You can believe it, Kumar.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>It's oxidaton aaaaaht.</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->
<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>I can't even see what's good anymore!</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Oh, remember the hair hat, Bert? Haaaa, I love the hair hat. Kumar, watch it! You . Will . LOVE the MW, he's good in it.

Hey. Back to Broken Flowers.

Remember the other press photos -- there was one of Bill in a hotel lobby with a lady in the background. I think he might have been sporting a cowboy hat?

Did I dream that?

<p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> <!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:navy;font-family:times new roman;font-size:x-small;">"And that's the whole idea of the film: it's a fake documentary; it's about fake secrecy. It's really important to me that it's all transparent, all totally coy. It's about what happens when you keep secrets, because they're transparent anyhow. Things will come out one way or another, and just because they come out doesn't mean they are true." - Jennifer Montgomery</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></p>

Ugh. Just got back from seeing Broken Flowers. It's playing in one theater here.

Well. It's so great. I loved it.

Jeffrey Wright fans, gather round. He's hilarious in this thing. Just awesomely funny and sweet. He and Bill bounced off of each other like -- it was something to watch. I was giggling the whole time.

Julie Delpy isn't in it much, Bert. None of the women are in it much. Jax whispered, "Is that all the Chloe we get?!" and I whispered back, "That's all we got of anyone!"

You know, I read that article where Jim Jarmusch was talking about Bill's character -- like he was loathable, but he needed Bill to make us sympathetic to Don without cracking us up.

My threshhold for loathesome characters might be sky-high, because I have to say, Don isn't that loathable in my estimation. And it wasn't because of Bill Murray, either, I sat there and reminded myself a couple of times, "I'm supposed to not like this guy much." But I did. The whole time. I like him, I think, because he doesn't mince words. Me? I'm a huge word mincer (ME?! Noooo!), but not Don.

Anyway, for Dudlers and others who struggled with the pacing of the Jarmusch films you have seen, this one moves along nicely. It's a little tacky here and there, but it frees itself up right when you're on the verge of the audible sigh (which I never came close to emitting, but Jax did).

Surprisingly funny. Not because Jarmusch isn't funny (he totally is, I still laugh about Wincott in Dead Man whenever I see a hand skeleton), but because the story isn't very funny, but the way he wrote it made the funny lines such a welcome break in the bleakness, which I think for me was just ... the fruitlessness of it all. And the lonesomeness in Don's life. At one point, Winston (Wright) says of Don's living goes, "This place is lonely." And the rest of their interaction -- funny. Oh my god, and the cell phone scene. Eheheheh.

By the by -- so weird that his situation is a little TLA and his performance seems a little LiT (heh), but this is the movie he needed to make. I was so proud of him while I sat there and watched.



This one should be required Racer homework. Bill just might get that friggen statue this year. He's ridiculously outstanding in it.

And he looks great! Slender. And my gosh, I don't think I ever noticed until tonight just how tall he is. How is that possible?

Anyway. Go see it. Go go go. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> I wish I had a million dollars ... HOT daaaawg!</p>

Fantastic, yes.

It's going to be weird to see a Jarmusch movie be so big, which it will be. It'll expand, and play well.



Side note:

I hate it so f-ing much when movies that don't have a standard ending or summation or something end and people sitting a few seats away from you say "Is that it?" "Yep."

Or variations there of. <p>______
<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://home.comcast.net/~godot69/" target="top">My Photography</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--></p>

Eheh. I might have lucked out seeing this one where I did, because it's one of two regular indie screeners. So the light sound that came from the audience was more like a "hhhheeh."

That was a cool ending. I started laughing because all of these questions started rushing me, and I was all, "Right on!"

Alright.

Look away, unspoilt eyes! Shoo!





Am I the only person who thought there was 'something goin' on' between Chloe and Jessica? Did I just dream that dynamic between Chloe and Bill -- it's that kind of tension.

Or am I just a dirty birdie? :\ Not that it's all superdirty to be two women in love, I'm just saying, my little blip of a thought was met with the smackdown during the parking lot aftersmoke.

<p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> I wish I had a million dollars ... HOT daaaawg!</p>Edited by: highwaters at: 8/6/05 8:20 am

YAY! I saw this last night and I loved it. Even though, yeah, the ending had me all "But--but....."

I had hard-core cleverkins indie geeks in front of me ad they exclaimed "AH!" and "HA!" at every little nugget. Grrr :rolleyes BUt at leats no one was talking.


