Green Room (2015 film)

Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, Green Room is the story of a hardcore punk band who find themselves playing a gig at a place that is the base for a group of neo-Nazi skinheads who go after them after the band had witnessed a murder. The film is an unconventional thriller where a group of people try to escape and fight against a hate group who want them dead. Starring Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, and Joe Cole. Green Room is a gripping yet intense film from Jeremy Saulnier.

The film revolves around a hardcore punk band who take a gig at neo-Nazi club unaware of what it is only to witness a murder as all hell breaks loose forcing them to try and survive this group of neo-Nazi skinheads. It’s a film that takes a simple premise but with an air of intrigue and terror as much of the story is set in a room where a hardcore punk band, a young woman, and a bouncer they’ve held hostage is in the room along with a dead body while its owner and his band of hooligans try to break in. Jeremy Saulnier’s screenplay follows this hardcore punk band in the Ain’t Rights as they are traveling through the Pacific Northwest on tour as stopped to do a radio interview and a gig which was unfortunately cancelled because of screw-ups by promoters forcing a local radio host to call his cousin who works at a club outside Portland to get the band a gig.

Although the band realize the audience is a neo-Nazi group, they still play and find a way to piss them off unaware of what is happening behind the scenes at the green room where the headlining band is at. Slaunier’s script doesn’t just play into what happened but also what the club owner Darcy Banker (Patrick Stewart) is hiding as he’s a dangerous yet calm man that is trying to handle the situation without any real trouble. Still, he has a group of people that will take care of things if needed to as they have weapons and attack dogs with the people in the green room having little to fight back with.

Saulnier’s direction is definitely mesmerizing for the way he creates the air of tension and terror that looms throughout the film where much of its second and third act is set inside the green room. Shot on location in Portland, Oregon with additional locations in Astoria as well as scenes shot at the Mount Hood National Forest. Saulnier’s direction doesn’t go for a lot of wide shots except in getting a look at the locations yet much of his direction is intimate in its usage of close-ups and medium shots in playing to the atmosphere of the club as well as the tension that goes on inside the green room. Especially as it has this air of claustrophobia where you have the band, the friend of the dead young woman, and a bouncer who had a gun only to be overpowered by the band while outside of the green room is Darcy and his gang. Even as the band try to get out of the green room through other means of searching the room as well as discover something underneath the green room that is even more disturbing as it relates to the area the club is set in. The scenes outside the club where Darcy and his followers are trying to get things ready as well as make a discovery about one of their own add to the intrigue.

Saulnier’s direction also has this eerie element of violence in the way it’s presented as the dead body is seen with a knife on her head but no blood until the knife is pulled out. The violence would intensify during a standoff between Darcy and one of the band members in Pat (Anton Yelchin) who agreed to exchange a handgun for a cell phone only to realize that it was a set-up leaving Pat’s arm to be cut badly. Things would get more violent as the film progresses that would eventually lead to a showdown where it is about a battle of wits and will despite the lack of resources and experience the band and Amber (Imogen Poots) have in a fight or in a battle. Even as it’s all about the impact and sense of will but also the need to survive no matter how much the odds are against this small group of punks. Overall, Saulnier crafts a riveting yet haunting film about a hardcore punk rock band stuck inside a room at a venue for neo-Nazi skinhead punks.

Cinematographer Sean Porter does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it’s low-key in its approach to lighting for many of the interiors in day and night as well as the exterior scenes set at night. Editor Julia Bloch does fantastic work with the editing as its usage of rhythmic cuts play into the suspense and terror without the need to delve into fast-paced cutting by emphasizing on momentum in the suspense. Production designer Ryan Warren Smith, with set decorator Jenelle Giordano and art director Benjamin Hayden, does brilliant work with the look of the club the band plays as well as the green room which is a room to relax until it becomes a safe haven for the band away from the Nazis. Costume designer Amanda Needham does nice work with the costumes from the ragged look of the band as well as the look of the Nazis with their boots and red laces for the group of extremists.

