Susan Granger’s review of “Broken Flowers” (Focus Features)
Idiosyncratic filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has created a tone poem about malaise, focusing on a taciturn, middle-aged Don Juan who is suffering through a vacant period of listless depression. Don Johnston (Bill Murray) has retired after making a fortune in computers. Diffident and afraid of commitment, he’s just broken up with his most recent girl-friend (Julie Delpy) when a mysterious letter on pink stationery arrives. It’s from an anonymous former lover who informs him that, 19 years ago, she gave birth to his son who is now looking for him. Johnston’s only friend Winston (Jeffrey Wright), an Ethiopian whose family lives next-door, plays detective and insists that Johnston re-visit each of the possible contenders, bearing a bouquet of pink flowers. Thus the quest begins. First on the road trip is libidinous widow Laura (Sharon Stone) whose nubile daughter lives up to her namesake Lolita (Alexis Dziena). Then Dora (Frances Conroy), a former hippie-turned-suburbanite, and Carmen (Jessica Lange), an”animal communicator” whose secretary (Chloe Sevigny) is annoyed. His last visit is with Penny (Tilda Swinton), a biker whose husband beats him up. Along the way, he spots several young men who might be his son but, most significantly, he begins to get in touch with feelings that he’s buried deep inside himself. Less interested in plot than in character, Jim Jarmusch poses more questions than he answers. While the mood evokes memories of last year’s hit “Sideways,” the perplexing conundrum traces back to Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1949 “A Letter to Three Wives.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Broken Flowers” is an ambiguous 7. Punctuated by Mulatu Astatke’s haunting jazz score, the emotional journey for something meaningful is more important than the destination.
