Whether it was (shrewdly) planned or not, Bill Murray has become one of our greatest cinematic resources, just as comfortable doing dry comedy as he is acting in a mood piece; his whole melancholy being has become perfect for avant-garde comedy, and this meticulously-mounted and shaded dramedy is a true Bill Murray vehicle. The loosely-structured plot is open to interpretation; it deals with calling up the past--which the film says you can't really do because it's gone--and not worrying about the future because it isn't here yet. Murray plays a computer businessman, a committed bachelor and "over-the-hill Don Juan", who receives news he might have fathered a child with an ex-girlfriend 20 years ago. Originally titled "Dead Flowers" (more effective and appropriate), the film is an unintended journey of self-discovery from writer-director Jim Jarmusch, purposely incomplete but not pointless. Jarmusch's screenplay leaves the scenario open for discussion, with each sequence structured in such a cockeyed way that we don't really know where the movie is headed. This is perfect for audiences interested in something a little different (even when the pacing is dryly solemn or slow, the picture delights in being anti-formula). A good film; difficult as an entertainment per se and often puzzling or obtuse, it nevertheless continues Bill Murray on the rewarding path of an actor with incredible taste, decision and consequence. **1/2 from ****
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moonspinner5511 April 2006
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I just saw this at a press screening. It's very smart, well-made and entertaining, directed with sure-handed control, full of quirky, funny moments and superb acting. The film pretty much avoids clichés, although it does rely a bit on the familiar "Aren't Middle-Americans quirky?" idea for its humor. But Jarmusch never goes too far with this, his restraint keeping the film propelled from beginning to end.
The only weakness for me is rooted in the film's strength: I feel like there's not quite enough here.
Murray's character is beleaguered and despondent, Murray plays him with perfect subtlety. This is fun and fascinating to watch; I found myself hanging onto every little expression on Murray's face. But, the combination of his passive, muted performance and the spare storytelling left me wanting more. It just doesn't have as much impact as I feel it could have. So, yes, it's wonderful minimalism, but perhaps a bit too slight of a movie to have any lasting resonance.
Bill Murray has added another very good performance to his career, and Jim Jarmusch has made another compact little gem (unlike some of his more recent films). Unique and entertaining. Definitely worth seeing. -
evanston_dad31 January 2006I can't think of an actor better suited to play the expressionless chronic bachelor Don at the heart of Jim Jarmusch's newest movie than Bill Murray. His mournful hound-dog face, which hides any trace of what's going on inside the head on which it sits, stares blankly at the T.V., at other people, sometimes at nothing, betrays itself with the slightest movement of the mouth or twitch of the eyes. It's a characterization Murray has so down pat that I'm tempted to think he's not really acting all that much, but he's so perfectly cast that it doesn't much matter whether he's acting or not.
If you're not familiar with the movies of Jim Jarmusch, "Broken Flowers" is a nice introduction, as it's the most accessible Jarmusch film I've seen. I'm not a huge fan, but I liked this movie quite a lot. Don receives an anonymous letter one day from a past girlfriend, telling him he has a 19-year-old son who may come looking for him. Murray's friend, Winston (played amusingly by the chameleon Jeffrey Wright), convinces him to track down a handful of women who could have possibly been the mother and resolve the mystery. Don agrees to it, seemingly not so much because he has a need to know but because he has nothing better to do. What follows is a series of scenes with each past girlfriend, during which their interactions with Don tell us heaps about their relationship back when they were dating. Some are affectionate, some are distant, one is downright scarily angry, but all are played beautifully by a quartet of actresses: Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton.
This is Jarmusch, so there aren't necessarily any tidy answers, and I don't think I give anything away by saying that the mystery is never solved. Life is messy, and it doesn't always happily resolve itself just because we want it to. I liked how subtle the film was; Don doesn't make any huge ground-breaking discoveries about himself, but nevertheless you sense that he's a slightly different person after his journey than he was before it.
You'll have to be patient, as Jarmusch tells his story very slowly, and nearly all of Don's interaction with others is ponderously awkward. But the movie slowly begins to fascinate, and you find yourself watching the faces of the women he visits (and examining the visible details of their lives) much in the same way that Don is himself, looking for the slightest hint that she might be the one who sent that fateful letter.
A very fine film, poignant and sad in a rather obscure way, and one that stays in your mind for a while after seeing it.
Grade: A- -
JohnDeSando16 August 2005Barely dramatic, thematic but enigmatic, that's Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers. His Stranger than Paradise was exactly that, a Cleveland road trip to existential uncertainty. In Broken Flowers, Bill Murray as Don Johnston is also on a trip, but more certain of his goal than anyone in Stranger, for he seeks out his alleged son by visiting former lovers, one of whom anonymously wrote that she had borne him a child 19 years ago.
The formidable women, including a randy Sharon Stone happily lampooning her film persona and Tilda Swinton, tougher and more dangerous than all the others in her biker mom role, never really sway him from seeking his son or finding himself. Beyond discovering that you can't change the past of "an over-the-hill Don Juan," much less understand him, reflected in the depressing but authentic lack of communication with all but one of his wives, Murray may have discovered on his low-key picaresque a truer self than he had ever known before. He may be beaten up physically, he may be unable to close the case of his putative son, and he may have divorced himself from his millionaire persona as a computer whiz, but he remains a deeply calm, lonely wanderer in his effort to solve his case.
An amateur detective, neighbor Winston has the spirit and energy Don does not have, yet Don is deeper and more reflective. In fact he outstrips all of his former loves in kindness and caring in calm response to often explosive situations, for instance when Stone's daughter, Lolita, comes on to him only to find he is not available.
I complain American films are not sophisticated like Euro flicks, but Jarmusch has come close with this slow, laconic, and demanding indie. Hats off to Bill Murray for mixing minimalist with passionate this time aroundhis purpose and his change of character make his aging Hollywood star Bob from Lost in Translation just a dress rehearsal for this Oscar-worthy performance and film.
