Broken Flowers

[Redlum]

Man, I was getting the post WotW blues untill I found that trailer link. Thanks.

Does anyone know what the last track in the trailer is?

[hedwig]

Man, I was getting the post WotW blues untill I found that trailer link. Thanks.

Does anyone know what the last track in the trailer is?

"There Is An End" -- The Greenhornes

[Redlum]

Thanks

Here's the poster from AICN:

[MacGuffin]

Unconventional filmmaker Jarmusch turns to suburbia

Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, known as a cinematic risk-taker, is now taking chances in an unexpected way -- by flirting with the mainstream in his latest movie, "Broken Flowers."

The comedy starring Bill Murray drops the stark settings associated with the art house darling's earlier work and instead offers a tour of the suburbs and a reflection on life and love.

Countering its swerve toward conventionality by maintaining an eccentric beat and sensibility, the film by writer-director Jarmusch won the Grand Prix prize at the Cannes Film Festival and begins playing in U.S. theaters on Aug. 5.

"This is an odd one for me," said Jarmusch, who made his mark with quirky, darkly comic, artistic films like "Stranger Than Paradise (1983) and "Down By Law" (1986) that often depict journeys, examine fate and look at life from an outsider or foreigner's perspective.

"Broken Flowers" offers some familiar strands but its odyssey through a suburban world takes the filmmaker outside his comfort zone.

OUTSIDE HIS ZONE

Jarmusch dislikes his main character, which he created expressly for Murray. He abhors retrospection yet has his protagonist confront his past four times over and sheds his 'guy film' image by using an array of actresses including Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton and Frances Conroy.

In "Broken Flowers," devout bachelor Don Johnston has been dumped by his latest lover and resigns himself to being alone. But an ex-lover's anonymous letter telling him he fathered a son 19 years earlier moves Johnston to confront his past.

Goaded into action by his Ethiopian neighbor, played by Jeffrey Wright, Johnston seeks out his former lovers, getting a glimpse of his past and a taste of what might have been.

"I don't identify at all with Don Johnston at the beginning. I don't even like him. That's very unusual for me. In all my films, no matter how damaged or socially inept characters may be, I really feel for them. I love them.

"I don't love Don Johnston. I don't care about some rich guy that made money off computers, had pretty girlfriends and doesn't know what he's doing."

So topsy-turvy was the experience that Jarmusch did the editing process in reverse -- starting from the last scene and working backwards.

"I didn't feel for him in the beginning, but I want to feel for him in the end," Jarmusch said about his protagonist. "It was six weeks of editing before we started looking at the film's beginning."

SHAPING CHARACTERS

The beginnings of the project included a New York night stroll with Murray.

"We walked all the way from the Lower East Side to the Upper East Side (about 4 miles) talking the whole time, preparing the character," said Jarmusch, who prefers shaping a character with an actor rather than rehearsing scenes.

"We were talking about our lives, human nature and love, and love stories and things that misconnect and why they misconnect."

Jarmusch said he consciously tried to create strong female characters in this project.

"In my life I've learned a lot more from female friends and lovers and people close to me than I have from male friends," he said. "Maybe because I don't understand them completely.

"A lot of my female friends said, "'Down By Law" is really a boys' movie, and "Ghost Dog" is really a boys' movie, and so is "Dead Man." We like them but you make boys' movies.'

"Well, I'm a boy, you know?"

One trademark element in "Broken Flowers" is a provocative soundtrack, including a mesmerizing lead-in song, "There Is An End," by The Greenhornes featuring singer Holly Golightly.

Jarmusch said he feels no urge to join some new wave directors who have found big-budget studio collaborations.

"To me, I like the margins. I'm not a mainstream guy. Whether it's literature or music, the mainstream doesn't speak directly to my heart, and that's where I get inspired by the world of ideas," Jarmusch said.

"Where they cross with business is a very complex thing. But I don't do this for business. I do it because I love ideas in the form of filmmaking."

