Broken Flowers is a film directed by Jim Jarmusch whose previous film before this was Coffee and Cigarettes, released in 2003. This film was released in 2005. I haven’t seen any of his previous work.

The story starts showing somebody posting a letter. It is in a pink envelope written in red ink. This letter is what this story is all about as posting this makes a big change in somebody’s life. Showing the letter being delivered from the post box to the intended house is the opening credits to the film.

The film then moves to Don Johnston, sitting on his sofa just staring with a deadpan expression on his face. His girlfriend Sherry then appears informing him that she has packed up all of the things and is leaving. This is when you get a bit of an insight into who Don is. She tells him that she feels like a mistress even though he doesn’t even have a wife. It becomes clear to the audience that he is not the settling down serious type. She questions him, asking if he would ever want children. He lets her leave, at one point calling her when she is getting in the car but never really stopping her from going.

My main question at this point was how does he seem to be doing nothing but has a lot of money, this was soon answered. He is telephoned by his neighbour Winston soon after Sherry leaves and asked to pop round there as he has a computer problem. This is where you find out he made most of his money from computers, never really mentioning exactly what he did throughout the film.

His neighbour Winston is a really good character in this film. I really enjoyed the scenes with him in it. They made the film more light hearted. He likes to believe he is a amateur detective so when Don mentions a letter has arrived telling him he has a son, he convinces Don to look into this some more. The letter informed Don of how old his son would be now so Don creates a list of the woman that could be the mother to his child. He then sets off on a trip to visit the four women on the list. This is where the main story starts…

The women that he visits are all very different and this makes the story slightly more interesting. The story is really slow paced but I think that is the whole point. It was meant to be that way. It takes half an hour to start his search for his previous girlfriends.

The main character Don Johnston is played by Bill Murray, which you are probably already aware of. His direct previous films to this were Coffee and Cigarettes, which interestingly enough was directed by Jim Jarmusch. Another two were The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Lost in Translation. It seems that when this was filmed that Bill Murray has taken a more serious acting role. The character Don Johnston did remind me of his character in Lost in Translation but only in the expression on his face. It is so deadpan throughout this film, the same way it was in LIT. It just seems that a lot of the time you never really know what he is thinking or how he is feeling. There are times in the film when you do get a bit of an insight.

Other than Bill Murray, nobody really has a big part in this film but there are a lot of well-known names. The neighbour Winston has probably the main biggest part other than Bill Murray. Jeffrey Wright plays Winston, I can’t say I recognised him. He has been in Casino Royale, Syriana, Ali, The Mancurian Candidate plus others. As I have said above he plays Don’s neighbour. He lives with his wife and his 5 children so provides some of the funnier moments of the film. Julie Delphy who starred in Before Sunset plays the character of Sherry who only stars in the beginning of the film.

The women that he visits in the film are Sharon Stone (Laura), Frances Conroy (Dora), Jessica Lange (Carmen) and Tilda Swinton (Penny). Chloë Sevigny also has a small part in the film.

I don’t really want to mention too much about the woman he visits as I do think this is the main part of the story. They are very different to each other and each have a different life now.

I enjoyed the soundtrack, as it was upbeat. This was mainly because before Don sets off on his journey, Winston gives him a CD to listen to. Real mixture of music. Below is a list of the songs on the soundtrack:

1. There is an End (Holly Golightly) (The Greenhornes)
2. Yegelle Tezeta (Mulatu Astatke)
3. Ride Your Donkey (The Tennors)
4. I Want You (Marvin Gaye)
5. Yekermo Sew (Mulatu Astatke)
6. Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)
7. Tell Me Now So I Know (Holly Golightly)
8. Gubelye (Mulatu Astatke)
9. Dopesmoker (Sleep)
10. Requiem, Op. 48 (Pie Jesu) (Oxford Camerata)
11. Ethanopium (Dengue Fever)
12. Unnatural Habitat (The Greenhornes)

Overall

I know that his film has had mixed reviews, some people saying that it is brilliant; others saying that it is awful. I have to say I enjoyed it, I didn’t think it was excellent but I thought it was good. It was a really slow film but I don’t think it would have worked in any other way. The acting is really good in the film.

The ending makes you think and you really are left to interpret it yourself. There is no real ending to the film. I can see that a lot of people watching this film will not agree with the ending or will not like it.

At an hour and a half it was the right length. The only thing I would say is that I did feel it took a while for the film to warm up.

One of the things that I did find hard to believe is that Don is showed as a Don Juan type man. He just doesn’t seem to come across like that in the film. His girlfriend Sherry is a lot younger than him and it is hard to believe that he is with her when it is shown that he prefers to sit in doing nothing and rarely venturing out of his house. It is mentioned a couple of times in the film but maybe he was like that in the past but it is just really hard to believe this part of his character.

I would recommend this film as one to watch but do not expect too much from it. It is slow paced and there is no big story. It goes along nicely, at some points maybe dragging slightly. I don’t think I will be watching this again but I liked it the one and only time I did watch it.

Thanks for reading.