him, he continues to say that it is stupid and he does not need it. Next scene - he's at the airport waiting for the plane!
What about Winston? A simple worker, who after a working day is engaged in computer investigations. He has a huge magnifier and regularly arranges meetings for Don at the café (seemingly during Winston’s lunch break, which doesn’t stop them both from looking like two homegrown secret agents) where they drink only coffee. I'm not talking about who Winston works for and won't tell you that, because that's not the point. The main thing is that he is a gray mouse, which after work turns into a genius Sherlock Holmes!
The same goes for the others. The women Don will visit on his trip are all stereotypical. Laura (suddenly Sharon Stone) is a typical glamorous blonde who drives an ugly sports car, her daughter walks naked around the apartment (named, by the way, ha, Lolita) and sells out the trash of her late husband. Penny (no less suddenly Tilda Swinton, whom I did not recognize at all until I went to find out where the English actress I was promised was actually) is an aggressive villager living in a commune with bikers. Carmen is a communicator in animals (sets dogs with cats in a positive way). The least, um, fantasy, went to Dora, who was once a hippie, a child of flowers, and now sells real estate, lives in a crystal clear house and lets her husband decide everything for himself.
As befits everyone, deliberately artistic, like all hipsters, film, here above the roof of awkward and frankly meaningless moments. Don sits silently / lies in bed / stands by the window and this can last for 2-3 minutes. Silently rides in the car while some indigestible, African-Latin soul plays in the background. The dialogues are all completely bland, low-emotional and only closer to the finale does something interesting begin to happen, but very briefly, giving way to the ending in the spirit of "fuck you, not a normal end." The only pleasant factor in this whole spiritually rich performance is, of course, Bill Murray. Murray is a chameleon actor who can do almost anything. With an incredible effort of will, he made Don Johnston a less curious character, who went through all the hardships for the sake of a ghostly hope for change in his life, but Bill was still stuck in the syrup of a troubled script and environment that did not allow him to fully reveal himself.
In short, until this review has turned into a monologue of hatred for everything pretentious, I quickly generalize - "Broken Flowers" - the picture is absolutely nothing. If you are a simple person, far from all pseudo-philosophy and artistry, then your brain will begin to require a rope around the middle of the session. And nothing can be done about it, because the shadow on the lash, created on the screen, was conceived by the director, who aimed at a strictly specific audience, which has always existed, but got its name just recently – hipsters. Others must quickly pass by, along the way trying not to make eye contact with this abomination generated by Frankenstein at Starbucks.
6 out of 10
What's going on with you? You began to receive letters on pink paper, you left the mistress with whom you did not succeed, you have nowhere to go because you yourself blocked all the exits, you have a disc with black and white classics stuck in the video player, and the tape recorder again loses the fifth instrumental concert? Do not worry about taking the help of a friend, especially as he lives in the next yard and at any time can call neither the light nor the dawn and invite, although there is nothing to brag about, only others to listen. Well, what happens to you that you have no fun, no idleness, no dancing, what happens to this computerized world, the ideas of which you yourself embodied, what does a marriage agreement do to people, the fate of which you have not yet met, what happens to travelers who forget where to go, what happens to “companions behind the screen”, who forgot to reinstall the program – you see, there are changes in everything that you need to adapt to, and you seem to have buried yourself in the sand long ago, since you do not show yourself to anyone and can not breathe, like you do it in the desert, and you do not breathe. You are such a person, such a gentleman came out of you, and how would you answer yourself what happened to you?
You didn't notice this envelope without an address at first, the one that was left at the bottom, and then, after looking through it twice, you found it, and what do you think should be there - a notice from the IRS or an advertisement for a new rehabilitation center - nothing important, but why is it so strange in color that the author wanted to show, maybe he ran out of ordinary paper or it was a special move? Take a look at this: you feel like you're being told love again and you accept it, but you don't understand who it is or why she's talking about some modest twenty-year-old boy, calling him your son, and wants him to just know about it. Does he need the truth that the experts say? It's time to finally get to the bottom of your stagnation!
