All these reviews keep saying it's mediocre but describe it in a way that makes me really want to see it.
― clotpoll, Friday, 1 May 2009 16:55 (fifteen years ago) link
I watch Jarmusch films no matter what. Except Coffee and Cigarrettes (so far.)
― Full Metal Slanket (Oilyrags), Friday, 1 May 2009 17:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Japanese electronic noise outfit called Boris
this is minor bitchin but i HATE when journalists describe bands poorly
― like clowns passing out candy wearing blindfolds (call all destroyer), Friday, 1 May 2009 17:30 (fifteen years ago) link
his last soundtrack featured freak-folk chanteuse holly golightly
― "Together we could rape the universe" (omar little), Friday, 1 May 2009 17:32 (fifteen years ago) link
reviews fiercely mixed.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 1 May 2009 17:35 (fifteen years ago) link
His last good movie was "Dead Man". "Broken Flowers" and "Coffee & Cigarettes" were both weak. "Ghost Dog" could have been better - where did he get the idea that a samurai would use a gun as his weapon of choice? Give Forrest Whitaker a sword and you have a good movie.
Anyway, I'm pretty skeptical about this new one, but I really would love to be won over by it, I love his older films so much.
― Moodles, Friday, 1 May 2009 17:36 (fifteen years ago) link
http://auteurs_production.s3.amazonaws.com/stills/9831/Film_306w_LeSamurai.jpg
― "Together we could rape the universe" (omar little), Friday, 1 May 2009 17:41 (fifteen years ago) link
I like his post-Dead Man work better than his pre-Dead Man work.
― Alex in SF, Friday, 1 May 2009 17:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Stranger than Paradise is the only movie of his that I like
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 1 May 2009 22:04 (fifteen years ago) link
OMG this trailer is a horrible mess
― Satin Lives (Tape Store), Friday, 1 May 2009 22:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Stranger than Paradise is his most likable movie, but not necessarily his best
"Ghost Dog" could have been better - where did he get the idea that a samurai would use a gun as his weapon of choice? Give Forrest Whitaker a sword and you have a good movie.
uh.
― loaded forbear (gabbneb), Friday, 1 May 2009 22:42 (fifteen years ago) link
ghost dog is on par with dead man. it's got a better lead at least.
i haven't seen the last few but i will see this and try to leave, as per AO Scott, before Bill Murray shows up
― loaded forbear (gabbneb), Friday, 1 May 2009 22:45 (fifteen years ago) link
it's got a better lead at least.
all johnny depp films can be tv guided as johnny depp plays a wide-eyed eccentric innocent in-, but dead man is the one good fit i think. kinda like bankole in the new one, he's like a blank canvas.
― corps of discovery (schlump), Friday, 1 May 2009 22:59 (fifteen years ago) link
ps this is probably a frustrating watch if you're hanging in to see your favourite actor cut loose and strut their stuff for a while but bill murray excellent and inventively cast
― corps of discovery (schlump), Friday, 1 May 2009 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
how many new ways can gabbknob be ass
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 1 May 2009 23:44 (fifteen years ago) link
The reviews make this one sound like Ghost Dog, which I think is a bad sign, since that one was one of his weakest films. I like the humanist Jarmusch (Down By Law, Mystery Train, Broken Flowers, Night on Earth, the better episodes in Coffee & Cigarettes) more than the "I'm so cool and hip" Jarmusch (Permanent Vacation, Dead Man, Ghost Dog). Unfortunately this movie might be in the latter category. Still gonna see it anyway.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 3 May 2009 18:28 (fifteen years ago) link
I like the humanist Jarmusch (Down By Law, Mystery Train, Broken Flowers, Night on Earth, the better episodes in Coffee & Cigarettes) more than the "I'm so cool and hip" Jarmusch (Permanent Vacation, Dead Man, Ghost Dog)
excepting Broken Flowers, you mean you like/perceive as 'humanist' the Jarmusch that leans further toward the life-is-mysterious-and-beautiful side but don't like/perceive as 'humanist' the Jarmusch that leans further toward the human-beings-are-sad-violent-and-fail-to-communicate side.
― loaded forbear (gabbneb), Sunday, 3 May 2009 22:48 (fifteen years ago) link
Pretty much so, yeah. Dead Man is actually has some good things going in it, but I thought Ghost Dog had more empty hipster posturing than any profound examination of human failure in communicating with each other (despite Forrest Whitaker's undeniably great performance). Ditto for Permanent Vacation. I thought Broken Flowers actually did the failure-of-connection thing much better, on a more mundane level it's easier to relate to (how many people can really relate to a gangsta hitman with samurai ethics?), and without trying to score so much coolness points.
― Tuomas, Monday, 4 May 2009 06:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Whoop, there's an extra "is" after "Dead Man", scratc that.
― Tuomas, Monday, 4 May 2009 06:30 (fifteen years ago) link
I didn't have that reaction to Ghost Dog at all in terms of hipsterism or coolness points. I think lots of people can relate to the desire to nostalgically live by a masculine code of ethics from the "days of old", where people "had ethics", that frankly never existed but now is mythical. You know, compared to the so-called messed-up days we live in now/always live in the present. It's a pretty commonplace feeling, I think.