[MacGuffin]

Interview: Jim Jarmusch Speaks on Evolution of "Broken Flowers"
by Howard Feinstein/indieWIRE

Movie-savvy readers, who have followed articles about Jim Jarmusch's picaresque "Broken Flowers" ever since it took the Grand Prix at Cannes in May, are familiar with its spare plot. Film icon Bill Murray plays ennui-ridden Don Johnston, a wealthy retiree and lifelong Lothario described by the director as "a man with a hole in his life" -- the latest in Jarmusch's gallery of isolated protagonists. Don receives an anonymous unsigned letter on pink stationery informing him that he has a 19-year-old son. Partly out of curiosity but mostly out of endless prodding by his friend and neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright), a working-class Ethiopian immigrant and amateur sleuth, Don embarks on a trip around the States to check out the motherhood status of four ex-girlfriends from two decades before. The women are played by Tilda Swinton, Frances Conroy, Sharon Stone, and Jessica Lange injecting indie, television, and even more Hollywood star power into the film.

What most readers don't know is that "Broken Flowers" -- a kissin' cousin to Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1949 "A Letter to Three Wives" -- is the offshoot of an earlier script, "Three Moons in the Sky," also penned for Murray. "It's about a polygamist who deeply loves each of his three wives and families but keeps them secret from one another," Jarmusch explains. He chats affably in the garden of an upscale Cannes hotel, his silver mane attracting the attention of passersby. "The man works his ass off to maintain the secret, but it wears him down." Murray agreed to do the picture. Jarmusch recalls that he then obtained most of the financing during the 2002 Cannes festival, where his Chloe Sevigny-starrer "Int. Trailer Night" was playing. (It is a segment in the omnibus film "Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet.") Now the screenplay is, he says, "in a drawer." He had second thoughts after he returned home.

"I reread the script and thought, this is a great story -- this isn't a great script. It's overwritten, it needs work. I don't rewrite scripts. I didn't want to spend two years of my life fixing it. So I went to Bill with the idea that became 'Broken Flowers' and told him, 'I got the money but I don't want to make the film.' He looked at me, as if to ask, 'What are you SAYING?' I told him I had another idea and what it was. He just said, 'Let's do that one.' I didn't want to do a bait-and-switch thing on him, but I had to be honest. I wrote the new script in two-and-a-half weeks and gave it to him."

He does not regret the time most of us would consider wasted. "I've been making films for 25 years. I don't like looking back into my own past, but I've learned that progress comes from the mistakes. Mistakes are gifts. The stuff that didn't work remains mysterious. You can't analyze why something worked, but you can analyze why it DIDN'T work."

Jarmusch had another purpose in mind with the new script. "I wanted to do something with this incredible wealth of female actors 40-55 who seem discarded. I wanted female characters who were varied and interesting as part of the story." He had Stone and Lange in mind, but didn't initially think of either "Six Feet Under"'s Conroy ("I don't watch TV") nor Swinton ("I met her in LA backstage at a rock 'n roll concert by The Darkness"). And varied and interesting their characters are. "I don't like back-story," he asserts, adding that the viewer can chart the women's 20-year path "by the way they live, by objects in their homes, by how they dress and talk." Stone's earthy, working-class Laura has a yard sale going on in front of her home, a "suped-up" car in the driveway, and a naked teen daughter in the living room. Conroy's passive Dora lives with her husband in a sterile pink home in a faux-quality real estate development. Lange's low-key Carmen, who has opted for an alter native lifestyle, practices her profession of "animal communicator" in an expensive structure of barn wood and glass on a large wooded site. Swinton's Penny is a tough biker gal whose unmanicured yard contains motorcycles, car seats, and wrecked autos.

