General discussion of BROKEN FLOWERS

Share your thoughts and reactions to Broken Flowers here.

Comments

[Amy Elder]

I am not entirely sure how I feel about this film. I was frustrated at the end because nothing was resolved. The whole film then seemed pointless to me because he went through that whole adventure and didn't really learn anything. It didn't seem to me that Don changed from the beginning of the film to the end.
However, I did enjoy watching his adventure and seeing each of his previous girlfriends. Each house seemed alomst like a separate vignette, much like the vignettes in Night on Earth. I found it interesting how different each woman was and how different their lives were.
I would say for the most part I liked the film except for the fact that I didn't get the answer I wanted at the end.

[Josh Noble]

I was intrigued by this film. I liked following Don even though not much happened. I feel like this is how life can be, we often don't find the answers to the questions we seek. But there was so little emotion expressed that, at times it felt bland. However, I was impressed by the numerous comparisons in the film and the visual repetition. Like the other films by Jarmusch that we have seen; even if I'm not impressed by the narrative, the m-e-s is compelling enough to keep my interest.

[Lisa King]

I felt that, although Don never did find his son, the film didn't end without a conclusive ending. The point of the narrative wasn't for Don to find his son, but I think rather a journey for Don. At the beginning of the story, Don was very inactive, and monotone, but towards the end, we saw him become become more engaged with his surroundings, and actually care about what he was doing with his life.

[Lily Miller]

I thought this film was hard to watch. The lack of action or humor made it hard to stay focused on the film. I found myself getting distracted by the objects an other things within the frames. According to the reading though the film was supposed to be more about the objects that are connected to each character that tell the viewers something about that person.

[Anna Markee]

Like the other Jarmusch films that we viewed in class, I also liked Broken Flowers. I agree with Lisa that the point of the film wasn't for Don to find his son, but rather a journey to find himself. however, I'm not sure he Accomplished that. Even so, I don't think that this makes the movie bad. I thought Broken Flowers was very entertaining and interesting. The fact that at the end of the movie he is looking around at every teenage boy as if he might be his son shows me that Don's journey has allowed him to want something more in his life than he already has. If he didn't care about possibly having a son, as he did in the beginning of the film, then he wouldn't be sprinting down the street after a boy that he speculates as his son.

[Hope Sneddon]

This film was interesting. What caught my attention was definitely the use of the previous girlfriends and their different lives. I did notice most of all the objects and how those connected each of the characters.

[Melissa Werner]

Even though it wasn't my favorite of Jarmusch's films that we watched, I did like this movie. As I mentioned in class, I really think that the ending was appropriate, considering that even though he embarked on his journey to find out if he really does have a son, he didn't actually get any solid evidence of that in the end. The journey ended up being more of a look into his past, I think. After all, it's pretty obvious that he hasn't always been the Don that we're introduced to in the beginning of the movie.
I think it was really interesting how objects were used to convey a sense of the lives of the characters. To me, my memory of Don's house is pretty vague, probably because it always seemed so dark. Mostly, I remember his sofa and his tv, and of course, the dying roses.

[Lucas Ashland]

I enjoyed the film even though it had a darker and wasn't as light hearted as the other two films we watched by Jarmusch, especially in the way each film ended. In Stranger than Paradise there wasn't a happy ending, but it was ironic and slightly funny how each character ended up alone at the end. The five plots in Night on Earth each had an unexpected and comical ending. The ending to Broken Flowers wasn't quite as satisfying as the previous two. There wasn't much comic relief or ironic twist to the ending of Broken Flowers. Maybe the irony was that Don ended up not resolving the mystery of who sent the letter or that he ended up chasing a guy he thought was his son, a son he did not car about at the beginning of the movie. In any case, it was not as satisfying of an ending of his other films.

[Lauren Hiland]

I really liked the film Broken Flowers, I think it was my favorite film out of all the films we watched. It had an interesting story line and I liked the different attitudes and charcteristics of each of his girlfriends. I thought it was interesting how Don's life was pretty much completly opposite from his friend and neighbors life. But, I also found it amusing how Don's friend was much more interested in the mystery of Don's "son" than Don actually was. However, I didn't like how the end of the film left us just hanging and we never find out if Don really has a son or not.

[RobElmer]

After watching Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, I really felt as though I could enjoy it, especially because it had Bill Murray in it. However, there is a difference of what I had expectations for and what I felt by the end of the film.

Throughout the film, I really enjoyed the character development that we began to see with Bill Murray. He was depressing at times and we could see that he was going through a lot of trouble, but that point of contending with one's past was uplifting in a sense - none of us are alone when we connect to one another through this sense that we all have our own daemons to handle. Something else I really enjoyed was how the director used the small vignettes to convey the characters past and past relationships that were troubling him.

The downfall, for me at least, was the ending. I felt as though nothing was resolved and nothing was actually accomplished, that the character merely faced his past, stood in his present, and had no idea what to do with his future. There was no uplifting note, nor any idea on how he would carry on. It was all a bit trife for me.

[Anna Markee]

I think what made this film the most interesting was that each girlfriend was entirely different from the other. They covered a wide spectrum of personalities and lifestyles and I was always wondering what the next girlfriend would be like. I found myself wondering the same thing about the different vignettes in Night On Earth.