Broken Flowers (REVIEW)

UNIVERSAL REMOTE

Bill Murray is famously off the Hollywood grid. He has no agent, no PR flack, no nothing. If you want to speak to him, you have to call an unlisted phone number he gives out to practically no one. You have to leave a message because he never answers. If he wants to call you back, he will. If not, you have to try again. If too many people get his number, he changes it. I'm not sure what you do when that happens. But if you're determined to have Bill Murray in your movie, you have to figure out something.

Luckily for Jim Jarmusch, Murray returned his call because it is hard to imagine anyone else playing the role of Don Johnston in Broken Flowers. Don is an aging lothario who latest life-in girlfriend (Julie Delpy) has just left him. The same day, Don receives a pink letter in the mail from another ex saying that he has a grown son who may be trying to find him. The typed letter is unsigned and the postmark is too faint to read. Don shows the letter to his mystery-obsessed Ethiopean neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright) who takes an interest. He tells Don to make him a list of possible women that could have sent it. Winston then uses his detective skills, tracks them all down, and makes travel arrangements for Don to visit each one.

The rest of the movie is basically Don visiting four different very different women (played by Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessca Lange and Tilda Swinton) trying to figure out which one is the mother of the son he has never met. The frustrating thing about the way the story is told is that Don never asks any of the women about the letter or if they sent it. He brings them each pink flowers (that match the pink stationery the letter was written on) and asks them if they have a type-writer and tries to judge their reactions.

Jarmusch's story-telling style is a good fit for a minimalist like Murray. His movies move to a different rhythm than just about anyone else's. His scenes are slowly paced but often very funny without any real jokes. He takes the time to allow certain little absurdities come to light. I never really laugh when I watch a Jarmusch film, but I usually have a grin. So I was disappointed with Broken Flowers because I never really grinned. The movie is never really funny, despite the presence of Murray. The performances are are uniformly excellent (especially Murray and Wright) but seem let down by the narrative. The film can be seen as sort of a spiritual companion to Lost in Translation but not nearly as good. There is just less meat on the bones here.

While it seems many critice have just discovered how good Bill Murray is, I take pride in the fact that he's always been one of my favorite actors. Since his brilliant sad/funny performance in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, critics have finally been giving kudos and recognizing the skill of his minimalist performances. After receiving his first Oscar nomination for Lost in Translation, directors have been falling over themselves trying to get him in their movies. Jarmusch is lucky to have landed him for Broken Flowers, it's just too bad they didn't get more out of the collaboration.