Jim, Bill & the Typewriter: a movie review on Broken Flowers
What a delight is to sit down and explore the world of indie favorite Jim Jarmusch. What's special about this picture is that one of my favorite actors is in it: Bill Murray.
Murray is the definition of a fine wine - he truly gets better with age. Despite a hit and miss past, Bill Murray's recent filmography has been almost perfect. The works of Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation and both roles in Jim Jarmusch's movies Coffee and Cigarettes (loved his scene, same can be said of Steve Buscemi) and finally Broken Flowers have been ideal.
We follow Murray as he receives a letter from an old flame who mentions that she was pregnant at the end of their relationship twenty years ago, and that he is the father of the child. His best friend Winston (a truly remarkable performance of Jeffrey Wright... you can see him in the Manchurian Candidate) convinces him to take a road trip to try and find his son, his old flame and maybe a new life.
What we have here is classic Jarmursch. The use of silence throughout the movie is effective as usual and the casting of Bill Murray is pure genius, making this a great movie and one of the best cinema experiences I've had this year.
The acting is spot on, with big names appearing. The likes of: Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct), Julie Delpy (Before Sunrise), Chloe Sevigny (Dogville), Christopher McDonald (The Man Who Wasn't There), Jessica Lange (Big Fish) and finally Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) all give great supporting performances. While the movie is probably not Oscar material, I'm glad it received praised at Cannes. Murray truly deserves more recognition for his acting range. Sometimes life brings us some strange surprises and Broken Flowers is one of them.
4 / 5
Official Website:
http://www.brokenflowersmovie.com/
See the trailer at: Broken Flowers
ed: JH
Article comments
1 - Eric Berlin
Great job on this review Anthony -- succinct and gets the job done with class.
2 - reggie von woic
Well isn't this blog popular.
LoL comment #2.