OK, spoliers!!
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High Gal, I am 99% sure we're supposed to understand that Jessica is a lesbian now. Maybe living by the Gay Village of Toronto predisposes me to think taht way but CHloe was so territorial, keeping him out, puttting her hand on Jessica's hip, etc etc... and then bringing back the flowers!

Bt am I the onyl one that find there to be a pretty small differemnce between Bill's character in this film, and in Lost in Translation? THat's the alarm that went off in MY mind.

I do understand, Jarmusch has that kind of visual style that lets things sort of sit, or float by you, allowing you time to think instead of a lot of busy chit-chat

I also love dthe chit chat of the young girls on the bus and all the little details like that! <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> "There’s never any time to have too much self-doubt" - Wes Anderson </p>

Nice soundtrack. Seriously groovy. It reminds me of this CD I would fall asleep to last time I visited KC and her probably haunted house.

On the Chloe-Jessica confirmation: Thank you. Sooooo thank you, Chelse. Jax made me feel like I was a big wrong perv last night.



SPOILING A SURPRISE HERE:







Hello, Lolita! Holy. Mergatroid. "That's some outfit you weren't wearing earlier." I loved Don for saying stuff like that.

<p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> I wish I had a million dollars ... HOT daaaawg!</p>

spoiling again!
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I loved the whole Lolita thing. She was goofy-great and his 'reaction' was hilarious. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> "There’s never any time to have too much self-doubt" - Wes Anderson </p>

I saw it yesterday, and I think it is terrific. Jim Jarmusch is really one of our best filmmakers.

I was finally able to get to see it today. Geez. Sunday afternoons are terrible times to try to see movies; I've never seen such a swarm of senior citizens in my life. I had to get a refund for my ticket yesterday because I couldn't find a bloody seat. Today was better, except the weather decided to monsoon or something. (I just totally personified 'weather' and made 'monsoon' a verb - rock!)

Anyway, yesh, I lurrrrrved it so. You folks have already pointed out everything I wanted to say, so I'll just drop a few things I noticed:

NOT REALLY A SPOILER ALERT




When Don is eating dinner at Dora's and he first stabs at the carrots, one carrot falls off the plate. In the cuts at the food and dinner table after that, the carrot is missing - editing blunder.

In Dr. Markovsky's office, when Don picks up one of the books, another book on the table is supposed to read "Animal Enlightenment". Instead, it reads "Animal <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Enligt</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->enment". (I dunno - I'm just super-aware of misspelled things.)

Awesome subtletly: Don's outfit, The [Philosophical] Boy's outfit, the Kid In The Car's outfit are all the same sort of striped suits. I don't remember the Cute Kid On The Bus With Sunglasses's outfit, but if it's the same sort of top, too, then I will love that even more. All the selected pink items were cool, too.

I'll stop now. 0]

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>-Purple</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

Edited by: Purple at: 8/10/05 8:11 am

I remember Murray mentioning it on Letterman, but I didn't remember it until now

youcan'tspoilanythingbutthisisa*spoileralet*

The kid who drives by in the car at the end if one of Bill's sons. His name is Homer.


<p>______
<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://home.comcast.net/~godot69/" target="top">My Photography</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--></p>

Spoilers and All That Fun Stuff ****



Well, I just saw it a second time and it was wonderful yet again. Surprisingly, I had ten thousand more questions and thoughts that popped into my mind after the second viewing than the first viewing.

The kid in the car at the end has to be Don's son. Huge reason is because he actually is Bill Murray's son. Directors love to play around with things like that. He looks like him, he dresses like him and the whole shi-bang. It wasn't the philosophical kid, obviously because of his quick sprint from Don and it wasn't the gentlemen on the bus because I believe that was just a simple representation of what Don used to be like. Look at Don's face as he listens to the girls talk about the handsome gent. He seems pleased. Almost as if looking in the past.

Jim Jarmusch's use of nudity was one of the best ever in film. We felt what Don felt which was brilliant. It caught me off guard even the second time. Also, the Brian Jonestown Massacre's ' Not If you Were The Last Dandy On earth ' was playing under it so it made it all so great. Jim Jarmusch knows the band leader of the BJM's so its not surprising. You also have got to love the lines..

"Your head looks like a pineapple"

and as already mentioned

"That was quite an outfit you weren't wearing, earlier."

So, who was the mother of Don's son? It wasn't Sherry just messing with Don because in the opening montage we see that a plane transports the letter at a particular point. If I had a to guess I would point my finger at Penny. She had the pink type writer and those men that lived with her had the same kinda grunge look as the guy in the car at the end. By being around them so long he ended up looking like them? Yes? Nah? Ehh? And for some reason I do not think that it was some girl that was not put on the list for Don's treasure hunt because I just get the vibe that this is a film in which it produces multiple viewings and the puzzle must be put together. I could so be wrong about that though. The one thing that does support this theory though is the woman who does not reveal her identity in the beginning as she drops the letter into the mail box was wearing a jacket and gloves. All the places Don goes to are relatively warm. Although, the last residence looks like it could have some low temperatures about so you never know.

