Just saw Down by Law last night. It was great. That makes 3 fine films from Jarmusch - my other 2 favs are Dead Man and Mystery Train. Broken Flowers, or whatever that boring traveling movie is called, not so much. What you got to say about that?

I thought Down By Law was gorgeously photographed, but it didn't connect with me at all. That's the thing about Jarmusch's films. I often see them as intellectual existential exercises with far too many pregnant pauses. Of the ones you mentioned, I liked Dead Man the best. My fave Jarmusch films are Night on Earth and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, so I suggest checking out those.

Ghost Dog may be my favorite Jarmusch film too. It's probably the most conventional of Jarmusch's films, but he seems better when he's not trying to be overly artsy-fartsy. Forest Whittaker is great as a gangsta hitman trying to live by the code of the Samurai. And nice pre-Kill Bill soundtrack work by the RZA.

Great job given some props to a rapper eric. By the way, haven't seen you in a while, how you been?

Personally, I thought that Broken Flowers was a great film. I've always liked Bill Murray but in this movie he is fantastic. His facial expressions are unmatched and he is just so funny without even trying. The scene where he puts the fake, nasty food in his mouth and pretends to like it by cringing a smile (a la Cheney style) is so memorable. I thought the movie had a great story line and was well-directed. I think it is underrated and features a tremendous acting job.

yeah, i loved ghost dog and dead man and down y law. actually, i like most jarmusch. wasnt too into broken flowers, though. it felt like Lost In Translation 2

I guess I got a really bad first impression from him, because I've only seen Broken Flowers, and I hated that movie.

Hmmm. I haven't seen many of his films.

But, I have seen Dead Man (bought it for 7 bucks on a whim), and I fell in love with it.

So on that film alone, I'll be checking out the rest of his movies...

I loved Broken Flowers but couldn't finish Mystery Train. So I guess he's hit or miss with me as a director.

"Broken Flowers" was about as uninvolving a film as I can imagine. The whole "let's watch Bill Murray sit and brood" concept is, to me, simply a Director's affectation. Jarmusch is trying way too hard to be artsy or intense or important or I don't know what.

Bottom line; boring your viewers doesn't work.

ok this post looks pretty dead but here is a phoenix down

new jim jaramusch flick called The limits of Control looks great. First of if not the best then def one of the best DPs in the world CHristopher Doyle is filming this. Second the cast cannot be any better with Issach De Bankole, Gael Garcia Bernal, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Bill Murray. All have been on a great streak recently. The trailer looks fabulous with such great lines as "how did u get in here? "i used my imagination", "no guns, no sex, mmm how can u stand it?"

I wasn't an enamored by Mr. Jarmusch's directorial effort with Broken Flowers (2005) as I was with Sophia Coppola's success with the same actor Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003). An earlier critique of mine:

quote:

Filmed in the same fashion and style as Murray's earlier 2003 work, "Lost In Translation," director Jarmusch is unable to completely replicate the successful, seamless, and concise evocative emotional resonance that Sofia Coppola obtained through her more simplistic and straight forward storyline in "Lost in Translation." Bill Murray's character is an unsettling paradox in that while it's easy to understand why his past lovers left him, it's almost impossible to understand why they were interested in this character in the first place. Somewhat unsympathetic, this Murray character is too much like his role in "Lost In Translation" but without the tight knight subtle humor. His trek into a search of a son is consumed with a mostly wasteful interaction with his next door neighbor who is the motivating force behind his search in the first place. Not enough time, unlike "Lost In Translation" is spent on the most compelling component of the movie, the women and Bill Murray's interaction with them in the present. There is one classic shot of Bill Murray's profile looking out against a hotel/motel window to the outside, it is shot in such a way as to distance the audience from the movie having us see Murray's character experiencing this desolate city landscape instead of allowing us to experience it for ourselves. Some of the scenes felt manipulative and overly dramatic, simplified to provide the audience with the sharp contrast between these women's lives. Overall, this qualitatively substantive "Lost In Translation" sequel attempt is a significant move in the right direction for cinema, but the total effective use of the technique still needs work.

first of all this is not an attempt at a sequel just because an actor is used for his specific style of acting.it would be like saying life aquatic was a continuation of rushmore. jaramusch is not attempting the same thing as coppola was.

murray is used a little differently in broken flowers. i didnt quite laugh or chukle as he was sitting alone in his penthouse like pad. Coppola uses Murray as an outsider in a different country to illustrate his alienation but in broken flowers, he is become like one of the couches and tvs - part of the decor, stationary; unable to move forward in life.

u are right in saying that copalla's storyline was straight. i would actually say that the story in broken flowers is pretty straight as well - your cliche road movie. But i think the interactions you described as 'wasteful', i would describe it as creating a space between the viewer and the story. The space welcomes the viewer to put his/her own interpretations into the interactions.

Ex: the housewife in suburbia who sells homes. Jaramusch with a few lines such as 'did i give you those pearls, i should have' or when her husband brings a photograph of her, at the dinner table, a former self as a hippie 'did i take that?' invites the viewer to explore the 'what could have been?' and a viewers reaction can make up so many different stories between them. The reaction shots of the woman in the space of her 'perfect' house, who gives away just a little, as if she was absolutely in love with murray, then took the turn for worse with a life in suburbia and choosing not to have kids, is perfectly captured by the frame of jaramusch - not to close but close enough to invite the viewer in.

For me the real center of this movie are the interactions with the woman (brilliant casting) - i ve often wondered what happened to my past girlfriends.

There is an absolutely gorgeous scene when murray towards the end of his trip finds himself at a grave of one of his former gfs, and he says 'hey beautiful'. There is rain and he sits by a tree, with a bruised eye, from an earlier skirmish. The scene spews with melancholic nostalgia as a few tears come down.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rgautam,

Yap.. new Jim jaramusch film "The limits of Control" looks great. Down by Law, Dead Man, Coffee and Cigarettes are mine favorite ones.