Prosthetic makeup designer Michael Marino does amazing work with the look of gore and some of the violent moments that happen in the film. Visual effects supervisor Chris Connolly does terrific work with some of the film’s minimal visual effects as it mainly serves as set dressing for some of the violence as well as a few moments in the exterior scenes. Sound designer Roland Vajs does superb work with the sound in capturing the sound of live music heard at the venue or at another room as well as the way feedback is used as a weapon in the film. The film’s music by Brooke and Will Blair is wonderful for its haunting usage of strings and keyboards to create an ominous music score that help play into the suspense and drama while music supervisor Lauren Mikus provides a killer soundtrack filled with a lot of punk rock music from acts like Bad Brains, Fear, Corpus Rottus, Kingsley Fowley, Spectre Folk, Poison Idea, Hochstedder, Patsy Rats, Midnight, Syphilitic Lust, Missionary Position, Obituary, and Harassor along with non-punk music from Napalm Death, Slayer, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The casting by Avy Kaufman is great as it feature some notable small roles from Taylor Tunes as the young woman who would be killed early in the film, David W. Thompson as a punk rock radio host who would get the band a new gig, Kai Lennox as skinhead attack dog trainer Clark, Eric Edelstein as the skinhead bouncer Big Justin, Brent Werzner as a neo-Nazi skinhead musician in Werm, Macon Blair as a skinhead who works at the club who is trying to smooth things out, and Mark Webber as the radio host’s cousin Daniel who is a skinhead that is unaware of what is going on at the green room. Callum Turner and Joe Cole are superb in their respective roles as the singer Tiger and drummer Reece as two musicians trying to deal with the Nazis with former discovering what is underneath the green room while the latter is trying keep Big Justin at bay with some mixed-martial arts moves.

Alia Shawkat is fantastic as guitarist Sam as a musician who is trying to maintain some calm but is also willing to fight back as is kind of the unsung leader of the band. Imogen Poots is excellent as Amber as a friend of the woman who is killed as she is trying to deal with what happened as well was wanting to revenge for her friend while knowing about the environment that everyone is at. Anton Yelchin is brilliant as the band bassist Pat as a young man who is trying to survive as he deals with being assaulted and the chaos around him as he also delivers this great monologue about an experience he had that becomes a rallying pep talk of sorts. Finally, there’s Patrick Stewart in an incredible performance as Darcy Banker as the leader of the neo-Nazis and club owner who is this calm yet dangerous individual that is trying to outsmart the band while knowing what needs to be done as it’s one of his finest performances of his career.

Green Room is a spectacular film from Jeremy Saulnier. Thanks to its ensemble cast, eerie setting, haunting visuals, intense music, and gripping atmosphere. It’s a film that takes a simple setting and situation while amplifying the sense of fear and tension while getting a look from the perspective of two different forces trying to outdo one another. In the end, Green Room is a tremendous film from Jeremy Saulnier.

Jeremy Saulnier Films: (Murder Party) – (Blue Ruin) – (Hold the Dark)

© thevoid99 2018

Hollywood Ending

Written, directed, and starring Woody Allen, Hollywood Ending is the story of a once-revered filmmaker who is given a chance to make a comeback by directing a film for a studio to succumb to hysterical blindness due to the pressures he’s facing. The film explores the world of Hollywood where a filmmaker tries to make the best film he can studio executives put intense pressure to make the film their way. Also starring Tea Leoni, George Hamilton, Debra Messing, Mark Rydell, Tiffani Thiessen, and Treat Williams. Hollywood Ending is a wild though troubled film from Woody Allen.

The film is about this prestigious filmmaker whose career has definitely gone down as he’s now being hired to direct commercials. When his ex-wife decides to have him direct a $60 million picture in the hopes that he can make a comeback, he reluctantly agrees to the job only to suddenly go blind just before shooting begins. With the help of his ex-wife, his agent, and a Chinese translator, they all try to hide the secret to ensure that things go as planned. It’s a very strange premise for a film as it explores the world of Hollywood filmmaking and how things can go wrong yet it is told with a sense of silliness. While it does have an interesting concept with the humor being about this filmmaker going blind but the jokes definitely a get repetitive while it later becomes a drama in the third act making the film uneven.

Woody Allen’s direction is very lively at times while he does bring in some pretty realistic ideas about what goes on in the film industry. Particularly as it’s often run by studios where a studio head is eager to make sure things don’t go wrong. Still, Allen goes for a somewhat slapstick approach to the comedy where blindness plot device does manage to work out though it does get a bit repetitive to the point that it loses some luster. Even in some scenes where Allen’s Val Waxman is often arguing to his ex-wife about how their relationship fell apart as it kind of goes on and on. Overall, Allen creates a decent but incoherent film about a filmmaker dealing with the pressures to make a comeback.

