Grade: B+ | Genre: Drama Summary: Broken Flowers works because of its strong performances and small curiosities that Jarmusch needles into us. With some films you can't just walk out of the theatre and emphatically say, "I liked it." Some prove to be slow burners that only start working you over the moment you pass into the blinding light. Basically, it's a red flag that the film has hidden complexities that don't allow you to easily quantify and categorize them. Hollywood usually hates these pictures because your average theatergoer is looking for a two-hour escape from daily existence rather than something you have to keep turning over in your head to keep up with the ambitious plot. Broken Flowers certainly qualifies as one of these multi-faceted films that wants to be more than what it is. Leave it to eccentric orator Jim Jarmusch (Stranger than Paradise, Dead Man) to shove us into the deep end without a life preserver.

Broken Flowers is a movie about relationships. The relationships we have with our neighbors, those we have with our lovers and, most importantly, the ones we have with ourselves. The film's focus rests on Don Johnston (Bill Murray) who we meet seconds before his girl of the moment, the criminally underused Julie Delphy, abruptly storms out of his life. She echoes themes of the ghosts of relationships past, pointing to his total lack of commitment and an inability to make a lasting attachment to anyone. Oh and how perfect is it that Don Juan is receiving a letter from one of his various girlfriends at the time his current live in is spelling out her version of "These Boots Were Meant for Walking." Slam! Think that over for a while you heartless winch seems to be her parting thoughts.

He doesn't breakdown, cry or shed anything resembling an emotion. At first, he appears to have the emotional depth of a kiddy pool. He just looks dazed with a look painted on as if to say, "what now?" At this point we find out why Jim Jarmusch films are one of a kind. He's very true to time in a scene, leaving long cuts of the seeming nothingness of life, which help ground the feature in reality. It carefully explores the mundane elements of these character's lives as if it were the fifth man in a scene. While that style has leveled him with complaints of making long, slow features, this is the first time he really bundles it up in a compelling context to make that stretching out of time sequences work. After seeing what truly felt like my Last Days following this film, if I can have an appreciation of a scene that stares at a glass of champagne as it silently bubbles away for two minutes, the director must have done something right.

Broken Flowers Starring: Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy & Chloe Sevigny Director: Jim Jarmusch View the Trailer (Quicktime) Related Articles The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Alfie Six Feet Under: Season 5 Finale Email this article to a friend What The Bleep Do We Know Save up to 35% on top sellers. Qualified orders over $25 ship free Amazon.com/dvd Love is complicated. match.com is simple. View millions of photos now! www.match.com Free TV Shows Download All Your Favorite TV Shows www.TV.org

Johnston's journey leads him to the doorstep of four women pursuing very different lives. Jarmush pronounces the socio economic difference in small touches like panning through the neighborhoods and resting a shot on their basketball goals. What results from these meetings are some of the most rightfully awkward moments on film. Imagine tracking down your ex, showing up on their doorstep 20 years after goodbye with only a bouquet of flowers explaining your arrival. I think we all share a common curiosity as to what happened to those people who meant so much to us during that particular slice of life since most slip out of our lives. When he meets them, the tension in the air is so thick you could slice through it like a big piece of birthday cake. Each woman has her own set of peculiar quirks ("you became an animal psychic") and has moved on with her life with varying degrees of success. One is ready to jump between the sheets with him once again (Stone), beating her clothing challenged, jailbait daughter to the punch, while another won't rest until he's sitting roasted on her table with an apple plugged in his mouth (Swinton).

This film works based on its strong performances and small curiosities that Jarmusch needles into us. Funnyman Bill Murray established himself as a premiere actor in Lost in Translation and revisits the character to a degree. In Broken Flowers, his character isn't lonely as much as he realizes he's managed to shuffle through life without making a connection with anyone. He didn't know he was missing that until the prospect of a son opens up the blinds, and that need begins to fester in his heart. The dynamic between Don and Winston is destined to be one of the best shared onscreen this year. There is an honesty and kinship between these characters that is easy to become enveloped in. I must say Winston has damn good taste in music as this film sets the tone through mix disks sends along with Don. This strong theme of neighbors and how each of our lives is connected is explored extremely well by Jarmusch. He uses our fundamental quirks to show, how in our different ways, we are the same. The only detraction from the film is the love/hate relationship I share with his pacing. Sometimes it really establishes a scene well. Other times you have to say, "yeah he's watching TV. I get it. Let's move on." Jarmusch fans and the indie crowd will unquestionably love this. As for the rest of you if you bring a healthy bouquet of patience when you knock on the door, I think you'll find an understated film that wows you with the things that brew beneath the surface of the mundane and ordinary.