Just as we begin to think that Don's voyage across the country by plane and car (accompanied by a fabulous bluesy piece written and performed by Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke) is, on one level, an anthropological study of class and values in contemporary America, we realize that something is missing. We don't have a clue where any of them lives. License plates are blurred; no telling road or airport signs are visible. "On set I always referred to it as 'Generica,'" says Jarmusch. "Normally I like the contrast between city and country. I live in the city and in the Catskills, and I love them both. This film is in between. It's all in the suburbs, like where I came from, from where I escaped." He neglects to mention another, less abstract reason for the non-differentiation of locations. Murray agreed to the project on condition that all of it -- and he is in just about every frame -- be shot within 100 miles of his New York home. The film was made entirely in New York an d New Jersey.

"Broken Flowers" is poignant, sadness overriding comedy. Winston IS comic relief, and we can't help but laugh at seeing four well-respected actresses playing parts that sabotage our expectations. The movie begins with Don's live-in girlfriend walking out and ends on a revelatory note with an existential 360 degree pan around him. "I always have a natural mix of melancholy and humor coming from inside," says Jarmusch. "In this film, I tried to pull the humor back a bit for two reasons: I wanted sadness to have its proper place; and I wanted to pull from that side of Bill, a very precise actor who can be so hilarious. Usually when I start a movie, it gets funnier as I go along; it just sneaks in. In this one, I tried to keep the humor between the takes." It's more "Ghost Dog" than "Down by Law," less "Stranger in Paradise" than "Dead Man." "We laughed a lot when the camera wasn't rolling, but we were careful not to let (the film itself) go in the direction of the goofball st uff. I hope it's funny, although I'm afraid the American people will just sit there and..." He offers a shrug signifying incomprehension.

He is wary of how "Broken Flowers" will be seen compared to his earlier works. Someone at the press conference earlier that day had brought up its relative accessibility. "What's more accessible about it?" he barks, referring to the comment. "Maybe my paranoid brain hears 'commercial' when I hear accessible -- and that's a bad thing to me. That makes me draw a gun. My intention is not to make my films commercial. I'm not willing to make a product for commerce. I'm not stupid, though. Some distributors so have to work their asses off to get people to see it-- but that's not my job or concern. If it were, I'd be betraying myself."

"I worry that, because Bill was in Sofia Coppola's film" -- he notes that his script came first -- "they'll try to sell 'Broken Flowers' as (deep voice) 'Lost in Translation' meets 'Sideways.'"

[noyes]

A Bittersweet Trip to the Land of Lost Love
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: August 5, 2005

With "Broken Flowers," Jim Jarmusch's sly, touching new film, Bill Murray reaffirms his status as the quietest comic actor in movies today. His voice barely rises above a murmur, and his face remains almost perfectly still, its slightest tics and flickers captured by Mr. Jarmusch's discreet, mostly stationary camera.

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. We first see Don on the couch in his large, tastefully decorated suburban home. His latest girlfriend, Sherry (Julie Delpy), 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 - a big television, sleek furniture, a Mercedes sedan - and has plenty of money, having been some kind of computer entrepreneur before retiring. A movie (or a movie critic) more inclined toward psychologizing might suggest that Don was depressed. In any case, as he tips over on his couch and falls asleep, we can surmise that 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, typed in red ink on pink stationery, informing Don that 20 years earlier, he fathered a son. The anonymous message, apparently from one of Don's former lovers, warns him that the boy may be looking for him.

Don's impulse is to do nothing, but his neighbor, Winston (Jeffrey Wright), has other ideas. Winston is Don's friend and also, in almost every way, his opposite. In contrast to the slothful bachelor next door, he is a hard-working family man, with a wife, five children and three jobs. He is also something of an amateur detective, convinced that with the right clues and sleuthing methods, Don can find the mother of his supposed son and the missing pieces of his own history.

And so Don sets off, for brief reunions with four women he used to know, who are played by Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton. What he finds are possible clues - basketball hoops suggesting the presence of a male child; a typewriter sitting on a patch of unkempt lawn; various pink objects, including a bauble-encrusted cellphone - and also further puzzles. His welcome, as he shows up in a rented car with a bouquet of flowers, varies. At one house he finds warmth and a roll in the hay for old times' sake, but elsewhere he meets with awkwardness, suspicion and even a punch in the face.