I first discovered the humorous tradeshow of Jim Jarmusch, the director of the author’s concept film, and I heard a lot about this film, which immediately attracted me. And, looking to the end, I could not restrain my emotions - it was both funny and sad, as if I myself for an hour and a half was the main character, allegedly occupied by the throat, or his opposite side, which pulled him out of his supine state and forced him to keep to himself, if only to reach the nearest house and turn back. Finally, I noticed the side that moves us all when we don’t want to, finally I realized what to laugh at, and where to keep quiet as a sign of respect or just thinking about the eternal, I didn’t go through everything piecemeal in search of the perfect picture, I just admired the film narrative that I managed to catch my eye, and now I got acquainted with the creative views of American independent filmmakers – Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch – who deservedly should be called “the saints of synonyms and antonyms.”
I discovered in a different way one of my favorite actors Bill Murray, molesting within four walls of the entire canvas of the collected life collection, discovered a new image of a passive reagent and an aging romantic, whose former glory is already in the past - a landmark dramatic role in the career of an actor. Voluntary assistance in the face of the web genius Winston (Jeffrey Wright) played a role of comedic and slightly biased to minor interference mystery, which is again lacking in modern comedies. Among the female images, I liked three more: the escaped beauty - Julie Delpy, the good-natured Sharon Stone and the sarcastic bully Tilda Swinton. Additional live color of the picture gave Ethiopian melodies on the disc and the title song of the film about “the near end for everyone”.
What, again unlucky, woke up again exhausted on the couch? And somewhere out there, the young man you rejected is watching you, you should not ruin your growing generation, watch your seedlings and water the flowers often. After all, your child is the only pure thing that nature gave you, your contentment, fun and dancing, your gift, planted in a flower bed with flowers.
10 out of 10
Someday they'll bring you a bouquet of wildflowers on a pink dish. And you, burning through your life in search of fresh flesh, will remain Don Juan, a literary monument of history. And the meaning of being may never be found, or perhaps you will never forget that everything is finite, eternal, on the edge of a cliff leading to the abyss of loneliness and impotence.
And flying life at a crossroads, which has many ways, and you have already traveled most of the roads and now remain at a crossroads, will leave only a white patch on a stuffed forehead from the mistakes of the past.
But in the meantime...
"You can't bring the past back."
The future is yet to be seen.
And all we have is the real thing!
8 out of 10
Elderly Don Juan Don Johnston (even a name with an appropriate allusion) lives a seemingly uncommitted life in his cozy furnished home. He leaves another mistress, desperate to build a serious relationship with him with the prospect of creating a family. One day, Don receives a letter from a mysterious stranger, in which she informs that Don has a son with her, and 20 years have passed since then, and the grown-up guy began to look for his father. Don shows this letter to his friend, the author of the detectives, and receives a crazy advice to make a list of former mistresses and visit each of them in order to find out the truth that one of them bore him a son. Don embarks on a journey full of surprises.
The Cannes Film Festival, in most cases, leaving the work of this remarkable American director unawarded, awarded him Broken Flowers with a special jury prize. After a black-and-white colloquial almanac, Coffee and Cigarettes, Jim Jarmusch returned to his favorite theme of inner searches and road trips. The action unfolds in Jarmuschevsky slowly, revealing to the viewer as much as possible each character whom the hero of Bill Murray meets on his way, who at first seems lazy and indifferent, but only seems. The image of the elderly Donjouan, who has not got a family, created by Bill Murray, in a sense echoes his character from the similarly meditative narrative of the existential drama “Difficulty of Translation” by Sofia Coppola – the same inner restlessness and loss with external unshakeability. Speaking about secondary characters, or rather - former partners of the protagonist, I want to note the uniqueness of psychological reactions and images created by each of the actresses - Sharon Stone, Julie Delpy, Tilda Swinton, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy ... And not only these wonderful actresses, successfully selected by the filmmakers, managed to create unforgettable images - the beauty of the film is that in it, with its extremely measured languid pace, there is not a single gray and "no" character. It is the unforgettable, clearly spelled out by the creators and creatively embodied by the cast of images, with the individual direction of Jim Jarmusch with accurate dialogue, through sad irony, and made this film a humane, warm, and very pleasant gift for the soul rainy evening. And, as always in Jarmusch’s films, music, organically complementing the action, is a separate auditory joy.
In two words: Very pleasant, humane, and heartfelt dramatic film parable on the theme of loneliness, not devoid of subtle humor.
