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Broken Flowers

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

A fun and interesting film by Jim Jarmusch starring Bill Murray as a man of many silences. Some people have raved about this film but, while we enjoyed it, I think it’s been praised a bit too much because Murray got stiffed with other Oscar awards. Anyway, when his girlfriend leave him, Don Johnston—Don Juan (Murray), a man of wealth earned in computers, receives an anonymous letter saying he’s got a 19-yo son. His neighbor (wonderfully played) sets up a plan to find out which of his old girl friends is the mother and sends Murray on his way. Meetings with Sharon Stone and her daughter Lolita—and she is, Francis Conroy now a real estate salesperson living in plasticity (6 Ft Under), Jessica Lange (a lesbian shrink who communicates with animals), and Tilda Swinton as the biker babe from hell. Murray remains silent much of the time and you can’t even begin to see why they would have liked him now or why his new ex loved him now. Much doesn’t fit (Conroy is too old by far and they place them together in the late 60s/early 70s) but there are some fine and really quirky bits. Most affecting is Murray’s buildup to a small confrontation with emotion at the tomb of a much-loved ex and his efforts at breaking through with someone he thinks may be his son (played by his real life son Homer). Much is left unexplained, as in so many Jarmusch films. We liked it but I did crave some closure and a sense of who he is/was. Murray needs to range further, although I remain one of his true fans

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