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Broken Flowers (2005)
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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
"A simple and blissful melding of sensibilities which may be the year's best film thus far."
Bill Murray proves that not only can an actor be a comedian without laughing himself, but that a deadpan delivery can be essential to comic effects.
On this road trip, Bill Murray gets a little closure and we get a lot of laughs.
Jarmusch and Murray can mix fine mood martinis, yet their film is all vapors and hints, murmurs and ricochets ... these flowers wilt before they can break.
It takes someone with Murray's reservoir of audience goodwill to make such a maddeningly passive character even worth watching.
Flowers is smartly observational -- but a little screen heat would be worth a bouquet.
The pace of "Broken Flowers" is slow, but Jarmusch treats us to an almost dizzying array of vivid, unexpected details.
Former goofball Murray, who's aged into a glacial icon of chilly sadness, is the perfect vehicle for writer-director Jarmusch's brand of detached, hipster cool.
Those hound-dog eyes, and that weary sneer, reveal a man who understands the value of understatement.
Jarmusch shows us, as he has in the past, that the journey, not the arrival, matters.
The movie doesn't come to a definitive point or make an explicit, but the movie does illustrate, in a penetrating way, the sadness of going through life emotionally disconnected.
An engaging exercise in mature poignancy, existential consciousness and deadpan drollery.
There's an all-male point of view to this movie that will be off-putting to some viewers. Fifty percent, say.
A sort of minimalist male melodrama, Broken Flowers tracks a journey through regret and hope.
It's many things: a terrific performance piece for a handful of good actors, an engaging metaphor and a so-so piece of storytelling.
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