Perhaps Don's discovery is twofold: his potential to love others and himself. As Alexander Smith declared, "Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition." -
come2whereimfrom28 April 2006This according to some people is Jim Jamusch's mainstream movie, well to me it is still an independent movie it just so happens that everyone likes it and rightly so. It is a subtle tale filled with meditations on life, ageing, love and loss. The film opens with a pink letter and the viewer sort of follows it on a mini road trip from post box to sort room to final delivery. It is a beautiful metaphor for the journey you are about to undertake with Bill Murray's character Don Johnston. Everything in this film is set up so well from Don's name (a cross between Don Johnson of Miami vice fame and Don Juan, both smooth ladies men in their own right) to the underage daughter of one of don's old flames called Lolita. The style of the film is paced slow allowing you time to wonder at Murray's dead dead dead pan delivery, it's the stuff that made watching him so enjoyable in 'The life aquatic' and 'lost in translation' but turned up a notch. From opening the anonymous letter to his subsequent journey through ex-girlfriends to try and find who sent it and if he really has a twenty-year-old son as the letter states, is beautifully crafted to keep you glued to the screen. It has elements of comedy but not so much jokes as more the absurdity of life and bizarre situations that can arise. The characters are so diverse your bound to spot someone you know in one of them. One of my favourite things about this film is how it addresses wanting children from a mans point of view, Don constantly says to his neighbour that he's not interested in finding out or even going and then he does the opposite, it is the male equivalent of being broody and it ends up with Don clutching at straws and almost saying 'someone, anyone please be my son?' With a well-chosen eclectic soundtrack from Jarmusch complimenting scene after scene the film flows from comedic highs to tender lows. Here Jim and Bill have committed a very special blend of cinematic magic to the screen, one that should be a good way for a mainstream audience to enjoy an indie film and realise it doesn't have to be all CGI and explosions to be brilliant film-making.
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mcshortfilm5 August 2005There has been a lot of talk that "Broken Flowers" is Jim Jarmusch's most commercially accessible film to date. One can almost hear Jarmusch muttering something reactionary like "commercial? That's just a label." It's a label that some Jarmusch fans might associate with "selling out". But selling out does not apply to Jim Jarmusch. He still has complete control of his work and is still the only American filmmaker who owns his own negatives. If "Broken Flowers" does break into the mainstream, it is nothing overly deliberate. Jarmusch makes familiar films that seem intimate in their tone. He toys with old themes while still leaving his films open to interpretation.
"Broken Flowers" is a travelogue and like most Jarmusch films, the story is more concerned with the journey but not so much about the destination. Bill Murray plays Don Johnston, a man who we know little about. We know he's single and we know he's had some flame's in the past. The last one just walked out on him. When Don receives an anonymous letter from one of these old flames, he learns that he has a twenty year old son who might be looking for him." Don thinks this is a joke but takes the advice from a friend to unfold the mystery by tracking down his past flings. He flies somewhere to a generic American place, rents a car and begins his investigation. Each ex has an individual personality but most of them share something similar. They are content and have moved on from the past. One of the ex's we meet works in real estate and decides it would be a good idea for her to get into the water business because "one day in the near future it will be more valuable then oil." The atmosphere is awkward and rather then care whether this woman is responsible for the anonymous letter, we just feel like getting out of there. The film's journey is absurd in many ways because we are never sure what the real point is. What is Don going to do if he does find his son? This where Bill Murray's credit as an actor shines through. We see from his small facial gestures that he is empty, and sad. There is a sense of longing as if life took a wrong turn somewhere and it is only now that he is realizing it. The ending of "Broken Flowers" is what really makes the film special. Don't expect too much or too little. Just see it. Its inspiring, hopeful and better then any other movie this year. The film also has a great soundtrack by Ethiopian musician, Mulatu Astatke. And we see in the credits that Jarmusch dedicated the film to French filmmaker Jean Eustache. Jean Eustache made a phenomenal film in the 1960's titled, "The Mother and The Whore". He had an influence on John Cassavetes and likewise both had an influence on Jim Jarmusch. -
Like his role models Yasujiro Ozu and Robert Bresson, accomplished indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch provides his typically slow-moving, elliptical ride of a movie by placing Bill Murray squarely in the driver's seat of this sometimes hilarious, more often bittersweet road film. The episodic structure and constant sense of dislocation draw the viewer into an idiosyncratic world filled with knowing glances and almost subliminal comments. Your enjoyment of the film will depend on how much things need to be spelled out for you, as Jarmusch the screenwriter prefers to drive a story by insinuation.
The plot, such as it is, revolves around lifelong bachelor Don Johnston, the subject of too many "Miami Vice" jokes, who opens a letter, typewritten on pink stationery, informing him that he has a 19-year-old son who may soon show up on his doorstep. The letter is unsigned, which tweaks the interest of Don's best friend and next-door neighbor Winston, an enthusiastic and persistent amateur sleuth. It is Winston who tracks down Don's ex-girlfriends across the country and organizes a trip for Don to meet and subtly ask each one a series of questions that may lead him to conclude who is the mother who penned the letter.
The subsequent film really provides mini-showcases for four fine veteran actresses (Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton), who pierce through the hearts of their characters with minimum fuss. Don pretty much remains a cipher throughout these encounters, as he gleans just enough information to tell him what he needs to know. He first meets up with Laura, a recent widow with an exhibitionist adolescent daughter named appropriately Lolita. Looking as beautiful as ever, Stone underplays her white trash role with surprising subtlety, even as she vividly describes her race car husband's fiery death and chats about her calling as a closet organizer.
Next on Don's list is Dora, an uptight real estate agent married to a fellow glad-hand agent, who seems to be bubbling just below the surface about Don's sudden appearance. Conroy, ideally cast in a controlling variation of her Ruth Fisher character on "Six Feet Under", gives a nuanced performance of a woman cracking slowly within the walls of a perfect, pre-fab home. The next stop is at the office of renowned "animal communicator" Carmen, an edgy professional who has apparently abandoned men for animals and a misogynistic receptionist (played with an ideal sense of passive malice by Chloë Sevigny). Lange plays Carmen in sharp, unapologetic detail, conveying the bitterness she holds toward the type of man Don represents to her.
The last encounter is with an even more embittered biker chick named Penny, played with seething force by an almost completely unrecognizable Swinton, who is in turn, defended by a couple of hyper-sensitive, mullet-head bikers. What happens from all these episodes toward its intriguing conclusion will not satisfy those looking for closure, but Jarmusch provides enough emotional baggage for Don to recognize what his journey means to him and to us.