8 out of 10
The story of the elderly Don (Joan) Johnston. He's secure, lives in a fancy house. Empty, clean and gloomy. Lives by inertia, without special emotions, attachments. No feelings. Even when his girlfriend leaves him, he can't tell if it upsets him or not. Some variety in his smooth life is made by a neighbor and, concurrently, a friend of Winston - a cheerful father of five children. Winston's always trying to shake Don up. And when he receives an anonymous letter from one of his former passions stating that he is the father of a 19-year-old son, Winston makes a “genius” plan. He convinces Don of the need to raid the country with all five girlfriends with whom Don was close 20 years ago to figure out which one is the mother of the child.
And, although Don himself either doesn’t realize or doesn’t admit that his life is empty and dull, but under pressure from a friend, he embarks on this stupid, essentially, trip. It's been 20 years. That's a pretty long time. Who knows what happened to the young ladies? And will they be so happy to see their old ex?
Despite the shared story, Jarmusch created several separate miniatures linked only by a common hero. Such sketches, excerpts from the lives of four completely different women. Their joys, sorrows and strangeness through the eyes of a stranger.
I will not define the genre of the film. It's not a claimed detective, it's not a comedy at all (though there were some funny moments). A girl with a phone is just class, not even a road movie. It's a movie about life. And in life there is a place for all genres. And just like in life, the film does not end with anything, in the usual sense. Oh, that understatement, Jarmusch's trademark! But the understatement is only eventful. Emotionally, there is a solution. Because Winston is achieving his goal. Don finally understands what kind of life he is living. He understands that the past cannot be returned, the future has not yet come, and there is only now. And in this “now” he has only broken dead flowers.
P.S. Special thanks to my favorite actor Bill Murray for a great performance.
P.P.S. The soundtrack of Jarmusch, as always, is beyond praise.
8 out of 10
He is successful, rich, has many beautiful women because his name is Don Johnston. Although it is hard to imagine that this tired, somnambulistic Don could ever make any impression on the female sex. In his house one can feel only the vague presence of a woman: pictures of the Impressionists with blurred naked bodies and faces, dreary female vocals. And where is she, his real woman, and has she ever been? Our squandered Don Juan realizes that his life is empty; he sees the neighborhood life as complete and successful, with love and children.
In his search for himself, he finds a metaphor for his almost complete life, step by step. This journey, like his life, resembles a downward spiral into the reality of lonely life and lost love: from a bouquet of luxurious pink roses to wildflowers collected by the road. Meeting old friends gives us a little insight into Don's character and the reasons for the emptiness of his life in his later years. It shows meetings with five women who were close to him twenty years ago. The first girl, Laura, was in the early stages of his life, where sexual energy and passion give rise to further relationships. Young female beauty, the prospect of easy adventure, the search for meaningless sexual relations, and, as a very colorful duplicate - her daughter Lolita. The second woman, Dora, may have loved him forever, but now it's just a memory. The loss of the most loving woman. What's next? A sad search to avoid loneliness? Third, Carman: the protest of traditional love, the desperate search for refuge in one's own madness, the emerging relationships are absurd to the extreme. Strange, strange story... The fourth, Pani, is a flower completely ruined and broken, which is very painfully imprinted on Don's face. And as the finale of his journey, the fifth... what an irony!
Murray does not show Don’s emotions, he is superficial with the people around him, but there are still small glimpses of salvation. His tears for an ex-girlfriend who died in a car crash; his consciousness of failure with Sherry; his warmth and little friendship with Winston and his family. And he wants to find his son. Even though Johnston seems indifferent to everything, this notion of having a son still sparks interest in life. Bill Murray brilliantly staged a man full of feelings, but not able to release them.
The action takes place at a slow pace, as Don travels, hoping to find clues. And funny pink objects: things, business cards, flowers, ribbons, a typewriter - like bread crumbs scattered along the search path. Music from the Greenhornes and Ethiopian jazzist Mulatu Astateka accompany his journey, either emphasizing the slow hopeless course of events, or playing to the ironic notes of the film.
As a good poet, Jarmusch likes to leave words, images and phrases hanging in the air. Unexplained. Undecided. It offers quiet reflection on elections and their consequences, leaving many thoughts open, unfinished. His significant quality as a filmmaker is that he works in dialogue with the audience and with their own experiences. And like all good poems, Broken Flowers will mean different things to different people. Its end will not satisfy many, because the goal of the search is not achieved.
