Something must be wrong with me.

The Limits of Control was a film people warned me about. They told me that it was a bad movie; an awful film, so pretentious and boring. Ordinarily I wouldn't have checked it out. But it was the only remaining film left unseen by me from one of my favourite directors, Jim Jarmusch. So I had to give it a look.

And quite simply, it blew me away. Disagree you are free to do, but I thought this movie was spectacular. There's not much of a plot, but the enigmatic dialogue and eerie atmosphere of the film makes it constantly gripping, as does phenomenal cinematography and a superb leading performance from Isaach De Bankole.…

Part of the Director's Retrospective: Jim Jarmusch

I have the odd feeling that Jarmusch sat down one day, watched Ghost Dog, and thought he didn't do a good enough job remaking Le Samourai

While not exploring the same areas Le Samourai does, it's most definitely an alternate take on Le Samourai, even going as far as to take several shots straight from the film itself. I could go into what Limits of Control seems to be about, but the problem is that Jarmusch doesn't give me a reason to care what it's about. One could easily view this as a style over substance film, and it honestly might as well be one.

For all the Jarmuschisms of the main character,…

86.

Jarmusch goes completely academic in The Limits of Control, eschewing any semblance of narrative momentum for formal suspense and film-text commentary. Delving into specifics, this film about film that begins with a conversation and ends with violence is a very obvious precursor to Kiarostami's adventures abroad--one wouldn't be surprised if Like Someone in Love took almost all its cues from here. A set of repetitions is repeated as an assassin travels across language barriers (no, he doesn't speak Spanish) and orders coffee and sees a helicopter and goes to museums. It's a process of acclimation--we're aggressively attuned to the Lone Man's perspective, so in effect the Lone Man is the audience and the audience is the Lone Man. By…

Review from my VOD column "This Week on Demand".

Working with the cinematographer Christopher Doyle, best known for his incredible work with Wong Kar-Wai, Jim Jarmusch creates in The Limits of Control a film alive with visual beauty, every minute detail of its central character’s daily routine rendered in sumptuous aesthetic effulgence. He is a classic “Man with No Name” type, his macabre mystique consummately channelled through Isaach De Bankolé’s stoic performance as he travels through Spain, meeting a series of strangers in pursuit of some unstated goal. Initially alluring in its cryptic approach, the film quickly grows as tiresome as Jarmusch does indulgent, calling on a troupe of famous friends for walk-on roles all repeating the same mysterious dialogue.…

Jim Jarmusch yar mean?

The great cinematography is synergistically complemented by the "Lynchian-Californian-Pyschadelian" score. Enjoyment is further enhanced by the contemplative protagonist and his Odyssean interactions with a bunch of subversive caricatures. It's like the childrens story Chicken Licken, done for grown ups. Except the protagonist doesn't run around telling everyone the sky is falling down, instead his associates bend his ear with their pretentious philosophies whilst he sits and quietly listens.

Is this pretentious? I don't think so. The characters themselves may be but the story seems deliberately too lighthearted, amusing and thinly sketched for it to feel like anything other than a grown ups fairy tale or a piss take of Lynchian pretentiousness. There are connections sewn between…

Part of the Director's Retrospective: Jim Jarmusch

I have the odd feeling that Jarmusch sat down one day, watched Ghost Dog, and thought he didn't do a good enough job remaking Le Samourai

While not exploring the same areas Le Samourai does, it's most definitely an alternate take on Le Samourai, even going as far as to take several shots straight from the film itself. I could go into what Limits of Control seems to be about, but the problem is that Jarmusch doesn't give me a reason to care what it's about. One could easily view this as a style over substance film, and it honestly might as well be one.

For all the Jarmuschisms of the main character,…

The Limits of Control is a modern fable set within the approximation of a thriller. A slow, repetitious but interesting film that despite the lack of dialogue somehow hypnotises and keeps you watching throughout.. Its not for everyone this one, I think it's based in an idea William Burroughs had so that alone may scare certain audiences... Many viewers will feel cheated that, after handing Jarmusch two hours of their lives, there is too meager a return on their investment of time for them, however for me the subtle photography and dreamy shoegazey soundtrack is well enough to keep me watching.

Isaach De Bankolé, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt feature in it and Paz de la Huerta, (Mm) spends a…

Make sure you're really awake when watching this film. I'm not saying that it's boring, but the visual rhythms (camera movement and editing) do have the potential to lull you to a dreamy place. This is by far Jarmusch's most "serious" film in that it has practically no moments of levity to break the tone that's there from the very first moments onward. I'm not sure that I like that aspect of it. What I've always appreciated about Jim's work is the ability to find a balance of tone which makes for a more diverse viewing experience. In a lot of ways this film reminded me of Waking Life. The series of meetings Isaach's character has with various people over…

It's a match made in heaven for how prototypically cool this film is: Jim Jarmusch directs at a chilling pace, Boris and other drone artists capture the mood in the same way Louis Malle may have used a jazz soundtrack, and Christopher Doyle performs with his unequivocal talent behind the camera. That being said, the film has struck a dissonant chord with much of its audience, being labeled "pretentious" and "self-indulgent" (insults usually drudged from a film like this for being consciously slow and avoiding usual attention-grabbing cues). Even if that were true, it's a beautiful reflection of the Jarmusch-cool attitude one can appreciate the same way one admires the narcissism in a Courbet self-portrait.

Isaach De Bankolé's acting is…

Review from my VOD column "This Week on Demand".

Working with the cinematographer Christopher Doyle, best known for his incredible work with Wong Kar-Wai, Jim Jarmusch creates in The Limits of Control a film alive with visual beauty, every minute detail of its central character’s daily routine rendered in sumptuous aesthetic effulgence. He is a classic “Man with No Name” type, his macabre mystique consummately channelled through Isaach De Bankolé’s stoic performance as he travels through Spain, meeting a series of strangers in pursuit of some unstated goal. Initially alluring in its cryptic approach, the film quickly grows as tiresome as Jarmusch does indulgent, calling on a troupe of famous friends for walk-on roles all repeating the same mysterious dialogue.…

86.

Jarmusch goes completely academic in The Limits of Control, eschewing any semblance of narrative momentum for formal suspense and film-text commentary. Delving into specifics, this film about film that begins with a conversation and ends with violence is a very obvious precursor to Kiarostami's adventures abroad--one wouldn't be surprised if Like Someone in Love took almost all its cues from here. A set of repetitions is repeated as an assassin travels across language barriers (no, he doesn't speak Spanish) and orders coffee and sees a helicopter and goes to museums. It's a process of acclimation--we're aggressively attuned to the Lone Man's perspective, so in effect the Lone Man is the audience and the audience is the Lone Man. By…