Murray is his typical deadpan self here, but he still maintains that peculiar sense of goodwill he has without which the character would have been simply insufferable. With a Jamaican accent, Jeffrey Wright is wryly comical as Winston even as his curiosity gets the best of him. Also worth mentioning are Pell James' sweet turn as a sympathetic flower shop clerk and Mulatu Astatke's jazzy musical score. Well worth watching for those who like to come to their own interpretations when observing the lives presented by Jarmusch and their personal histories of which we can only speculate. -
davetex15 May 2007I never saw this movie when it came to the theater. Later on, when it arrived on video, the clerks at the local store rolled their eyes and told stories of renters returning it and complaining that it wasn't funny and was boring. So I didn't rent it, being the mindless lemming that would listen to a video store clerk.
Then I stumbled across it on one of the TV movie channels and sat down and watched it. Perhaps it was the lack of any expectations on my part, but I found this movie fascinating. Bill Murray has cornered the market on middle aged male guilt and regret. Between this film, Lost in Translation and the Life Aquatic he presents us with a very real sense of what it means to be in your mid fifties and contemplating all that has been missed while pursuing something else.
The movie moves slowly, at a measured pace, but it has to, because that is how the story unfolds, with the protagonist moving down the road of his past reluctantly, and with trepidation and rightly so, because he has left skeletons behind. Many of them, it would appear.
Bill Murray was always my favorite SNL guy and he never disappoints, always taking whatever role he is given and doing it well, and doing it as only Bill Murray can. David Spade and Chevy Chase, eat your hearts out. Actually, just retire. But I digress.
The supporting cast deserves kudos as well. For once, I liked Sharon Stone in a movie. Francis Conroy does her Six Feet Under persona but manages to spin it a little differently, and Jessice Lange is mesmerizing as always. And Jeffrey Wright, as Winston is a perfect foil for the perpetually deadpan Murray.
But in fairness, I suspect that you have to be middle aged and male to really love this movie and all of its wisdom. -
igm19 September 2005Broken Flowers is a departure for Jim Jarmusch, and not an altogether successful one. This film is decidedly more mainstream than anything Jarmusch has directed before. He inserts product from mapquest.com, Sharp, and Ford Taurus; shoots in color; and writes a character being admonished for smoking for starters. This isn't as radical a shift to mainstream as George Lucas going from THX-1138 to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. It's more like the Cohen brothers going from Blood Simple to Intolerable Cruelty.
Broken Flowers is highly structured and deliberately paced (i.e. slow), with an episodic format. Murray's character, Don Johnston, tries to reveal the identity of the woman who alerts him to the existence of his son, awkwardly reuniting with a succession of old flames. Murray's portrayal is fun to watch, and Sharon Stone is still magically delicious. The film has interesting things to say about the suburbs, the path not taken, bachelorhood, and the banality of travel. But it says little and hardly engages. It is the Odyssey with no reason to return home. -
keith-farman-16 November 2005Broken Flowers - Jim Jarmusch Jim Jarmusch writes movies. I don't mean he writes screenplays - though he does. No, he uses images the way a poet uses words. No waste. Every image carries weight. Resonates. Certainly his two most recent movies, Coffee and Cigarettes and now Broken Flowers are visual poems. Broken Flowers, unlike C&C is a narrative poem. It is a short, beautifully composed short story with Bill Murray's Don Johnston - with a 't' - at its heart.
In a sadly now lost interview, Steve McQueen once said a man should feel as much as possible and show as little as possible. This unfashionable conception deserves deeper examination than our contemporary conventional wisdom is likely to give it, but it sums up Don Johnston literally to a 't'. However subtle, Bill Murray's humour is delightfully accessible. The deeper emotions of his more serious characters are harder to read. And his extraordinary, almost unique 'innerness' as an actor makes you work hard. In a superb performance in an excellent film, it is a fine judgement as to whether he might have given us just a little bit more colour and shading. We can see only too well why the women in his life kept leaving him but he makes us work a bit to see why they would have been with him in the first place. Murrray has cornered the market in men who can give but not take - Bob Harris in Lost In Translation and now Don Johnston in Broken Flowers. In a key piece of dialogue early on, as current partner Sherry (Julie Delpy), follows the other women in Don's life - out of it - he asks "what do you want Sherry?" She replies "what do you want Don?" And he's stumped. One feels Sherry would settle for any answer but not for none.
When he receives an unsigned letter from an ex-girlfriend, amateur sleuth neighbour Winston (Jeffrey Wright) cajoles Don onto a reverse road trip of his life. The distinctive typed missive, addressed in red writing on a pink envelope, excites Winston's forensic aspirations and informs Don that his hitherto unmarried, unparented life actually created an unknown son 20 years ago, For Winston this is an intriguing mystery to be unravelled. For a reluctant Don it draws him into revisiting his former selves through the women he once either loved, or bedded; or (it is left unclear), perhaps both.
Broken Flowers, although like C&C, visually poetic in form and style, is more short story in content. So simple, pared down and explicitly existential in spirit, it brings Camus to mind. Pretentious thought that may sound, Jarmusch's poetic visual style has all the direct simplicity and philosophical resonance of Camus' prose. Asked for some 'fatherly' wisdom, Don apologetically replies, "The past is gone - I know that. And the future is still to come. So I guess there is just now." Outside the context of this elusive and allusive film, these remarks sound like a banal tautology. But there's the art. Jarmusch's art. His simple film 'language' resonates with feeling and, unusually for movies - ideas. Poetic. And if philosophical ideas seem a fanciful allusion for simple words, a remark of Wittgenstein's comes to mind when he observed that despite its apparent form, the expression "War is war" is no mere tautology.
As in C&C, but to a lesser extent, Broken Flowers has an episodic 'chapter'-like structure. Or more precisely, series of verses. And Jarmusch's cinematic style has a distinctive literary feel to it. His editing quietly 'punctuates' each scene and sequence precisely and without distraction. The full stops and commas of cuts and fades, provide a clear narrative structure, so that when the camera or the lens move, or the shot is held, it is precisely the contrast that makes it work so well. And like a good poet, Jarmusch likes to leave words, images and phrases hanging in the air. Unexplained. Unresolved. Jarmusch's great quality as a filmmaker is that his work is participative - a dialogue with his audience and their own experience. And like all good poems Broken Flowers will mean different things to different people even though its basic facts are not in doubt. In his art, the facts are the starting point, not the end. Want facts as conclusion, resolution - an answer? Try science. Or Hollywood.