After a staunch bachelor, Don Johnston, is abandoned by another woman, he receives a pink anonymous letter in the mail. The message says that Don has a 19-year-old son who is eager to see his father. Instead of throwing it out of his head and finding a new passion, Johnston, mediated by a married neighbor, and part-time amateur detective, decides to visit his girlfriends twenty years ago and find out who is still the mother of his suddenly found child.
Having come up with the banal legend “passed by – decided to go” for cover, Don consistently measures the “vicious circle”, visiting each of the five former mistresses, including the one that rests under the gravestone. Having not heard from any voluntary confession, he tries to provoke everyone to revelation with lengthy hints and at the same time looks for circumstantial evidence in the environment that exposes the culprit of all this catavasia, which forced him to tear his ass off his beloved sofa for such a long time.
Having not found the answer to the main question, Johnston will eventually acquire a heightened sense of suspicion and begin to react inadequately to everything pink, seeing in any manifestation of this color fateful signs. And if in the near future on this soil he does not go mad, then this will not be the worst way out of the semi-amebic state in which most people who exchanged the sixth decade find themselves.
Bill Murray almost one-on-one retains the expression with which he had overcome translation difficulties a year earlier. But whatever mask this actor puts on himself, it is always interesting to look at him. The bet on the actor, who has an eternal autumn in his eyes, at least somehow explains how it could attract so many women this spineless Don, this phlegmatic crap, this sleeping hamster, this new-born Oblomoff ... But it is the constant presence of the actor in the frame that does not allow the film to sag.
Don Johnston plays the name of not only a household character named Don Juan, but also almost one in one repeats the surname of the combat showman Don Johnson, who became famous in America thanks to the series Miami Police. This similarity gives the rest of the characters a reason to repeatedly ask the main character: “What did you say your name was?” However, on the storyline, this incident is fundamentally not reflected, goes from scene to scene as an anecdote, whose jokes to the end can only be understood by the Yankees.
Broken Flowers is a sadly comical road movie about finding lost seed and breaking a taboo that the poet warned in his words: “Don’t go back to your former lovers.” It will not give an unambiguous answer to the sacramental question: “And was there a boy at all?” Nothing else, however, could be expected from the director, whose prototype can be seen in the main character. Like his character, he is still worthy to go on the road and show that the smoker is still alive. The wisdom acquired with age impregnated the sense of humor still not lost by the “singer of banality”, and his inimitable youth banter was replaced by melancholy irony.
If you do not take into account the anthology of table conversations called “Coffee and Cigarettes” (2003), woven from numerous miniature sketches accumulated by Jarmusch over two decades, and the novella “Night in the Trailer”, shot by him for the almanac “10 minutes older: trumpet” (2003), it turns out that the last big film before “Broken Flowers” was “Ghost Dog”, which came out, it seems, forever ago. This means that Jarmusch has not made a full-length film for 5 years. Just a giant stretch of time for a director whose cult status is still evident.
This is best evidenced by the vigilant attention to Jarmusch of the selections of the Cannes Festival. It is the fact that this film was "at the root" chartered in the Cannes competition that explains the six-month delay in its premiere. Completed back in 2004, it was first revealed to the public only in May of the following year and traditionally took another regalia from the Cote d'Azur, this time the Grand Prix is the second most important award.
Although "Flowers" became Jim's highest-grossing creation ($26.7 million worldwide), this does not mean that he sold to the "system." I've got to reassure you, J-J is the same. 15 minutes is enough to recognize his style and corporate intonation. By the way, in Russia, Broken Flowers became a favorite of limited release and perhaps the most profitable film of the year, earning almost a third of a million dollars in just five copies! So, unlike the distributors, the audience of Jarmusch here know and love.
Two events occurred simultaneously in the life of Don, the aging Don Juan. He was abandoned by another friend Sherry and received a mysterious letter without a signature, return address and with an illegible stamp impression. One of Don’s many former girlfriends gave birth to a son 19 years ago. Thanks to the persuasion of a friend of Winston, and part-time, a private detective-amateur, Don goes on the road in order to visit all the girlfriends he loved 20 years ago.
