Broken Flowers

Spoilers

2005's BROKEN FLOWERS may well be my favorite Bill Murray film.  Or at least contain my favorite performance by him.  It is not usually cited by others of my generation, who grew up watching him in films like MEATBALLS, CADDYSHACK, STRIPES, and GHOSTBUSTERS.  I'm among them, and have seen those titles numerous times.  I still quote them at work to others my age and the young Millenial women who have no idea of what I speak.  In the past twenty years Murray has quite successfully transitioned to art-house fare, trading collaborations with Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis for the likes of Wes Anderson and Sophia Coppola.  And Jim Jarmusch, writer/director of BROKEN FLOWERS.

But Murray was branching out long before.  In 1984, while GHOSTBUSTERS set the box office afire he also appeared in RAZOR'S EDGE, a remake of the 1946 drama starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney.  It, of course, did a fraction of the other film's business but featured a believable, serious performance by its lead.  In more recent years, Murray has managed to work his sardonic tropes into quirky, somewhat straightfaced films, all the while remaining his old wiseacre self.  As Don Johnston, a retired computer executive who has a history of broken relationships with the fairer sex, Murray never once mugs or lapses into sophomoric posturing.  There are no exaggerated facial acrobatics.  This time the face is resigned, quite sad.

But content.  I imagine much like Murray was/is in the real world.  BROKEN FLOWERS was perfectly cast, and showcases the actor's deadpan approach so perfectly that I can't imagine the old fans not enjoying his work here.  What might discourage them is Jarmusch's quirkiness and deliberate storytelling.  The movie tracks Johnston's journey as he seeks out old girlfriends, trying to solve the mystery of who set him a letter, claiming to be the mother of his child.  Each visit is increasingly dissatisfying and frustrating, perhaps some karma at work for who he may have treated them once upon a time.  Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, and Tilda Swinton are among the actresses who portray these wildly different exes.  What transpires in each episode varies, but Jarmusch frames it all with his usual, yes, deadpan style.

At times, the movie is wildly funny.  My favorite was Jarmusch's editing choices during the visit with Dora (Frances Conroy), a former hippie who has now become a Stepford wife.  There is also a completely unexpected bit of full frontal nudity from Lolita (Alexis Dziena), Laura's (Stone) vampish daughter.  A man coddles his pet bunny, whispering affirmations after their appointment with Carmen (Lange), an "animal communicator".  There is no (overt) humor when Don visits Penny (Swinton), who lives in a rural pigsty.

BROKEN FLOWERS is one of Jarmusch's most accessible movies.  I absolutely adored it on first viewing then cooled a bit with the subsequent but still enjoy its very low key style.  It is not as laid back as MYSTERY TRAIN or NIGHT ON EARTH, involving perhaps in more plot than usual.  That final scene may seem like an inconclusive cop-out, or at best a throwaway joke, but I think it is a perfect marriage of both Murray and Jarmusch's sensibilities, admittedly not all that dissimilar.