Cinematographer Wedigo von Schultzendorff does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography from the look of the New York City locations to the look of the sets inside the studio. Editor Alisa Lepselter does OK work with the editing as some of the cutting is straightforward though a few of its montages and jump-cuts do drag out the humorless scenes. Production designer Santo Loquasto, with set decorator Regina Graves and art director Tom Warren, does amazing work with the look of the sets that are built for the making of the film to play up the sense of incoherency the crew are dealing with.

Costume designer Melissa Toth does nice work with the costumes where everyone looks casual with the exception of the actors wearing 1940s clothes for the film while Val‘s girlfriend wears more stylish, sexier clothing. Sound editor Robert Hein does terrific work with the sound to capture the chaos of what goes on during filming to display some of Val’s unconventional approach to directing while being blind. The film’s wonderful soundtrack includes songs by Bing Crosby, Edmond Hall, Jackie Gleason, Benny Goodman, Barbara Carroll, Tito Puente, and a song by the metal band White Zombie in a scene where Val meets his estranged son.

The casting by Laura Rosenthal and Juliet Taylor is superb as it features appearances from Isaac Mizrahi and Fred Melamed as two art directors that Val hires in different stages of the production, Greg Mottola as an assistant director, Erica Leerhsen and Aaron Stanford as actors in the film, Mark Webber as Val’s estranged punk-rocker son, Marian Seldes as the costume designer, Barney Cheng as a translator who works closely with Val, Lu Yu as the Chinese cinematographer Val hires, Peter Gerety as Val’s psychiatrist who tries to figure out his blindness, and Tiffani Thiessen as the actress Sharon Bates who tries to seduce Val. Jodie Markell is very good as the journalist Andrea who tries to cover everything that goes on during production while George Hamilton is OK as one of the film’s producers.

Mark Rydell is wonderful as Val’s longtime agent Al who is the first to discover the blindness as he tries to help him out. Treat Williams is excellent as the studio head and Ellie’s fiancée Hal whom Val dislikes as he’s wondering what’s going on. Debra Messing is fine as Val’s dim-witted wannabe-actress girlfriend Lori as Messing tries to be very funny and be bad though it’s sometimes very painful to watch. Tea Leoni is amazing as Val’s ex-wife and producer Ellie who reluctantly hires Val to direct the film because she hopes to revive his career until realizing what’s happening to him as she tries to help him. Finally, there’s Woody Allen in a terrific performance as Val Wexler as Allen brings a great physicality to the way he plays blind with such restraint though some of the humorous he brings where he rambles does get old at times as he does have some nice chemistry with Leoni.

Hollywood Ending is an OK but underwhelming film from Woody Allen. While it does have an excellent cast as well as very intriguing look into the world of Hollywood. It’s a film that doesn’t have all of the ingredients in the right place while its humor does get repetitive. In the end, Hollywood Ending is a disappointing film from Woody Allen.

Woody Allen Films: What's Up Tiger Lily? - Take the Money and Run - Bananas - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) - Sleeper - Love and Death - Annie Hall - Interiors - Manhattan - Stardust Memories - A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy - Zelig - Broadway Danny Rose - The Purple Rose of Cairo - Hannah & Her Sisters - Radio Days - September - Another Woman - New York Stories: Oedipus Wrecks - Crimes & Misdemeanors - Alice - Shadows and Fog - Husbands and Wives - Manhattan Murder Mystery - Bullets Over Broadway - Don't Drink the Water - Mighty Aphrodite - Everyone Says I Love You - Deconstructing Harry - Celebrity - Sweet and Lowdown - Small Time Crooks - The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - Anything Else - Melinda & Melinda - Match Point - Scoop - Cassandra’s Dream - Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Whatever Works - You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Midnight in Paris - To Rome with Love - Blue Jasmine - Magic in the Moonlight - Irrational Man - (Cafe Society)

The Auteurs #24: Woody Allen Pt. 1 - Pt. 2 - Pt. 3 - Pt. 4

© thevoid99 2013

Jesus' Son

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 3/6/04 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.