Jim Jarmusch, as always, is slightly ironic about his characters. The whole film is full of humor. This is a parody of the work of film detectives, in the person of Winston and many other jokes. I especially liked this one.
- What are you doing?
- Computers.
- A. Advanced technology.
- A little more advanced than pen and pencil.
The main role was played by an actor who, like no other, was created for such humor. This is Bill Murray. Another great role of the “sad comedian”.
I would like to mention the charming Sharon Stone. Her character in this film is beautiful, not inferior to her daughter Lolita. Meeting her was the highlight of this adventurous journey.
The essence of the film is revealed in the words Don said to the boy, whom he mistook for his son. “Don’t think about the past, it has passed. Don't think about the future. We don't know what's going to be in it, whatever it is. Live in the present. This is the life creed of the main character. Although not indisputable, but worthy of respect.
In terms of rating, one of my favorite directors can’t be less than the maximum. And for nothing less, the film is great.
Strange movie. But pretty attractive. The elderly “Don Juan” performed by Bill Murray looks a little strange – a tracksuit, the absence of any manifestation of life in facial expressions and movements. But there is something definitely fascinating about it.
The film itself is quite tedious, an hour and a half when viewed seem like a whole day, but it is not repulsive and does not irritate at all. To some extent, it even touches – this dullness of what is happening, this absurdity and comical scenes. And the excellent musical design absolutely emphasizes the strange attraction of the picture.
Regarding secondary characters, I will not touch the acting game, no, it is certainly at the proper level, but here you need to look deeper. Each character in its own way is eccentric, in its own comic and unusual. This is not a comedy film, it is not. The fact is that all these characters emphasize the absurdity of the situation itself, I dare say – the very life of the main character. Who is he? The so-called "Don Juan"? There were many women in his life, but he did not want to associate his fate with any of them. Being a family man is not for him, it is not about him. But did that strange letter about having a teenage son somewhere looking to meet him make him rattle? Maybe. Pink envelope. Pink flowers. A typewriter. All this goes through his head while searching for the one who wrote him the letter. But will this search turn into a long-awaited meeting and the beginning of a new life? You will find out by looking to the end.
The film leaves a pretty good impression, Jim Jarmusch was able to interest, definitely.
8 out of 10
It must have been foolish to expect a well-planned outcome for this kind of detective. Expect that sooner or later there will be that 19-year-old son and the woman who gave birth to his main character. There’s nothing like this in Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers, so I’d like to warn you in advance: anyone who thinks they’re going to watch a simple, unpretentious comedy detective, change your mind! Before it's too late.
Perhaps the lack of a clear and understandable to each viewer denouement and could add significant disadvantages to the film, but not this. It is useless to do this here, although... Just do not forget one obvious thought when watching: Broken Flowers is, first of all, a parable, and then a drama, melodrama, comedy, detective... This film, like no other, tells about the meaning of life, not abstract, but quite real and often encountered. And, it would be more correct to say: not about the whole life, but only about the present and a little about the past, which, no matter how twisted, continues to exert its tangible influence constantly.
The film is about the mistakes made in the years of carefree youth, and sometimes even maturity, which somehow painfully delayed. Not so much hidden and a certain connection between the main character of the film – Don Johnston and the famous womanizer and seducer – Don Juan. A kind of story about an elderly hero-lover, by some mysterious circumstances, who looked back and clearly realized all his defectiveness and weakness, and most importantly - loneliness. A most instructive story for all the burners of life. A kind of “alarm bell” in my head, which, I hope, will still ring in time.
Perhaps, in comparison with other art-house tapes, Broken Flowers looks quite easy and relaxed, although if you think about it and recall it a little, then, of course, the movie is a little long and all 106 minutes stretch in one single key. In some places, some very slight vein is missing, perhaps even irony. But still, viewing is not as boring as you would fear. So everything goes without problems!
The very name "Broken Flowers", for some reason, the first association is associated with four (conditionally) pink bouquets. Although, if you think about it, flowers are women, or rather fleeting affairs that just had to end up with something broken. As a result, the main character was surrounded by a huge number of scattered petals, which have long withered , and with pathetic bits of stems, which are of no value. So there's a lot to think about.