Broken Flowers is, as the old saying has it, a mystery wrapped in an enigma: Winston's mystery - Don's enigma. Its ending is as satisfying, as it is unresolved. Murray doesn't so much show us Don's emotional life, still less act it, rather he lets small glimpses of it escape. His tears over the ex-girlfriend who died in a car crash; his sense of failure about Sherry; his warmth and understated friendship with Winston and his family. But poignantly, we see he wants to have had a son. Wants them to find each other. Murray superbly insinuates to us a man full of feeling who is bemused by his own inability to find a way to let it out. As in many of his characterisations - a genuinely tragi-comic figure.
Zettel 2005 -
NJMoon20 August 2005Broken flowers are at least still flowers - flawed but potentially still beautiful. Much the same goes for this Jim Jarmusch film, written expressly for actor Bill Murray. While Jarmusch's execution is masterly, the premise of the film is somewhat contrived - at least at first glance. Was Bill Murray really a 'Don Juan' figure twenty years ago? Even 30 years ago, when he was 'live' every Saturday night, this would be a specious claim at best. Hold this script in storage for (say) Antonio Banderas in two decades and I might buy it. Overkill on this concept quickly sets in having Murray watching a black and white film of "Don Juan" in his very first scene. And his character's first name? Don. But accepting Murray (if we must) as a Lothario, the film contrives to send him on a 'road trip' to find out if he has a son, despite a pink letter saying that the son would likely be coming to find HIM. And did I mention that his best friend and neighbor Winston is a part-time detective who spurns on Don's investigation of his parental status, complete with directions on what clues to look for and maps to the (star's) homes? Okay - all of the above is broken - flawed. But the film that embraces this premise is beautiful and sweet. Sometimes achingly so. Jarmusch is the Sam Beckett of screen writing and the pauses are telling. Murray is much better here on his home turf than negotiating alienation in Tokyo in LOST IN TRANSLATION. Here it is only himself that he must face - by encounters with his past. The performances here are first rate, including the women he must confront -stars Frances Conroy, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton. Filmgoers looking for Murray's trademark quips and a quick pace will be disappointed here. His stillness is what is telling. While in no need of a translation, Don is still quite lost. For those who require a pat ending, this film will also disappoint. That is, unless one ponders the less obvious theories about the origins of the pink letter. This is one of those rare but wonderful films that is almost more interesting on the drive home.
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jotix10020 August 2005Jim Jarmusch returns to the screen with an immensely pleasing film that looks extremely simple, but in fact, it's what is not being said that really is at the center of the picture. Mr. Jarmusch is one director that loves to work with an economy of everything. His films seem to be crying for a set decorator, but that is misleading, because it's the simplicity that seems to work in most cases.
If you haven't seen the film, perhaps you should stop reading here.
At the center of the story is Don Johnston, whose name seems to provoke in most people a recognition by associating it to the actor, Don Johnson. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Don is a taciturn man, who when we meet him is being dumped by his last girlfriend.
Don Johnston, with his deadpan demeanor, appears to be a man that has gone through life on auto pilot. In fact, when he receives the letter that will, in a way, change his life, he doesn't even react. His solution to the problem is to show this letter to his next door neighbor, Winston. Little does Don knows, but Winston maps out a plan to get him involved in the solution of the mystery he is presented. We accompany Don in a trip of discovery to reacquaint himself with former lovers who might have been instrumental in sending the pink letter.
Thus we meet Laura, the closet organizer, a widow now, living with a precocious daughter, Lolita, who seems to have jumped from the Nabokov's book, in all her precociousness. Then, there is Dora, the real estate woman who lives in a development in which all the houses look alike. We meet Carmen, the pet communicator, a sort of animal analyst who has turned her love interest another way. Finally, we are given a glimpse of Penny, who couldn't care less to see Don one more time.
The opening sequence that sets the story in motion is nothing but perfection. We watch the fateful letter at the beginning when it's being dropped in the mail box right up to its delivery through Don's mail slot.
Jim Jarmusch, and his amazing cast have done wonders with this film. Bill Murray is sensational as the jaded Don Johnston. Once again, this actor clearly shows he is at the top of the game. Jeffrey Wright, one of the best young actors working in films and in the theater these days, makes a valuable contribution as Winston. The women in Don's life are fantastic. Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Julie Delpy, Tilda Swinton, and Jessica Lange are seen at their best. Finally, two excellent turns by Alexis Dziena as Lolita and Chloe Sevigny as an assistant to Carmen.
Mr. Jarmusch has created a film that says a lot about how modern relationships are being practiced these days. -
cultfilmfan19 August 2005Broken Flowers, is about a lonely and quiet bachelor named Don Johnston, who lives in a big house and basically lies around all day. Don, recently breaks up with his girlfriend Sherry. Don, lives next door to an interesting man named Winston, who likes to look up information and investigate people on the internet. One day Don gets a letter in the mail from a woman (who does not sign the letter) and says that her son is Don's and that he is coming to visit Don, to see who his father really is. Don, shows the note to Winston, and Winston tells Don, to make a list of all the girls he has been with in the past. Don, makes a list of five people and Winston gets information on all of them including where they live and sets out a traveling course for Don, to go and see them to find out which one is the mother of his child. Don, goes on this journey and meets these women he has not seen in years to find out the truth about the letter and notices how much some of these women have changed since he last knew them. Broken Flowers, has good direction, a good script, good performances by the whole cast, good cinematography and good film editing. The film is written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, who has brought us such offbeat delights as Down By Law, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai and Coffee And Cigarettes, and all of those I liked a lot. But, I was disappointed with Broken Flowers. It was not a bad film in any way but it is slow and it often tries to make witty and smart jokes and be funny but for the most part the jokes don't work and they are not funny. The film also lacks energy and it doesn't have as interesting characters or situations as past Jarmusch films who shows he can whip up some really good conversations like in Coffee And Cigarettes. I didn't really find any of the characters that interesting and at times it was hard to relate to characters in the film and wonder at the end what the point of the movie was. It was still mildly entertaining and I liked their performances and some of the creative scenes so for that I'am slightly recommending this but it doesn't work on a whole as well as past Jarmusch movies that were virtually ignored while this one is getting a lot of buzz.
