Bill Murray has mastered the mid-life crisis. Broken Flowers by Jim Jarmusch has the same jaded Bill Murray character as Lost In Translation and The Life Aquatic. I love all three movies.
You can say I’m a Bill Murray fan. I remember seeing him on David Letterman the day after he didn’t win an Oscar for Lost In Translation. He was still wearing his tux from the Oscars, laying on the sidewalk outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, drunkenly lamenting his loss, putting on a better show than any of the winners the night before.
I’m a Jim Jarmusch fan, too. I love Dead Man, Mystery Train and Down By Law. Broken Flowers has the same quiet, bittersweet journey as the three other Jarmusch films I’ve seen.
There are secrets, private jokes, funny little moments… Bill Murray’s character is named Don Johnston, “with a T.” While having dinner with Laura, played by Sharon Stone, and her ripe-for-the picking daughter Lolita, Don comments on her interesting choice of the name “Lolita,” while Lolita looks confused. Dr. Carmen, played by Jessica Lange, refuses all of Don’s invitations before her assistant reminds her of a waiting client, touching Dr. Carmen’s hip before walking back to the office. There is a florist named Sun Green, the same name as the title character in Neil Young’s Greendale album. The movie ends with Bill Murray looking eye to eye with a random guy in a Volkswagen, played by his real-life son Homer.
I want to watch this movie again. There might be more secrets to uncover.