Does he find what he was looking for? I can't really say, and only partly because I don't want to spoil the movie. Winston's belief that the truth can be known - about other people, about oneself - is an idea the movie respects but does not really endorse. We go to the theater expecting to see experience tied up in a neat, attractive package, but the best movies, the ones that insert themselves into our own experiences and ways of looking at life, frustrate that expectation.

"Broken Flowers" is certainly beautiful, as lilting and seductive as the music, by the Ethiopian jazz artist Mulatu Astatke, that accompanies Don on his trip. Mr. Jarmusch's frames are full of odd, lovely details, and he has a rigorous visual wit reminiscent of classic cartoons and silent comedies.

He also has a teasing, literary sense of artifice. But he never goes for the obvious emotion or the easy disclosure, preferring elusiveness to exposition and tracking subtle shifts of mood rather than choreographing dramatic confrontations.

The emotions he uncovers are not always easy to name. Hovering around the edges of the frame - and playing across Mr. Murray's mouth and eyes - are longing, disappointment, bafflement and an earnest sense of wonder. As he goes off in search of the loose ends of his earlier romantic life, Don finds regret, but he also seems to be returning to the source of his fascination with women. Each of the actresses brings an indelible, eccentric individuality to the screen. We wish we could spend more time with them, or go back in time to see them with the younger Don.

The movie's title may imply the defeat of romance, but it is also a defense of romanticism - its own and Don's - as an approach to life that, while it may be flawed, is also generous. Don may be many things - a lost soul, a failure, a man adrift in his own life - but he is also, fundamentally, a lover, and "Broken Flowers" partakes of his chivalrous, gentlemanly spirit. Like a perfect, short-lived love affair, its pleasure is accompanied by a palpable sting of sorrow. It leaves you wanting more, which I mean entirely as a compliment.

[Myxo]

All signs point to me seeing it this weekend.

Critics are loving it.

[mutinyco]

It's just one midlife crisis movie too many. And Bill Murray has starred in at least 4 of them.

The critics are jumping all over it for the same reason they gobbled up Sideways -- they relate.

[modage]

THIS IS THE WORST MOVIE I'VE SEEN ALL YEAR.

that was not an exaggeration.  it's not terrible godawful, but its NOT GOOD AT ALL and such a waste of talent i was seething with hatred from frustration.  

annoying thing #1: calling the character Don a "Don Juan" about 3 times in the first 10 minutes.  WE GET IT, could you be any more obvious?

annoying thing #1 part II: once that got tired, he thought having every character remark on the name Don Johnston as to be confused with Don Johnson.  HILARIOUS right?!!  especially when everyone does it and it's the most obvious joke you could go for!

annoying thing #2: giving bill murray the worst performance of his career.  he mopes through the entire film without any redeeming or interesting qualities whatsoever.  he is a sad sack who is not allowed to have any personality.  it is one note and frustrating as hell considering the talent murray possesses.  murray has done the sadness thing as mutinyco noted about 4 times now (rushmore, royal t, life aquatic, & lost in translation) but he was able to combine the sadness with humor to create a rich character.  he was allowed to perform.  jarmusch has crushed all the life out of murray.  it's not a 'dry' or 'deadpan' performance, murray sleepwalks through this movie like a zombie.  the balls jarmusch has even to take murray, arguably one of the funniest performers of a generation and make him so boring makes me sick.  and then giving the 'comedy' to be played by geoffrey wright.  haha, get it?  the comedian is 'acting' and the actor is being funny?  wow, you're a genius!  they way you switched it up like that.  hey, robert plant was a good singer, maybe he should've played drums and john bonham should've sung for a zeppelin album!  genius!  

