Going to see Broken Flowers, I was admittedly predisposed to like this film. Jim Jarmusch has been one of my favorite directors over the years and Bill Murray only seems to be taking on even better projects after smoothly moving to the Hollywood A-list on the popularity of Lost in Translation (2003). Yet, when faced with the possibility of this combination there are always the ever-present high expectations that can cause one to be overly critical of what would otherwise be a very good film. Could these two deliver? Well, I thought so, but the audience I saw the film with seemed to have mixed feelings.

I guess there’s a difference between the Jarmusch fans who like his films when they are overtly funny and filled with strange and mysterious characters you can kind of laugh at, and the fans that enjoy the humor that brings a quiet smile to the face or the characters that only seem strange in that they are all too familiar. I mean, really, take a look around, the world really is a strange and mysterious place and people, in general, are so very weird. As I made my exit from the theater I listened to the comments of my fellow viewing public. There were those, like myself, true believers who loved it. Jim Jarmusch is not everyone’s favorite flavor and there were those who commented that they didn’t like it. My impression was that there had been a general sense of disappointment due to the lack of a happy ending; no clear cut resolution. If you need to have answers with your movies, Jarmusch just isn’t the director for you anyway.

This last offering from Jim Jarmusch received a lot of criticism, even by longtime fans. I personally enjoyed Coffee and Cigarettes (2004) immensely. Like John Waters, Jim Jarmusch has achieved a “cult” status that gives him access to film stars who practically beg to be in his movies. Perhaps they seek credibility or truly support the level or art that Jim Jarmusch practices in his film making craft.

Bill Murray, who has become almost a genre in himself, certainly hadn’t been lacking in credibility after a string of cinema successes with last year’s, The Life Aquatic (2004) and Lost in Translation (2003). Yet for the past few years now, the roles he takes on seem to center around some kind of mid-life crisis facing his persona. In Broken Flowers he plays an “aging Don Juan” who’s most recent (significantly younger) girlfriend has left him. Dazed and/or depressed, he receives a mysterious anonymous letter supposedly from a former girlfriend, announcing the possible visit of a son he did not know he had. His friend becomes excited about the letter and encourages him to look up his old flames and possible mothers to the mysterious supposed son. Thus begins the road trip, a recurring theme in Jim Jarmusch movies.

Along the way, Murray’s character is confronted by his past and considers what he didn’t miss. This confirmed bachelor remains a true existential hero that would make Sartre proud. It’s this existential quality that scents the films of Jim Jarmusch and soothes the viewer into an almost hypnotic trance of nothingness. Don’t be mistaken though, this is definitely a funny film and Bill Murray’s comic timing is brilliant. It’s not always funny, “ha-ha”, but there’s this humor that brings the ends of one’s mouth to a slight curl as your brain is tickled.

You know a real hardcore Jim Jarmusch fan by the way they will endlessly defend the work of their hero. I confess to being one of these. Sure, not everything he’s done is pure gold, but Jim Jarmusch has consistently remained an independent filmmaker who puts out projects that both defy the rules of commercial success while lacking the pretentiousness of an art house director. His films consistently present classic themes of “identity and perception”, “the journey as transformer” and “man vs. himself”, keeping true to an influence and history of European cinema that is often ignored by American filmmakers. The beauty in his films is held within their simplicity and hyper-naturalism. Many people enjoy the quirkiness of his characters and the irony of his stories or the dry comedy. They always have terrific soundtracks and are incredibly strong atmospheric cinema. Broken Flowers is no exception.