Based on Denis Johnson's collection of short stories, Jesus' Son is the story of a 1970s heroin addict who tries to do good only continually mess things up as he wound encounter tragedy and redemption. Directed by Alison Maclean and screenplay by Oren Moverman, David Urritia, and Elizabeth Cuthrell, the film explores a young man trying to deal with addiction as well as doing what is right. Starring Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Jack Black, John Ventimiglia, Denis Leary, Will Patton, Holly Hunter, and Dennis Hopper. Jesus' Son is an extraordinary film from Alison Maclean.

A young drifter named FH aka Fuckhead (Billy Crudup) is hitchhiking as he hopes to return to Iowa to meet his girlfriend Michelle (Samantha Morton). After a horrifying car accident that he was apart of, FH looks back at his life where he recalls the moment he meets Michelle three years earlier at a party held by a guy named McInnes (John Ventimiglia) as the two later have another encounter where FH's friends Jack (Mark Webber) and Dundun (Michael Shannon) watch something horrifying happen. FH meets Michelle again a year later as the two start a tumultuous relationship as they would become full-blown heroin addicts that would have its wandering moods as it would often include FH's incompetence.

With Michelle gone, FH reaches out to fellow addict Wayne (Denis Leary) where the two make money in destroying an abandoned home and steal some cables where they both earn a good payday. The success allows FH to get back with Michelle though she presents some startling news that would prompt him to try and clean up. Working with another addict in Georgie (Jack Black) as an night-shift orderly in a hospital, the two delve into several hijinks as a doctor (Greg Germann) examines a patient with a knife in his eye where Georgie would make things worse. The two go on a road trip where they would kill a pregnant bunny as they tried to take care of the baby bunnies only for FH to screw things up as usual.

After another breakup with Michelle who leaves him to work in Mexico with a guy named John Smith (Will Patton), FH would have a strange encounter with a snakeskin-jacket man (Alan Davidson) as he tries to deal with his own relapsing drug addiction. After another reunion with Michelle that doesn't go well, FH eventually goes to rehab as he meets with a former addict named Bill (Dennis Hopper) whose story would help FH changes his life. After moving to Phoenix, he meets a former alcoholic named Mira (Holly Hunter) and works at nursing home while being entranced by a singer (Rebecca Kimball). With this new life, FH wonders about where he is going with this new life.

What makes Jesus' Son such an interesting film is in Alison Maclean's direction. While the film's script at times is hard to follow with its flashbacks and varied subplots, MacLean and the screenwriters make sure the story is appealing in its offbeat structure and tone. Even by adding elements of black comedy and drama, the film doesn't lose itself in it's pacing. In the more harrowing scenes of hallucinations, MacLean brings up the surreal tone of drug addiction at its darkest and campy. Even the film's look by cinematographer Adam Kimmel is amazingly captured in the film's three-act structure. From its blue look early on to the more colorful, hazy tone in the second to a more cleaner, enlightened tone in its final act. Even the film's music with an original score from Joe Henry as well as a wide mix of music from the 70s ranging from rock, pop, soul, and country to enhance the gritty, natural tone of the film.

The film's cast is extraordinary from its group of smaller roles played by Mark Webber, Michael Shannon, Alan Davidson, John Ventimiglia, and Greg Germann to its veterans like Dennis Hopper, Will Patton, and Holly Hunter in their small but respective roles that are performed wonderfully. Standing out in the supporting cast easily is Jack Black who delivers a hilarious, brash performance as Georgie by giving the film some much-needed comic relief. Denis Leary also provides a funny performance as Wayne as he comes out of the film like a drunk by beating people up and fucking things up as possible in one of Leary's best performances.

Samantha Morton is astonishing as Michelle by portraying a beautiful addict who can be unlikable at times yet for the British actress, Morton provides a sense of sexiness and sympathy in her troubled performance as an addict. Billy Crudup is amazing as the film's protagonist FH by being charming and loveable in his role despite being a total fuck-up. Crudup carries the film with ease and strong dramatic moments without being too vulnerable or too stupid. Crudup gives one of his best performances of his career, particularly as the film's narrator.

Jesus' Son is an entrancing yet harrowing film from Alison Maclean that features terrific performances from Billy Crudup and Samantha Morton. Along with a great supporting cast that includes Jack Black and Denis Leary, it's a film that explores the dark world of drug addiction as well as a man yearning to find redemption. Notably as it revolves a guy who tries not to live up to his namesake as incompetent fuck-up. In the end, Jesus' Son is a powerful drama from Alison Maclean.

