Got back in the Netflix groove last night with the 2005 Bill Murray “comedy-drama” Broken Flowers.
The film tells the story of an aging Don Juan type who has just experienced a break up with his current squeeze. A pink enveloped letter arrives sans postmark, return address, and signature; informing Murray’s character that he is the father of a 19 year old son. Murray narrows it down to 5 potential ex’s and at his neighbors insistence he proceeds to pay each a visit in the hope of ascertaining which is the mother of his child.
The movie is basically the story of the encounters with 4 or the women (the fifth had died in an accident several years prior, but he does visit her grave).
I thought there was a lot more melancholy than comedy in this movie, but maybe that’s just me. I found the film entertaining but I kept waiting for some meat on the bones of the story. Each of the encounters was interesting, but lacked any real substance. There was really nothing said about the circumstances of the prior relationships or why they ended. Although Murray looked for clues as to their potential as the mother of his child, everything was ambiguous and at the end of his journey he still basically had no clue with whom (or even if) he had actually fathered a child.
Not hard to avoid spoilers because nothing was ever resolved (hmmm, I guess that is kinda of spoiler. sorry). I found the ending rather abrupt and unsatisfying. Yeah, this I guess is one of those movies intended to make the viewer “think”. That’s ok with me. Hell, I had to think about (and rewatch several times) Mulholland Drive for months and I still don’t think I entirely get it.
The problem with Broken Flowers is that there was just not that much there to get. Watchable movie for sure with a nice performance by Murray. Also good to see the ex’s, including Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange. I’ll give it 3 1/2 stars.
Try the Painted Veil. I think you will find it would be great for one of your shared movie screening get-togethers.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll put it in my Netflix queue.
Hey, John,
I got the same feeling from this flick. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, he’s a somewhat moneyed bachelor, with no explanation why, and spends a lot of time laying on the modern, low-slung couch in a nice-enough house with dated decorating scheme? He had an interesting relationship with his neighbor, I seem to remember, a black guy with a bunch of kids, right? And the black guy was good at something, like computers, maybe…………or amateur sleuthing?
Yeah, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop……..wasn’t one of the women he visited a gal with a beautiful young daughter who ran around half-dressed and answered the door naked? That alone was probably worth watching the movie for, not to mention the conflicted feelings of mild lust against the potential that he may be feeling them for his own undiscovered daughter. . .
Now watch the rush to the video store among your male bloggers.
Cheers……!
Hey, John,
I got the same feeling from this flick. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, he’s a somewhat moneyed bachelor, with no explanation why, and spends a lot of time laying on the modern, low-slung couch in a nice-enough house with dated decorating scheme? He had an interesting relationship with his neighbor, I seem to remember, a black guy with a bunch of kids, right? And the black guy was good at something, like computers, maybe…………or amateur sleuthing?
Yeah, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop……..wasn’t one of the women he visited a gal with a beautiful young daughter who ran around half-dressed and answered the door naked? That alone was probably worth watching the movie for, not to mention the conflicted feelings of mild lust against the potential that he may be feeling them for his own undiscovered daughter. . .
Now watch the rush to the video store among your male bloggers.
Cheers……!
That’s the one Dennis. Yes, his neighbor was a wanna be detective novelist.
And yes, the daughter (named Lolita) was, well, a Lolita.
I think the movie was supposed to have a subtle touch. Make you think about stuff you didn’t complete, and sorta maybe left hanging…….and how you can’t ever really go back cause all those other players have moved on too……and where you were ain’t there any more, even if you arrive at the very locale…… everything else is different……. so, you have to try better to play your cards more completely….. and try not to fuk up too much as you go…….but you only arrive at this understanding after you have already fuk’ed up and have gone back to try to reminisce or repair something……….or to just to take another look so you might understand better……….. or you see it in a movie and maybe get to thinkin. . . . .
You been there, John. N’so have I.
Anyway, just thinkin. . . . .
Yep, that is an excellent way to look at it. Murray actually says something like that in one of his encounters. You know, the past is history, the future is a mystery, all we have is the present type of thing…