Broken Flowers Review

Broken Flowers (2005)

Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Bill Murray
Jeffrey Wright

Jim Jarmusch's 2005 film exposes the viewer to the life of Don Johnston, a stoic and lonely Don Juan played by Bill Murray. Don, due to the constant prodding of his neighbor Winston, sets out on a cross-country journey to find the author of a mysterious letter. This person claims to be the mother of Johnston's heretofore unknown son, but offers no clues as to her identity, except the fact that her son is 19 years old. Armed only with Winston's internet research on his girlfriends from that era, Don embarks, and we go with him.

Unfortunately, Broken Flowers' narrative fails in that it simply doesn't go anywhere. At the end of the film, Murray's character doesn't know anything about his son (or if he even exists), nor does he appear to have learned anything. There is no character transformation or development, no affirmation or condemnation of his lifestyle, no "a-ha" moment. Where the film succeeds, however, is in creating within the viewer an affinity for Johnston. From the moment the letter finds him at the beginning of the movie to the final shot, the camera is always by his side. At first, this made for a claustrophobic and sometimes boring experience, but by the time the second act rolls around, I felt more like a sidekick than a voyuer. By the end of the movie, I felt that I knew Don Johnston. I knew who he was, how he felt, and why he made the decisions he made.

If Jarmusch intended this movie to be a biopic, then it was an enormous success. As narrative fiction, however, it falls a bit flat.