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Movieguy_blogs_com7 September 2005If I were to make a list of the worst movies Bill Murray has been in, this movie would make the list. Bill Murray plays an aged Don Juan who finds out that he may have a son he doesn't know about. When his current girlfriend dumps him, he reluctantly decides to track down some of his former girlfriends. He encounters one awkward reunion after another, with the intent to find out who might be the mother.
Although this movie kept my interest, there is little if no pay out in the end. It is very short on laughs, if any. It is really hard to come up with any redeeming qualities for this film. I'm told the director (Jim Jarmusch) tries to tell the tale about a man's choices in life and how he learns to live with them, but who cares? It is hard to feel sorry for Don; he is independently wealthy with an uncanny knack with the ladies. Sure he has trouble forming long-term relationships. But maybe if he stopped checking out every young girl that comes his way, he would not have this problem.
There are a lot of other stars in this (Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange to name a few), but they contribute little to an already poorly written film. I cannot believe this movie did so well at the Cannes Film Festival! -
harry_tk_yung9 August 2005(watched in Toronto)
"Broken flowers" won the 2005 Cannes Grand Prix award, which should not be a surprise as Jim Jarmusch has always been loved by the French.
The title however I connect immediately with the lyrics in one of my most favourite Gilbert and Sullivan numbers, in Trial by Jury:
"Comes the broken flower
Comes the cheated maid
Though the tempest lower
Rain and cloud will fade."
This connection is not entirely irrelevant, if we look at some more lyrics in this G&S's shortest operetta, the defendant's plead to the judge on his reason for deserting the young lady, the plaintiff:
"One cannot eat breakfast all day,
Nor is it the act of a sinner,
When breakfast is taken away,
To turn his attention to dinner.
And it's not in the range of belief,
To look upon him as a glutton,
Who, when he is tired of beef,
Determines to tackle the mutton."
This is exactly the plight of Don Johnston (Bill Murray) in the movie, albeit it examines the consequences rather than the process of Don Juan-ism. But while G&S strives on exaggeration, Jarmusch is all minimalism.
This episodic film starts with Sherry (Julia Delpy) walking out on Don, refusing to be his "mistress" playing second fiddle to the remote control of his plasma screen. An anonymous letter in a pink envelop announcing an upcoming visit from a hitherto unknown 19-year-old son and well-intentioned pressure from neighbour Winston (Jeffrey Wright) send Don on a quest to look for the mysterious mother from among five of his old girlfriends. Equipped with a bouquet of pink flowers (a fitting motif) on every call, Don starts out hopeful, but soon finds that the experience is one continuous downhill slide.
Starting out pleasantly enough, the encounter with widowed Laura (Sharon Stone) ends in one night spent with her, presumably for old time's sake. She even asks him to come back whenever he likes, but her daughter who likes to walk around the house with nothing on, appropriately named Lolita, is somewhat disturbing. The flowers are well received.
Next come Dora (Frances Conroy) and her husband Ron, affluent real estate agents, who invite him to stay for dinner. While the meal is friendly enough, the conversation is quite awkward, not exactly what Don would consider a happy reunion with Dora. The flowers are received but embarrassingly placed under a painting which they resemble.
"Animal communicator" (whatever that means) Carmen (Jessica Lange) is not unhappy to see Don but does not have much time for him, and it's plain to see that there is something between her and the attractive assistant (Chloe Sevigny if you've seen her in "Shattered Glass" and "Melinda and Melinda" you would likely be watching out for her other movies). The flowers are returned to Don by this assistant (we never learn her name) at his car before he drives away.
High strung Penny (Tilda Swinton) greets Don with obscenity, just keeps asking what he wants and flies off the handle at his mention of the word "son". The end result is his getting a black and bloody eye from one of the rough characters she stays with. The flowers become a pile of garbage.
The fifth ex-girl friend receives her flowers passively, as they are placed on her gravestone. But the movie does not end there. There is more.
It should be quite apparent by the middle of the movie, if not earlier, that the "mystery" is not the point. What we see is sketches of Don's re-encounter with these women with whom he once shared intimacy, and it is a fascinating mental exercise to reconstruct those relationships based on what we see.
This movie is entirely Murray's show, and I can't think of anyone who can make people laugh so much by doing so little. This actor is phenomenal. Don't miss the movie. -
Buddy-5118 July 2006I have rarely seen a movie handed such a promising premise and yet do so little with it.
In "Broken Flowers," Bill Murray plays an aging Don Juan-type who has had a long succession of girlfriends but never a fully committed, sustained relationship with any of them. On the same day that his latest love interest has decided to move out on him, Don receives an anonymous letter from one of his former girlfriends informing him that he is the father of a 19-year-old son who may be coming around to look for him. Eventually, albeit reluctantly, Don decides to go in search of the four women who could possibly have written the note and find out for himself about the boy he never knew he had.
In typical Jim Jarmusch style, "Broken Flowers" is all windup and very little follow through. The preparation for the trip is done with a great deal of style and subtle humor, as Don first balks at the prospect of tracking down the women, but then relents under the persuasive persistence of Winston, his concerned next door neighbor and first class buttinski. Anticipation is high as Don, filled with curiosity and anxiety, sets off on his journey into the past. Unfortunately, after all the suspense and build-up, not much happens once he gets there. To call his encounters with the ladies "under whelming" would, in itself, be a masterpiece of understatement. For in his effort to avoid melodrama, Jarmusch has pretty much thrown out the drama as well. Yes, we understand that the point is that we never really can go back to the past and make restitution for what we did back then, but does the theme have to be presented in so attenuated, episodic and dramatically inert a way? This is a particular shame considering the caliber of actresses Jarmusch has hired for the occasion: Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy, Sharon Stone and Tilda Swinton, not to mention Chloe Sevigny and Alexis Dziena in even more minor roles. All these women are given so little time on screen that they are unable to develop any truly memorable characters. What a waste. As Don, Murray plays pretty much the same zonked-out, near-catatonic fatalist he did in "Lost in Translation," but he does it so well that he keeps the movie interesting even when it is faltering and trying to figure out where it wants to take us. With the subtlest possible facial expressions - the ever so miniscule tilt of an eyebrow, the barely perceptible half-smile, the sardonic twinkle in his eye - Murray conveys thoroughly what his world-weary character is thinking and feeling. It's another breathtaking performance from a man who began his movie career as a broad comic and will surely end it as a first rate dramatic actor.