(C) thevoid99 2012

Broken Flowers

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 8/5/05 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.

One of the most celebrated and influential of independent filmmakers, Jim Jarmusch has been known for making films about eccentric outsiders and loners starting with his 1982 student feature Permanent Vacation and his 1984 feature-length debut film Strangers in Paradise that won him the Camera D'or for best first film. Jarmusch continued to make eccentric and strange films like Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth and 1995's idiosyncratic western Dead Man that showed his range as a writer and director. Jarmusch also took the time to act in films including Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade in 1996 while in 1997, Jarmusch did a documentary with Neil Young & Crazy Horse for Year of the Horse.

After 2000's Ghost Dog which was an homage to hip-hop and samurai films, he took a break to compile footage of several shorts he did called Coffee & Cigarettes. In 2003, he released his collection of shorts where one of them included a meeting with the RZA and GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and actor/comedian Bill Murray. Murray was riding high on the universal acclaim for his performance in Sofia Coppola's 2003 masterpiece Lost in Translation as he began to team up with Jarmusch again for another look into a loner for the comedy-drama Broken Flowers.

Written and directed by Jarmusch, the film revolves about a Don Juan womanizer named Don Johnston whose life as a womanizer is over as he receives a letter that he had possibly given birth to a son 19 years earlier. Starring Bill Murray as Johnston, the film is a part road trip, part human exploration of a man who explores his pasts and trying to find himself through the women he had been with. Also starring Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy, Julie Delpy, Chloe Sevigny, Christopher McDonald, Mark Webber, and Jeffrey Wright. Broken Flowers is Jarmusch's most straightforward film to date while remaining true to his unique approach to storytelling.

After his girlfriend Sherry (Julie Delpy) leaves him, Don Johnston finds a mysterious pink letter with claims that he has a long-lost son. Turning to his Ethopian-neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright), Winston believes that the letter is from an ex-girlfriend of Don as he gives Don maps to find out which of these ex-girlfriends are the father of his long-lost son. Johnston is reluctant to take the trip as he finally decides to go with Winston's map and a mixtape of music Winston has made filled with Ethopian jazz.

Arriving into his first destination, he meets Laura (Sharon Stone) who has become a widowed closet organizer with a kooky daughter named Loliga (Alexis Dziena). After learning about Laura's late race-car driver husband, the meeting Don has with Laura was strange as was Lolita's seductive presence. His next trip to meet with Dora (Frances Conroy) where she has become a real estates agent living in an upper class world with her husband Ron, also a real estate agent, that proved to be awkward and repressing. Don continues his journey to meet with Carmen, a veterinarian who talks to animals, that also proved to be another strange journey as he also meets her assistant (Chloe Sevigny).

During his stop to meet the fourth woman in the trip in Penny (Tilda Swinton), the meeting becomes a big disaster as he encounters bikers as he goes into one last trip to the fifth woman that already had died. Returning home, he meets a young man (Mark Webber) at an airport where Don ponders about his life and the trip he had taken.

While the story of the film is clearly Jarmusch's most straightforward film to date, the film still contains his strange, idiosyncratic views on the world, notably suburban America. The offbeat comedy style of the film works very well since it matches a lot of the dramatic scale in which the Don character grows up to learn of his own flaws for being a Don Juan. Jarmusch as a writer definitely gives a story that is filled with a lot of heart and humanity in a man who is trying to rediscover himself through women while trying to find the idea that he might have a son so he can teach him some life lessons.

On the directing front, this is Jarmusch at his best since he uses all sorts of styles from French New Wave (in which he dedicated his film to filmmaker Jean Eustache), European cinema, and everything he's learned about comedy and drama. From that standpoint, it's his most mature work to date that has some elements that appeals to a wide audience. The only flaw that is done in the film in terms of its writing and directing is the ending which can be described as abrupt. Still, that's typical Jarmusch who refuses to have some kind of happy ending but it's the kind of ending that leaves you thinking afterwards.

Helping Jarmusch to capture a natural, authentic look to the film without any kind of gloss is cinematographer Frederick Elmes who uses a realistic look to many of the film's locations in exterior and interiors. Even in the dream sequences, the look of the film is a bit grainy but in a dreamy texture. Production designer Mark Friedberg also captures the authentic feel of the film from the restaurant that Don and Winston drink coffee at to the homes and places of the women Don's looking for. Even John A. Dunn's costume design has a realism to the film where it doesn’t looked polished. Editor Jay Rabinowitz definitely scores with the film's editing style which has some nice jump-cut sequences in the driving scenes along with some nice fade-out cutting in some scenes that gives the film a nice, stylized editing approach that is clearly from the mind of Jim Jarmusch.

