"Broken Flowers" was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, an idiosyncratic American independent filmmaker who has had a devoted fan base since his 1984 movie "Stranger Than Paradise." While some of his films are strictly for the art-house crowd, I would say that "Broken Flowers" is accessible and only slightly offbeat, and I think a lot of mainstream filmgoers will like it.
In the movie, Don (Murray) is a lifelong bachelor who receives an unsigned letter purporting to be from a woman who claims she gave birth to and raised his son. The letter says the boy, who is now 19, is on a road trip and may be seeking his father. With feelings of deep ambivalence, the surprised Don sets off on an odyssey to try to figure out what is going on.
I got some big laughs out of the sequence where Don visits a former lover (Frances Conroy) who turns out to be half of a husband-wife real estate team. They sell what she calls "preconstructed designer homes" that are remarkably soulless. Another sequence I found very funny was where Don calls upon an old flame (Jessica Lange) who has become a self-styled "animal communicator." She charges clients for sessions in which she tells them what their pets are saying, and she writes books with titles like "Animal Vernacular."
Although there's plenty of wry humor in "Broken Flowers," I see the overarching tone as being serious. For example, there's a memorable scene late in the film where a wandering young adult man asks Don, "You have any, like, philosophical tips or anything … for a guy on a kind of road trip?" To which Don soberly answers, "The past is gone. I know that. The future isn't here yet, whatever it's going to be. So, all there is, is this—the present."
I would guess that most viewers will like the episodes that make up "Broken Flowers," but those accustomed only to mainstream Hollywood movies may feel that the ending to Jarmusch's film is too inconclusive. But as far as I am concerned, the ending is fitting. I think the story arc here is that at the beginning Don is emotionally shut down, then he gradually opens up a little, and the final scenes show that he has come out of his shell quite a bit. In other words, I see the story in "Broken Flowers" in terms of a familiar pattern: the protagonist goes on a journey and has a series of unusual experiences that result in him achieving greater self-awareness.
The bonus materials on the "Broken Flowers" DVD are skimpy, having a total running time of less than 14 minutes. The one I liked best was the four-minute "Farmhouse," which shows footage of Jarmusch making part of his film at a rural location. In voice-over we hear him talking, and here's one of his comments on his movie: "I feel it's about yearning for something that you're missing and not necessarily being able to define what it is you're missing." He also says, "The highest thing I could aspire to is to just be in any given moment at that moment."
Another bonus material on the DVD is the seven-and-a-half-minute "Broken Flowers: Start to Finish," which consists basically of outtakes involving Bill Murray. The only remaining extra of any consequence is "Girls on the Bus," which contains alternate takes of the scene in the movie where Don rides an airport shuttle bus and listens to two young women prattling away.
Below I've given all the details for the "Broken Flowers" DVD.
DVD Details:
Release Date: January 3, 2006
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1), Color
Feature Film Run Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
MPAA Rating: R for Language, Some Graphic Nudity and Brief Drug Use
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Spanish Subtitles
French Subtitles
Girls on the Bus (1 min. 40 sec.)
Broken Flowers: Start to Finish (7 min. 39 sec.)
Farmhouse (4 min. 15 sec.)
Original Theatrical Trailer