Bottom line: it is undoubtedly worth watching, only before viewing you need to be mentally prepared. Don’t wait for quick action and count on something more philosophical than something entertaining.
Jim Jarmusch's films are not something I watch voluntarily. When all the bohemian girls in the journalism department (as well as Murakami) went crazy from his work, I had an internal mechanism of protest: if everyone is going through it, I do not have to go over it. As a result, I saw Jarmusch’s first film, not knowing that it was Jarmusch, on Ren-TV in the night screening. There used to be such shows under the auspices of Stella Artois. Whether before the weekend of eroticism, or after... It was a movie called Coffee and Cigarettes. Which I don't remember right now. Well, actually, as I looked, half-eyed, falling asleep, and remembered.
I watched "The Dead Man" because of Azanova. She's Depp's connoisseur. I was wondering what my friend liked. I have been in this movie for a long time.
Broken Flowers ended up on my computer... I can’t remember why. But they lay there for a long time. And probably would have been the same if it hadn't been for my broken iron. The process of ironing laundry now resembles punishment. And in order to somehow entertain myself, and at the same time not to freak out on a mountain of crumpled underwear, I include films-“debts”, so to speak.
On an elderly person (as it turns out, not poor and a womanizer) falls immediately 2 events: he leaves a cohabitant and comes a letter. According to this letter, an elderly man has an adult son who goes to him. But who gave birth to this son is not specified. And an elderly man, with the help of his neighbor, tears the fifth point from the sofa and goes in search of the mother of his written son.
Slowly and cumbersome as caramel, the film sprawled in time space. Despite the fact that the actions of the film are inscribed in a matter of days, the director did everything so that his picture did not resemble a typical Hollywood tragicomedy. And where the clip clip (1 plan – 1 second) usually flashes to cheerful music like “Back in USSA”, Jarmusch simply sets the camera statically and gives the viewer to watch the main character sleep. And he is not fond of bright soundtracks, unlike his equally alternative Hollywood counterpart Tarantino. I got the impression that the whole film is one continuous inter-noise. When there is no dialogue.
The dialogue is led by outstanding actors, I must say. In the title role is Bill Murray, who is no longer a ghost hunter and not even the cheerful boss of Charlie’s Angels. An actor with a terribly funny appearance is able to put so much tragedy and emptiness in his eyes that it becomes scary. It's scary that your life could be like Murray's Don Johnston. After all, having enough money in the bank account, Don does not even live, but just misses the hours and days of his life. His girlfriend left and he stood up and asked, “Can you stay?” Nope? Well, no. Flowers wither. Let them die. Sleeping in a tracksuit and shoes? I woke up and went to my neighbor for coffee. And in fact, if it wasn't for the neighbor, the absolute opposite of Don, there probably wouldn't be a movie. Well, the letter came, well, there's a son. What? The neighbor is interested. He's really into detectives. The neighbor is played by Geoffrey Wright (CIA agent in The Last Bonds). And this is his liveliness that draws Don into his own life.
How many movies have there been like this? There was a movie called “How Much Do You Have?” There, the girl counted all her exes. There was a movie called "The Bachelor." There's a guy walking around ex-girlfriends looking for a wife. But all these and similar films from “Broken flowers” is distinguished by the presence of at least some dynamics. There are only 5 women (one of whom is in the cemetery). And he does this in detail, looking at the interior in detail, the proposed dinner, the photo of the dog, the darkness or the grave.
Among the former are Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton (but you won’t recognize her), Frances Conroy. Each one draws an individual life, which was 20 years ago, which was all these 20 years, and which is now. And draw to the best of their professionalism and familiar image. Well, you understand that Stone did not get the role of an elderly biker.
As I mentioned in Jarmusch, the film lacks the concept of climax. Here, everyone, except the main character, is perceived at the same level - at the level of supporting roles. You could just put Murray's character in front of a chromakey, and just let the characters down by drawing the right ass. "You have a son? Nope? Next one. Can you tell me how to get there? Thank you. In every woman you suspect the same, and in every young man you see a potential son. And it turns out that everyone in life has something pink - through the image of the picture.
Well, the promised Cape metaphor: guess what, what's with the broken flowers? You didn’t even have to bother to realize that these flowers are women and from ruined lives. However, the most lush broken flower is the life of Don himself, which after 106 minutes of screen action remained the same as in the beginning.