The film's music is widely diverse and original since most of it is from a mix-CD of music from Winston that definitely plays well to his character. Most of the music and score is dominated by some unique and catchy Ethiopian jazz music from composer Mulatu Astatke along with a few cuts from the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Marvin Gaye. The film's opening theme music and other cuts from Holly Golightly and the Greenhornes that has a nice, 1960s garage feel that is a pure discovery of some great music that leaves you humming and wanting to pick up the soundtrack.

Then there's the film's wonderful cast which includes some nice small performances from the children of Winston including one little girl who has a nice scene with Murray and Wright. Also doing well are Chris Bauer and Larry Fessenden as Penny’s biker buddies, Pell James as a flower girl clerk, Heather Simms as Winston's wife, Chloe Sevigny as Carmen's assistant, and most of all, Alexis Dziena as Laura's precocious, offbeat daughter Lolita who manages to steal a scene from Bill Murray in the most peculiar way. Mark Webber is also wonderful in the scene as a kid who might be Don's son.

Tilda Swinton and Julie Delpy might have small moments in the film but each actress use their brief time to shine. Delpy brings her frustration and beauty to the mix as Don's most recent girlfriend who wanted more from him in a wonderful performance. Swinton brings her chameleon-like approach to play a dirty, aggressive biker chick who just wreaks havoc into a single moment as she gets her moment to be funny. Jessica Lange gives her quirkiest performance to date as a Dr. Doolittle figure who likes to speak to animals while freaking out Bill Murray in a reunion of sorts from their 1982 film Tootsie.

Frances Conroy gives a restrained but offbeat performance in the film as the most straight-looking woman of the film but her lifestyle and ideas are so off in comparison to Don's lifestyle, Conroy is very funny. Christopher McDonald is even funnier as Dora's husband who manages to be a bit funnier and very off to the more restrained Murray as he continues to be one of the funniest character actors around. Sharon Stone is wonderful in a very funny performance as Laura as she uses her sexiness and sweetness into comedic levels that we haven't seen from her. It's by far one of her more enjoyable performances.

The best supporting performance of the entire movie easily goes to the wonderfully talented Jeffrey Wright who manages to shine in every second he's on film. Taking on an Ethiopian accent, Wright plays the funny man to Murray's more straight man approach. Wright is wonderfully generous and offbeat in his search to help Murray on his quest where in every scene he has with Murray, he does everything by coming into his house without knocking or giving him a mix-CD. There's a wonderful chemistry in Wright and Murray as the two uses different styles of comedy where it works and Wright deserves a lot of credit and recognition for his performance.

Then there's Bill Murray who gives a masterfully, minimalist performance that is almost as good as the one he gave as Bob Harris in Lost in Translation. Murray uses his restraint and face to give out all kinds of emotions that gives you an idea on what his character is doing to himself. Murray makes sure the character isn't a total likeable guy but one who has made mistakes. Murray even manages to be funny by doing so little and even in the words he says sometimes. He makes his character grow and have people care about him since he's trying to do wrong as it's one of Murray's best performances of his career.

While it's not up to par with Strangers in Paradise, Dead Man, or other favorites to some, Broken Flowers is a wonderful movie from Jim Jarmusch featuring a great cast led by Bill Murray and Jeffrey Wright. Fans of Jarmusch who might fear that the film is an attempt for him to go commercial will better think again cause it's not. The film as all the element of a Jarmusch picture that is very real with a bit of style. Fans of Bill Murray will definitely find this film that will feature one of his best performances to date while the real standout aside from Murray in the film is Jeffrey Wright who will definitely gain some new fans. For a film that is smart and with heart, Broken Flowers is truly one of the year's best films.

Jim Jarmusch Films: Permanent Vacation - Stranger Than Paradise - Down By Law - Mystery Train - Night on Earth - Dead Man - Year of the Horse - Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - Coffee and Cigarettes - The Limits of Control - Only Lovers Left Alive - Paterson - Gimme Danger - (The Dead Don't Die) - The Auteurs #27: Jim Jarmusch

© thevoid99 2011