Despite the sag in the middle, I must say that "Broken Flowers" ends on a brilliantly sustained high note, a long scene involving Don and a young vagabond that hints at how great the movie could have been had the whole thing been played at this level. The inconclusive ending and the lack of a clear-cut resolution goes a long way towards redeeming much of the rest of the movie as Don comes face-to-face with the emptiness and meaninglessness of his existence. It's a fine finale to a deeply flawed and ultimately unsatisfying film. -
Quinoa198412 August 2005It would be hard for me to recommend this film to some people, even if as a particular film-goer as myself it kept me in my seat as it went by with its deliberate (or slow as most would put it) pace. For an actor like Bill Murray, this is a 180 turn from his classic comedy roles in Caddyshack and Ghostbusters (both films I love for his style of quick witted, instantly quotable lines)- this time, as I've read, he and writer/director Jim Jarmusch took the subtle, subdued approach of Buster Keaton, but done all Murray's way. He continues the sort of 'phase' he's been in starting with Lost in Translation and going somewhat into The Life Acquatic- now his is reactions which make up the best parts, and the occasional zingers work well against the supporting cast.
The reason one might consider Broken Flowers as Jarmusch's most 'mainstream' film is because it is filmed a little more like one, very steady camera-work, and seeming a little more like a Hollywood type film with the cast (Sharon Stone, Francis Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Jeffrey Wright among others). And the story seems like something one might find in a conventional romantic comedy- Murray plays Don Johnston (not Johnson, as a running joke in the film), a fading Don Juan type who is very well off but also rather isolated with himself. Around the same time his current girlfriend leaves him, he finds a mysterious pink colored letter in a pink envelope. Wright, playing an amusing neighbor of Don's, sets him up to go on a search to find the long lost son the letter alludes to. He reluctantly goes on the search.
What is interesting about a filmmaker like Jarmusch, with only a few others I can think of, is that his pace and style and way the film unfolds, my heartbeat never goes too fast or too slow with the rhythm, and it stays consistent. When the climax to the film comes, it's more contemplative than exciting. As Don visits the four women, who each give him something different to offer (if not answering his questions for the 'mystery'), the comedy kicks in, but as with the scenes with Wright's character Winston, it's not often 'laugh-out loud' funny, but the wit is there. Some of it is surprising (the daughter character, Lolita, brings a big laugh), and just strange (Lange's job as an 'animal communicator'), but it's often not so much about hitting for big punches as for more realistic ones. We get long (some might say too long) breaks as Don drives in his car, and then something more comes along. For me, at least, it was rather compelling in a minimalist way, which is what Jarmusch is a master of.
Some have said that the ending was unfulfilled, that it didn't serve a purpose and left the film with unanswered questions. I found the ending to really be even more fulfilling, perhaps on an existential or some kind of unspeakable level, than something that would typically be cooked up in Hollywood. As Murray stand in the street, the camera moving around him and stopping on him, it had me thinking and finally feeling some emotional attachment to Don. Early in the film, he's almost too subdued, and has an upper-middle class status that brings a detachment like with a lead in an Antonioni film. He says he's content with being on his own doing whatever, but by the end he has come full circle. Murray plays these last couple of scenes wonderfully, bringing one to see that the film is not about the usual solving of a mystery of 'who is my son'.
It's about searching, and finding a connectedness to people. This, again, may sound off-putting to people who just want to be simply entertained, and it may be boring &/or pretentious to the core mainstream fans of Murray. But his performance, and Jarmusch's direction, makes its best way in a realm of its own, taking a simple premise and giving it an original take, and substance, and a specific rhythm. In other words, Jarmusch fans need not be frightened that it looks less 'artsy' than a film like Dead Man or Mystery Train, and for those who loved Murray's work in Lost in Translation will find a similar wavelength to cling to. -
Overall I found this film somewhat hysterical. Bill Murray isn't convincing of having been a ladies man and is a very worn down looking 55 year old in 2005.
Keep in mind Sharon Stone was 46-7 and they tried to make her unsuccessfully appear like a woman who could go for "Don" with her nymphomaniac daughter named "Lolita" (bad book, bad Kubrick film).
Conroy at 52-53 and still doing 6 Feet Under seemed like "The One" that Don messed up....but was turned awkward by her clearly unhappy marriage to Ron as well as Ron being exactly like he was in the doofy comedy "Happy Gilmore" as "Shooter McGaven" just a guy you love to hate (which is a difficult acting task).
Jessica Lange looking 57 with whatever work/Botox she had done appeared like a more embittered resentful ex...dooping mentally disturbed pet owners who falls for her scam. Hell she falls for her scam. It's clear she really dislikes him and blames him for her empty vain life.
Now why Don would have thought from the exterior of the home, that approaching Tilda was definitely not worth the ramifications, and is beyond my understanding she also would be the youngest at 42 is beyond my understanding. Don has been established as one who prefers to avoid confrontations that's how Winston pushes him into this ridiculous "mystery" so easily.
Good or bad reunions Don comes to realise that his philandering was temporal and he has no legacy...he sort of snaps chasing after some troubled kid as a result...I found that end to be unnecessary. It distracts from the protagonists emptiness and shifts him to lunatic.
I didn't expect to find out if it was his recent ex, or a conversation with Winston about rethinking his life.
But a man who achieved material success, success in the boudoir, but not in his interpersonal connections and that's a wide spread issue amongst many upper middle class successful men and women, and sends an overly powerful message.
What I felt lacking most is hypothetically Don was with these women prior to his computer success he was 35...and they're all on a personality level very different. What did Don do for a living back then, I assume they weren't one stands otherwise they wouldn't have recognised Don. So I would have liked a picture of who Don was 20 years ago.
Quality film on the entertaining feel good scale not really and as mentioned it's predictable so I was debating 6-7 and went 6. -
wonderjo6 August 2005I can't say I'm a Jim Jarmish fan. However, this collaboration with Bill Murray brought the best out of both of them. Bill is just amazing anyway. His acting draws the viewer in to his world. The saying " less is more" Murray epitomizes. Jarmish plays with the same idea and allows silence to act in this film. The mood the stark film quality and story give all the actors room to breath. Every scene is an evolution into unfolding feeling.
