Less is more in Broken Flowers, Jim Jarmusch’s minimalist masterpiece.
Broken Flowers (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:181
Fresh:157
Rotten:24
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Bill Murray's subtle and understated style complements director Jim Jarmusch's minimalist storytelling in this quirky, but deadpan comedy.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:21-10-2005
Synopsis: With BROKEN FLOWERS, staunchly independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch delivers one of his most pleasing, accessible pictures. Winner of the 2005 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the film tells... With BROKEN FLOWERS, staunchly independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch delivers one of his most pleasing, accessible pictures. Winner of the 2005 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the film tells the story of Don Johnston (Bill Murray), a man overflowing with wealth but void of emotion. On the day that his most recent girlfriend (Julie Delpy) has given up on him for good, he learns, through an anonymous letter, that he might be the father of a 19-year-old boy. Spurned into action by his wannabe private eye neighbor, Winston (Jeffrey Wright), Don sets off on a personal journey to visit the former partners who may or may not have mothered his child. They include the flighty Laura (Sharon Stone), whose daughter Lolita (Alexis Dziena) certainly lives up to her name; the uptight Dora (Frances Conroy), who has settled into a sterile life with her chipper husband, Ron (Christopher McDonald); the strangely distant Carmen (Jessica Lange), who makes a living as an "animal communicator;" and, finally, Penny (Tilda Swinton), a hard-edged biker who is the least happiest to see Don. Each confrontation leaves Don feeling more lost than the last, spinning him into an even greater state of apathetic confusion. In typical Jarmusch fashion, he wrote the script for BROKEN FLOWERS with his casting firmly in mind: only Murray could play this role. The result showcases Murray's brilliance as a less-is-more presence. Jarmusch also gives some of Hollywood's most talented female actresses roles they can relish. A hundred percent Jarmusch, BROKEN FLOWERS is a wry, tender, and bittersweet portrait of a man who is drifting aimlessly through life. [More]
Starring: Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton
Starring: Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Jessica Lange
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Screenwriter: Jim Jarmusch
Producer: Jon Kilik, Stacey E. Smith, Jim Jarmusch
Studio: Focus Features
Reviews for Broken Flowers
You can't take your eyes off [Murray], and you leave Broken Flowers hoping he's feeling better -- about life, love, everything.
It kept me absorbed all the way through, especially the collaboration between acting auteur Bill Murray and Mr. Jarmusch in virtually every frame of the film.
Murray has never been more inward and unanimated … It's a deeply chilled-out performance … [and] like the rest of the movie, it's worth seeing.
There's so much going on behind Murray's sad eyes that words aren't necassary. A great performance.
Don's journey peels back the surface of so many American dreams to find them wanting, while Winston, dodging kids and doting on his 'perfect' wife, seems as rich as a king.
...both Jarmusch and Murray ... do what they do best, even if their specialty is starting to feel like spinning wheels.
Don’s journey becomes a vision of lost opportunities and paths not taken, and in Murray’s hands it is sublime.
...has a bottomless poignancy that Jarmusch cements in quiet character moments, symbolic imagery and out-of-reach temptations that wiggle effectively into the subconscious.
Jarmusch isn’t blessed with as rounded a social collision as Mystery Train and Night on Earth. But it’s the best of his post-Dead Man output.
Smart and moody, but the lack of a human connection to the story's main character left me wanting.
It’s clear that Jarmusch is less concerned with resolving the “mystery” story than with the ways in which the process changes the initially reluctant Don.
May hit some rough patches as it wraps itself up, but at its core is a film that is gentle and wise.
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