A lonely, aging woman receives an anonymous letter saying that twenty years ago he had a son.
Sometimes life brings some strange surprises.
And we can’t influence it in any way, moreover, without them our life would turn into a dull existence, not necessarily confined in a bad house, with a tracksuit and dry flowers on the shelf, we would come up with something of our own, but still clearly not enviable. It is up to us how we react to these changes. Whether we remain silent, ignore them, or search desperately for them, without them we can only return to our own broken flowers.
I liked the diversity of his ex-women, each with their own fate, feelings and problems, with a different reaction to the sudden appearance of a man from his past.
Once again, I was convinced that the past is better left to memory, it will not lead to anything other than ridiculous, artificial conversations and a sense of bewilderment.
In this film, Jarmusch, of course, retains his usual handwriting. I see it this way: it seems that the storyline exists, but it is blurred, and, most importantly, the culmination in it is either absent at all, or intentionally devoid of emotionality, any effect. In other words, the director does not put any accents. The viewer has a choice – either to try to arrange them themselves (my experience shows that those who do this soon decide for themselves that the film, over which you need to think somehow – is too much), or to succumb to the smooth flow of what is happening on the screen and try to perceive each individual scene as a brief, simple, uncomplicated statement on the topic of human existence, and the whole picture – as a whole work of art, made in a certain style, not obliged to amaze, capture and excite, but through which the author gives his assessment of the reality in which we all exist.
Therefore, my sincere advice to anyone who is just going to see this film – relax. No one will try to charm you, no one will shock you, you will not be offered any complex schemes and formulas that will have to solve – in other words, the author himself did not gut the above-mentioned reality for something like this, and you do not force it. Just relax and contemplate with Jarmusch and his characters.
In order to describe the state in which the main character is in the film, I somehow managed to find the words only in English - things happen, and he is just there. I mean, in fact, he kind of lived a full life -- women, business, real estate. But here, where Jarmusch and the viewer catch him, he is more like an infusoria shoe than a person living a full life. He sleeps a lot, sits on the couch, staring at the TV screen, does not strain much to stop the passion leaving him. I think it's a very good scene where he's sitting in his house, thinking about a mysterious letter from one of his exes, and next to the coffee table there's an untouched glass of champagne. No, he does not drink from it without rushing, savoring every sip - no poetics, no will to even receive such banal and primitive pleasure. And in the scenes where the character is in the cafe, he does not order any food, only coffee. Involuntarily recalls the embarrassment that happened with the main character of Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”, when an adult man suddenly turned out to be “out of focus” – at first, it seems only in the lens of the camera on which he was filmed, but, as soon as it turned out, in real life: “Daddy, you are blurry!”, his children tell him, and the hero himself admits that something is wrong with him. It seems that the same could say about his state of “out of focus” and Don Johnston.
The humor in the picture is not that subtle – the subtlest. Maybe not so much refined as unobtrusive. Such “jewelry” work would not have worked if the duo of Jarmusch and Murray were not so harmonious in their simple genius.
To the theme of the female beginning in the film, the director seems to have treated with conscious neglect. There is no one to admire here - almost all the heroines rather cause pity or a smile. And their roles are spelled out in such a way that throughout the film they manage to make the audience laugh even more often and easier than Don Johnston performed by the brilliant Murray.
The finale of the picture does not stand out from the general concept - something happened to the main character after all, but, firstly, what exactly is not clear to him or the audience, and secondly, the director does not give us any reason to react emotionally to the director: if you want, try to put everything on shelves, if you want - just laugh (but not evil) at the absurdity of the situation in which Don Johnston turned out, the main thing - do not strain yourself.
One of the main themes in the work of Jim Jarmusch is the balance between the inner peace of the hero and his external movement. This topic is present in "Nights on Earth", and in "Ghost Dog" and especially in "Limit of Control". Not without her in Broken Flowers. However, if in other films the equanimity of the characters stems from meditative concentration, the calmness of the protagonist of Broken Flowers is akin to despondency, petrified insensitivity.
The elderly and satiated Don Juan of our days – Don Johnston, a computer scientist, is left by his woman – another victim of the dream of a real family. Don takes this news completely passively, does not even get up from the sofa, he continues, as before the departure of his mistress, to watch a TV film of the 20s about his famous namesake: "Leave while you are remembered as before." These wrinkles, gray hair ..."