annoying thing #3: the number of shots & entire scenes which serve absolutely no purpose.  i couldn't even count them.  try, you can't.  the movie is an endless series of shots that last a few seconds in which nothing happens.  i CANT EVEN IMAGINE how he could justify 3/4 of this movie to the crew and cast while they were shooting.  "okay, everybody the point of this scene is..."  there is no way to finish that sentence.  i will also include that fading out 100 times is not a good way to end 100 scenes.  it sucks.

annoying thing #4: no resolution, no point.  i had a feeling it was heading this way, because jarmusch clearly felt the film was more about the RIDE than the actual STORY, but i've got news for him THE RIDE SUCKED, ASSHOLE.  IT SUCKED HARD, SO THE LEAST YOU COULD'VE DONE WAS GIVE ME SOME SORT OF ENDING.  flying around murray for a few seconds and zooming on his face should've been the perfect ending if it actually MEANT ANYTHING YOU FUCKING ASS!  god, seriously.  

annoying thing #5: Jarmusch is the Pavement of directors.  he's just not that talented.  somehow he has managed to sustain a career off making bad to okay movies that attract interesting talent and never really getting any better.  you'd think after 20 years or more of making this shit, he could turn out something that would be worth watching, but not ol' stubborn jim.  

I wrote the new script in two-and-a-half weeks and gave it to [Murray].

yeah, it shows.  i don't know why you're bragging about it.  the script sucks.  its an interesting premise killed by a script that does nothing to take advantage of its setup or characters.  

In this one, I tried to keep the humor between the takes.  We laughed a lot when the camera wasn't rolling, but we were careful not to let (the film itself) go in the direction of the goofball stuff.

hmmm... well thats good.  doing everything in your power to STOP bill murray from being funny.  why did you cast him again?  atleast you had a good time between takes, unfortunately we can't watch that, cause it doesn't show.  

I worry that, because Bill was in Sofia Coppola's film they'll try to sell 'Broken Flowers' as 'Lost in Translation' meets 'Sideways.'

umm.  you WISH your film was anywhere near the league of these other films, okay?  you should be so lucky.  

i know a lot of you will be disappointed, many more will not believe me and see for yourself.  i'm trying to warn you atleast lower your expectations.  but for those of you who will proclaim to love this movie and list it at the end of the year, i will fight you.  this movie is not good.  it's not even a difference of opinion, its just no fucking good.  seriously, at best its decent but its NOT GOOD.  D-

[samsong]

i will fight you.

[Myxo]

I get the feeling from reading themodernage02's thoughts that he wrote all of that without taking a breath. Wow! Uhm, damnit. I wanted to go see this and now I'm jaded.

It's that bad?

[RegularKarate]

annoying thing #5: Jarmusch is the Pavement of directors.  he's just not that talented.  somehow he has managed to sustain a career off making bad to okay movies that attract interesting talent and never really getting any better.  you'd think after 20 years or more of making this shit, he could turn out something that would be worth watching, but not ol' stubborn jim.  

which is why your review is invalid.

I will continue to look forward to this.

Unfortunatley, it's not in Austin this week (which is really fucked up and surprising)

[JG]

this is the only movie this year that i am interested in seeing.  bad year for movies, in my opinion.

[Pozer]

annoying thing #5: Jarmusch is the Pavement of directors.  he's just not that talented.  somehow he has managed to sustain a career off making bad to okay movies that attract interesting talent and never really getting any better.  you'd think after 20 years or more of making this shit, he could turn out something that would be worth watching, but not ol' stubborn jim.  

which is why your review is invalid.

I will continue to look forward to this.

Yes, once I got to this part I thought, oh, Jarmusch just ain't his cup of tea.  
But if you knew what his movies are and how much you dislike and are annoyed by them, why be so harsh in your review?  Hell, why go see the movie in the first place for that matter?  
I just don't get it.  Just like you don't get ol' stubborn Jim.

[Pubrick]

i can't find my post where i said this would suck, but i think mod might be right on this one. if what he says is true, it'll be interesting to see the defenses for what's likely to be a shit boring movie.