Basically, this film seemed written for Murray's effortlessness acting style. Yet Murray's character is played at first with almost totally non-vulnerability you want him to open up. But all the time you see glimmers of him doing just that and then you even appreciate his stuck-ness.
All the other actors are wonderful as well. I have seen Sharon Stone's acting as someone trying to hard, but people, she was just crazy and alive in her role in this film. She changed my mind. Jessica Lange's performance is just perfect. What a woman. All in all I must give this film 2 thumbs up and my big toes are saluting it as well. Funny, thoughtful and very entertaining. Bravo. -
If you have something to do you might not appreciate a friends suggestion that you accompany them on a road trip with no set destination just for the hell of a ride. Then again, if you have nothing better to do it might be just the thing. Likewise, if you don't mind visiting planet non-sequitur taking the BROKEN FLOWERS ride will be somewhat rewarding. If on the other hand you've got plenty on your plate and you demand a certain modicum of logic you might find BROKEN FLOWERS terminally aggravating.
The set up is that an aging Don Juan (we're told he is or was a Don Juan and we just have to accept that as a fact without the slightest indication that he was or that it had any effect, either salutary or otherwise, on him) receives an unsigned letter telling him that a 19 year old son that he never knew he had was out looking for him. The Don Juan, actually Don Johnstone (several excellent puns there), is played by Bill Murray who acts like he's had his nervous system eviscerated. His next door neighbor, Winston (Jeffery Wright), (their names rhyme and they are exact opposites), is a wanna be mystery writer and is intrigued by the letter and in order to solve the mystery of who sent the letter he plots an itinerary to visit the four surviving possibilities, i.e. his lovers from 20 years before.
Of course logic here flies out the window if one were to consider 1. Why would the letter writer not sign her name 2. Why wouldn't she simply tell her determined son who his father is and where he could find him, and 3. Why does he have to track down the letter writer when he merely has to wait to be found. If this were to happen then the movie wouldn't exist as per the question John Ford was always asked about why the Indians didn't just shoot the horses in the famous chase scene in STAGECOACH.
When he goes to visit each of the women he simply doesn't say "I received this letter the other day. Did you send it? Are you the mother of my son?" I don't want to be unfair to director Jarmusch, (though to be honest and in the spirit of Full Disclosure he has been to me in the past), he does want to take you on a little trip and you just have to accept the premise to go where he wants you to go, to see what he wants you to see and experience what he wants you to experience, so that at the end the resolution of the story is Don Johnston's recovering the ability to feel again. However bogus the letter, the story, the mise en scene (all of the airport scenes are Newark Airport, almost all of the sites visited and roads traveled are in the Ulster County, New York vicinity except the ending which seems to be unfamiliar, and, from the license plates, may be in Massachusetts), the logic, the time line (more like twenty years from 1990, maybe), the beauty of the ex's, the ease with which Winston found them on-line, (not as easy a task as shown) and even the very character of Don Johnstone shouldn't bother an interested viewer any more than trying to figure out who exactly it was who heard Charles Foster Kane say "Rosebud". Just go along for the ride. All of the action is internal, the logic frankly dreamlike. It can be discarded like a chrysalis, with Bill Murray the fully emerged butterfly at the end.
The acting is first rate along the way. Sharon Stone looks beautiful and not the hard and perfect Sharon Stone as in the past. No longer a bitch goddess, she now walks among us mere mortals. She is the widow of a racing driver and is named Laura which is something of an inside joke as it is a reference to a lachrymose 50s ditty called TELL LAURA I LOVE HER. Her daughter, whose appearance in this film is outstanding, is named Lolita and wears heart shaped ear rings as per Sue Lyon's sun glasses in the Kubrick version. Francis Conroy and Christopher McDonald in a sterile tract McMansion have a semi comatose contest with Murray and believe me nobody wins. Jessica Lange as a professional animal communicator can't seem to communicate with humans except for the suggestion of something going on with her receptionist, an unrecognizable Chloe Sevigny. And Tilda Swinton is the most enigmatic and the biggest non sequitur of all but at least provides the road trips punch line.
The whole point to the story is, naturally, is at the end of the picture. There is something in the external world that can burrow through the seemingly impenetrable shell of his crippled personality. He can feel something.
Like all good road trips, this one ends where it began and the main souvenir is the experience itself. So too is BROKEN FLOWERS, a trip, like an acid trip from which you don't bring back snow globes or tee shirts, but something intangible but valuable and something which become indelibly part of oneself. -
namashi_113 August 2015'Broken Flowers' is a delight. A terrific little film, about an aging Don Juan, who embarks on a journey of a lifetime. Jim Jarmusch & Bill Murray offer a story, that is funny, melancholic but ultimately, rewarding.
'Broken Flowers' Synopsis: As the extremely withdrawn Don Johnston is dumped by his latest woman, he receives an anonymous letter from a former lover informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. A freelance sleuth neighbor moves Don to embark on a cross-country search for his old flames in search of answers.
'Broken Flowers' works from start to end. Reason? The magnificently Written Screenplay by Jarmusch himself, is incredibly engaging & engrossing. You are with the protagonist & its fun to tag along in his journey, where he ends up reliving his youth. I was throughly engrossed even by its supporting characters. Jarmusch has penned every character solidly. Jarmusch's Direction is applaud-worthy, as always. 'Broken Flowers' is undoubtedly amongst his finest films to date.
Bill Murray is astonishing here. The Acting Legend delivers an unforgettable turn as the man who must catch up with what he left behind. Murray portrays his part with remarkable conviction. After Lost In Translation, this is his best performance to date.
The Supporting Cast also deliver wonderfully. Sharon Stone leads the pack & is excellent. Frances Conroy is genuinely affecting, while Jessica Lange is mature. Jeffrey Wright is fantastic, in a meaty role. Christopher McDonald is first-rate. Julie Delpy & Tilda Swintion shine in cameos, as well.
On the whole, 'Broken Flowers' works on every level. A Must Watch! -
sarastro73 November 2005Jim Jarmusch is an artist. There are always artistic elements to be found in his movies. Broken Flowers is no exception. Almost everything in it is there for a reason (incl. the nympho teen) - but it's not enough. The movie is about a Don Juan character with no balls. He has no impetus, apparently no interests (beyond some half-hearted womanizing), and, catastrophically, the plot of the movie remains unsolved. Obviously, Jarmusch wants to raise some issues, but leave them open for the audience to deal with. Fine - art does that, too. But it's not as constructive - or as good art - as it would have been to actually provide a resolution; some closure. The best art makes statements.
