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Broken Flowers
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Broken Flowers, the latest film from director Jim Jarmusch, is something of a puzzle. The movie is centered around Don Johnston, played by Bill Murray, a preoccupied man who lives in the luxury penthouse/prison of his own narcissism. Don made his money in computers, but now doesn’t even own one. He is an “aging Don Juan” who barely reacts when his girlfriend, who clearly likes him, walks out on him in the movie’s first scene. He displays little more emotion when he receives an anonymous letter stating that 20 years ago he may have fathered a son and that the 19-year-old boy may be searching for him.
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"Broken Flowers" is one odd duck of a movie. It does about a dozen things carelessly — probably more — yet you never lose interest in Jim Jarmusch's story or Bill Murray's existential deadpan. Murray plays Don Johnston with a T, prompting a number of "Miami Vice" jokes. A wealthy bachelor who made his fortune in computers, Don now refuses to have one in his house — an early hint of the character's inherent contrariness. One day a pink letter arrives, saying Don fathered a son with one of his girlfriends years ago — and now the 19-year-old is set on looking up his dad. There's no signature, no return address, even the postmark is illegible.
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With "Broken Flowers," Jim Jarmusch's sly, touching film, Bill Murray reaffirms his status as the quietest comic actor in movies today. The stillness is appropriate, since at the start of the movie Mr. Murray's character, Don Johnston, seems to have arrived at a point of stasis in his life. His latest girlfriend, Sherry, is in the midst of leaving him, an event Don greets with a resignation that looks a lot like indifference. He is surrounded by nice stuff and has plenty of money, but he is inert, at rest, not going anywhere in particular. But "Broken Flowers," like some of Mr. Jarmusch's other movies, is a road picture, which sends its poker-faced hero on a journey across a nondescript American landscape into his own past. As Sherry is saying goodbye, a letter arrives, informing Don that 20 years earlier, he fathered a son. The anonymous message warns him that the boy may be looking for him.
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At first, Broken Flowers seems like a minor Jarmusch film but a major Murray vehicle. After the marvelous Ghost Dog, Jarmusch retreated into the difficulties of film finance for four years and emerged with the mediocre Coffee And Cigarettes, which played like a B-sides anthology to his major films, repeating the same stylistic tics and concerns to far less effect. In Broken Flowers, director and star are in harmony, though the latter makes a better first impression. Those who find the mere existence of Bill Murray hilarious should have a good time. He’s so completely composed that when he wakes up all rumpled from a nap, even his hair is worth a chuckle. Murray can put a topspin on a seemingly innocuous line and make it laugh-out-loud funny.
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At the official "Broken Flowers" site, see the movie trailer and several film clips with the ladies. Photo collections are featured and production notes, too. The navigation on these pages is subtle. Look for the pink blinking elements for the clicking points to the subsequent sections.
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In years to come, “Broken Flowers” will be forgotten. “Brokeback Mountain” and “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” will be remembered. Nevertheless, in its own quiet way, “Broken Flowers” is a terrific movie. Certainly one of 2005’s best.
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Broken Flowers