His life is motionless like standing water. All events lead only to a weak movement of fading waves. It feels like Don's apartment doesn't even have air. And a glass of bubbling champagne has more life than the Don itself. TOSCA. And suddenly in this standing, overgrown with duckweed water - bultyh! a huge such cobblestone falls: they find a letter written on pink paper. From this letter, Don learns that he has an adult son who is kind of going to meet him. Did the woman just send this letter? He didn’t know, the letter was unsigned. So they would have run away, and the next laps on the water would have gone out, and there would have been no film, but only brought to the Don obsessed with investigations of Winston's neighbor. And Don sets out to find the women he abandoned twenty years ago.
Another Jarmuschian road movie. Not too long a hero's journey is either half a country, twenty years, or himself. What will Don Johnston take out of him? Is it just a thought at the end of the film?
The past is over, I know that. The future has not yet arrived, whatever it may be. This means that what remains is the present.
Why is the movie called Broken Flowers? Jarmusch's script was originally titled Dead Flowers, but the director persistently sought a more accurate, concise title. And I did. Broken flowers are a wonderful image. It symbolizes unfulfilled hopes, lost opportunities, that beautiful thing that was in a person’s life and that it is impossible to return.
The film has a great cast, and the role of Don is the best of Bill Murray’s roles (where I’ve seen him). Excellent soundtrack and camera work.
Like all his films, Broken Flowers is an atmospheric movie. Thoughtful. The picture conveys a unique Jarmushev light and at the same time a slightly sad mood.
The sun shines mercilessly in the sky, over your head.
And again past the cash register, the shadow crept into the corner and trembled.
Everything in the world is made of plastic and around plastic life
Tighten your tails, kill me, because I have long been cold to you.
Jim Jarmusch for me is a unique director. One of a kind. Sometimes his film is just necessary. He's a mood director. And if you can resonate with the fluctuating feelings of his film, the effect will be amazing. I'm lucky. For the third time, I successfully fall under the amazing atmosphere of his film and after watching it, I come out updated and enriched. It is forbidden to watch more than one painting per month. It's something special. Like a very rare wine. Well, you can not drink it just like that, there must be some weighty reason. But those who merge in the eruption of the soul with Jarmusch will get what we are for no matter what.
Broken Flowers. A sad and at the same time beautiful name. It has depth and lightness, incredible poetry and simplicity. The film is a flight in which there will be no fall. A film in which the past and future do not matter. Only the present is meaningful, only the present we live. This is a film about love, or rather about the imprints of love. What does she leave in us? Joy or sadness, life or death? And so after watching this magnificent movie, I finally confirmed the opinion that love is always pain.
Jarmusch’s story is neither new nor original. But the most important thing is not what the film is about, but how. How it's off. The way actors play. How all the cogs in the movie mechanism work. I'll mark Bill Murray right away. One of my favorite actors. In this film, he just enjoys his role. He has little dialogue and little action, but what is beyond praise. Every emotion on his face looks amazing. Every word he says sounds like a great guitar. For all the fun and desperation of the film, the atmosphere will be calm. Full of Zen. No sadness, no joy. Only moments will flash a sweet smile. It’s as if all the actors were exhausted before the shooting. And that's why I love Jarmusch. No fuss, only a measured course of events.
The whole point of the movie, it's in the details. Forever haunting Bill Murray pink. It literally forces him to do unusual things. It's like a red rag for a bull. Or before each meeting, trucks come in. It's like they're carrying a load from his heart. There's a lot to take. Bill Murray's hero feels lonely, rejected, but that's not what eats him the most. He cares about his ladies. Those whom he once broke his heart, as if with every broken heart, his heart lost its half. And in the end, there was a small heart, no longer able to feel anything big. But at the same time, he cares about his old friends. He truly loves them and wants to stay with them. And here I was most surprised that I did not have any sympathy for the main character.
The finale of the painting looks ironic. Sharp, incomprehensible and brilliant. For example, I did not fully understand Jarmusch's mania for basketball rings, met in front of every cherished house.
In general, I saw one of those films that forever fall into the soul. Movie romance, movie mood. Never lost in one-day melodramas, he will always find his audience.