This was also a very secretive film. What states were Don traveling to? At one mili second I actually thought it wasn't America because there is one scene in which Don drives on the wrong side of the road, but no. It's is the USA. US Postal Service and such. What year was it? No years on tombstones at the cemetery, Err. They used cellphones, burnt CDs, and the Internet yet the furniture in Don's home was very 60s - 70s. Err again! It had to be the present date.

Loved this Piece of Cinema! I'm going to see it again. Jarmusch has still got it! He's a master director.

~ FL
<p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->"It's over. There was a time maybe when cinema could have improved society, but that time was missed."



</p>Edited by: Fritz Lang at: 8/13/05 5:05 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The kid in the car at the end has to be Don's son. Huge reason is because he actually is Bill Murray's son.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->

Lorrie mentioned this already in one of his chunks o' spoiler above, you must've missed that one, Frrrritzbah.

I'm honestly not overthinking this one, which is a huge step for me. I overthink breakfast some days. This is what happens when we become obsessed with understanding things we're not really supposed to understand. (The breakfast thing is something outside of that.) Not that you're obsessive, I totally am though, or can be.

But I had a response to a couple of your musings, Fritz.

I don't think any of the first three (living) ladies were right, and the obvious question mark, because of the typewriter, is Penny. I don't think it was Penny. I can't see Penny staying that angry and bitter toward Don if he gave her a son; and even if she had been that angry and bitter, she wouldn't be the woman who could write the letter that smartly. Penny wasn't clever and strong, she was aging and a little emotionally spoiled -- maybe indulged is a better word.

I finished this film accepting that Don forgot one of his friends. Twenty years is a long time. Whoever she is, she had good reason to remember him. Not the other way around, until now.

I've only seen it one time, and I won't go back and see it in the theater because I don't have that kind of disposable income. :) Maybe the clues are hidden in the bits, I couldn't say, but I was paying attention. But I like hearing everyone out. It's like a living Clue game (without the murder).

Anyway. That was my take on Penny. I think her reaction to his question about her having a son was unrelated to him, except that he asked it. (Not that you mentioned that as part of your rationale.) <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> I wish I had a million dollars ... HOT daaaawg!</p>

Boy, Fritz. That was a mighty tangent.

I agree with highwaters on the "forgotten girlfriend" theory. It makes a lot of sense.

And yet I kind of have the suspicion that Winston made the whole thing up to fuel his Sherlockian fantasy and sort of send his friend in an enlightening direction. If that theory holds true, the pink items 'splayed here and there and Penny's typewriter are coincidences, like the somewhat humorous coincidences of the outfits of Don, the Philosophical Kid and the Kid In The Car Who's Murray's Actual Son being the same type.

I should see it again. I'm sure I'll think differently each time I see it. That's the thing with <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Broken Flowers</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->; Jarmusch never spells anything out completely, which is just fuggin' awesome.

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>-Purple</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

Edited by: Purple at: 8/14/05 10:00 am

There is a definite chance that it could not be Penny. Maybe when Don asked if she had a son she got pissed because she had lost a son at one time or had a miscarriage or an abortion or something of that nature. It was a touchy subject.

If it was Winston then why was it a female who dropped the letter into the mailbox? It was definitely a woman because you can hear high heels walking to the mailbox. Also, as I have already mentioned the letter was shipped by plane. Winston lives next door.

My favorite exchange of lines in the film is between Don and Dora..

"Did I give you those pearls?"

"No, I don't think so, Don."

"I should have."

~ FL <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->"It's over. There was a time maybe when cinema could have improved society, but that time was missed."



</p>

Saw it today with the DudleyDude. We were probably the youngest people in the theatre, and except for giggles at the funny bits, it was quiet as a tomb. (In a good way.)

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Am I the only person who thought there was 'something goin' on' between Chloe and Jessica?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->
The DudleyDude was whispering that to me by the time Chloe was returning the flowers, so I don't think you're wrong. :)

I found Lolita as scary as the people-juice sucking aliens in War of the Worlds. Jaysus!! All that girly sexuality!!

I adored Bill's and Jeffrey (Winston's) relationship. They had a history and a future. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->Mandingo. I grock your mouth music. -- The Tick</p>