Yes, the movie has many good and funny bits. But everything that is mysterious simply remains so. That's not very satisfying at all. It ends up being a movie without a point. Well, it probably has some vague point, but it's certainly not penetrable to the mainstream audience.
(Edit, a few weeks later: I have emended my rating of this movie from 6 to 7 stars, because - rather surprisingly - my mother and my brother enlightened me about the ending. It is not open-ended or unresolved. The point is that Sherry, the woman who leaves Don in the beginning, wrote the letter in order to try to prove to him that he really does care, although he's forgotten to, and although he in fact has no son. This ending makes the movie enormously more wholesome and meaningful, because it makes it about remembering and rediscovering a long-lost happiness; the happiness of knowing who you are and in that knowledge being able to give and receive love. With this ending, the movie *does* make a statement! Still, I'm not rating it higher than a "7" because the statement is so vaguely presented - I mean, just look at the user comments here; hardly anyone, incl. myself at first, got the point. The symbolism was a little too convoluted. But it's probably a movie that, in time, will become increasingly recognized as a neat art movie.)
7 stars out of 10. -
nicoicon119 May 2005I am a film studies student fortunate enough to be at the Cannes Festival and somehow fenangled my way into the premiere of Broken Flowers, in fact sitting in the aisle diagonal to Jim, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Julie Deply. The movie was utterly satisfying for me. I had an avid fear that it would end up ANOTHER Bill Murray movie, which is practically a genre in and of itself these days, although Jarmusch already reinvigorated his classic demeanor in Coffee and Cigarettes. Much to my relief, Broken Flowers provides many a moment for Murray to shine, for it is truly a film centered around him. It is more of a return to Jarmusch's earlier films, rather than the second round of linked stories like Mystery Train and Night on Earth or the play with genre of the latter works. Unlike Stranger than Paradise or Down By Law, however, the focus is not on a trio but one man, which opens the door for more detailed character development than Jarmusch is normally willing to give. I don't want to say that it is his most accessible work, but a more mature and developed one. It has the most structured storyline to date but as usual, Jarmusch always remains restrained. Jeffrey Wright is a delight, and Swinton is unrecognizable. The scene between Murray, Frances Conroy (what a treat for a Six Feet Under Fan) in particular received applause from the crowd, as did the film as a whole. In many ways the film reminded me of About Schmidt, particularly the ending, but was much more minimal and appealing to all ages. The soundtrack, an ethiopoan musician's take on spy music, added a great touch and the whimsical play with mystery and clues is continuously weaved throughout. There is no closure, no emotional overtow, and no real payoff, but the film is very well crafted. I am still trying to articulate it and incredibly sleep deprived but feel free to contact me with any questions. I saw that no one had posted yet and i thought that as a complete Jarmusch dork, I should extend my knowledge. Later I'll actually provide a good review.
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claudio_carvalho5 February 2007Sherry (Julie Delpy), the girlfriend of the former "Don Juan" and successful middle-age businessman Don Johnston (Bill Murray), ends their relationship and leaves him. At the same time, he receives an anonymous pink letter telling him that he has a nineteen years old son. Don's neighbor and friend, the worker family man and aspirant "Sherlock Holmes" Winston (Jeffrey Wright), asks the name of Don's girlfriends of twenty years ago and organizes a cross-country trip for him to meet the ladies and find the unknown son. The reluctant and emotionless Don visit's the widow Laura (Sharon Stone) with her sexually emancipated daughter Lolita (Alexis Dziena) and he has one night stand with Laura. Then he meets the successful real state agent Dora (Frances Conroy) and her husband Ron (Christopher McDonald) and they have dinner together. Then he comes to the office of the lesbian Dr. Carmen (Jessica Lange), who communicates with animals, and her jealous secretary (Chloë Sevigny) and he has a brief encounter with her. Finally he finds the resentful Penny (Tilda Swinton) in a community in the woods. The obsessed Don returns home without solving the mystery and realizing that the past is gone.
"Broken Flowers" is a weird little movie about obsession, loneliness and finished and unresolved empty relationships. The character Don Johnston is an expressionless introspective man, successful in his computer business but that has never built a long-term personal relationship. Former wolf, he apparently become aware that he has no legacy regarding his personal life, and the chance of having a son motives him to engage in a quixotic journey. Viewers familiarized with the work of Jim Jarmusch will enjoy this movie. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Flores Partidas" ("Broken Flowers") -
stephanie_lein20 August 2005After viewing the trailer, I was hopeful that Broken Flowers might prove to be a subtly humorous and sweet film such as Lost in Translation, which I very much liked. But by the end I, and my family, couldn't believe we had been made to sit through two hours of excruciatingly slow pacing for no seeming reason.
I am not a film buff, but am a theater person. Though I don't know all of Jarmusch's previous films, tactics, or techniques, I do understand some basic principles of storytelling, and I feel that this did not meet them satisfactorily. It is a beautiful and satisfying thing for the writer to leave something to the audiences' imagination, making them engage their imaginations to complete the story rather than remain passive viewers who are spoon fed answers and entertainment.But this can be taken too far, and I felt that the film left too much to the audience, without providing enough meat to sink our imaginations into.
The one really touching moment came,I thought, when at the end of his list of former girlfriends, he visits a graveyard and the gravestone of a former flame. A close shot catches Murray with tears welling in his eyes. This would have been a terrific moment...if we hadn't been made to wait so long that we didn't even care.
I agree with other comments that I saw little to no trace of the Don Juan that could have attracted so many women (including the four women in the film whom he supposedly bedded the same year). Even if he had had an incredible vigor in the past, why would he have a gorgeous girlfriend apparently 20 years his junior at present? And what does he want? I was never able to discover that. Without any seeming motivation and without the development of relationships or any type of build that culminated in anything significant, I felt cheated by the end. Any point that could be made in the film feels like it could have been made in the first 30 minutes. After that it was just more of the same. Whereas Lost in Translation made a statement about the loneliness of two people in a foreign country by its slow pace, it also interwove the pacing with a touching and unconventional relationship that gave the audience something to engage in and watch develop. Nothing seemed to develop here. Which raises the question, Why should we care?