Not to attack unjustly, but I find it strange that you see Ghost Dog as too hipster, but you're totally cool with Coffee & Cigarettes which is probably the worst thing he's done in that regard? (Disclaimer- I actually like Night on Earth, Dead Man, Ghost Dog pretty equally well, C&G is a mixed bag, the best parts were the Blanchett and Molina bits).
― Nhex, Monday, 4 May 2009 09:33 (fifteen years ago) link
it is a bit recycled but i enjoyed it anyway in no small part due to the soundtrack.
i did think for the first time, tho, about the role of women in his films.
― "the whale saw her" (gabbneb), Sunday, 17 May 2009 14:38 (fifteen years ago) link
how many hipsters will ask whether they are being told off in this btw?
― "the whale saw her" (gabbneb), Sunday, 17 May 2009 14:39 (fifteen years ago) link
I feel like Dead Man was his apex, everything before it was good to great, and everything after has been a horrible fall. I hated Broken Flowers, so I'm not really looking forward to this.
― akm, Sunday, 17 May 2009 14:58 (fifteen years ago) link
this is somewhat formally similar to dead man and ghost dog, but it's not as rich as either - more merely attractive (not that there's anything wrong with that), on the level of night on earth (and coffee and cigarettes?)
― "the whale saw her" (gabbneb), Sunday, 17 May 2009 15:22 (fifteen years ago) link
Violence, some crude language and Ms. de la Huerta in various states of undress.
― "the whale saw her" (gabbneb), Sunday, 17 May 2009 15:36 (fifteen years ago) link
just watched this. Was pretty caught up in the visuals/editing. Ms. De La Huerta's derriere >>> Alicia Keys' derriere.
― Marcus Brody Ta-Dow! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 26 November 2009 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link
this made someone's 10 of the decade list
― Feingold/Kaptur 2012 (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 November 2009 22:56 (fourteen years ago) link
was it rosenbaum?
― rap band (schlump), Thursday, 26 November 2009 23:44 (fourteen years ago) link
not that i've seen -- one of the TimeOutNY guys
― Feingold/Kaptur 2012 (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 November 2009 23:46 (fourteen years ago) link
I would love to thank you for reviving this thread right now, because I really wanted to see this film and it never played locally, but I did not watch for it to be released on disc.
― mh, Friday, 27 November 2009 04:20 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah the idea that this is purposively flagrantly hipster is kindof blowing my mind. i dont think it is, and if it is, it is not a good idea nonetheless (b/c it makes me so confused among them)
― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 02:13 (fourteen years ago) link
I never revisited this thread, it seems. Thoughts:
The Limits of Control is like a cinematic tone poem for some sort of off-screen work. I thought it was a success in terms of being evocative of moods and forms, while not necessarily ideas. The dialogue is completely inconsequential. I could buy arguments that it's trite, but it's used so sparingly that there's enough space for the ideas to breathe.
If nothing else, it is a beautiful music montage with Christopher Doyle cinematography and a Boris soundtrack.
(I actually was thinking about the film this morning after rewatching most of it yesterday, mostly the framing of shots and visual progression. I got partway through the thought "I wonder who the..." then realized, of course, the cinematographer was Doyle.)
― your native bacon (mh), Monday, 13 August 2012 16:05 (eleven years ago) link
Liked this, didn't love it; my first JJ. Wish I'd seen it on a big screen, in a theatre.
― Beatrix Kiddo (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 6 February 2014 03:46 (ten years ago) link
I somehow randomly saw like 15 mins of this without knowing what it was, and I was into it. I generally dig nicely shot films involving solitary male characters not talking for long stretches of time.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Thursday, 6 February 2014 04:32 (ten years ago) link
'Only Lovers Left Alive' is great, much funnier than I expected. Glad I saw it in a theater too (I don't really care about this sort of thing but it was a showing on 35mm).
― festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:08 (nine years ago) link
his best film
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:23 (nine years ago) link
hell no
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:32 (nine years ago) link
hell yes
after years of aridness he finally wrote a good script and cast it shrewdly
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:36 (nine years ago) link
It's on the very short list of JJ movies I'd ever be inclined to revisit, and that includes the ones I respect very much.
― a guy named Christian White who represents the typical white Christian (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:36 (nine years ago) link
it's about vinyl geekdom, so surprise surprise
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:42 (nine years ago) link
ha I forgot that was even in the movie
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:51 (nine years ago) link
alfred i hope it is in some sense reassuring to know that seeing a terrible opinion with your name underneath at least feels fresh, unfamiliar, unsettling to me.
i liked this fine, & thought it had some very sweet passages, but it compares pretty unfavourably with a couple of the films he made like ... twenty, thirty years ago, according to very similar templates, with a better kinda gestalt-y cohesion of elements. the sober variety of mystery train, say - inhabiting dilapidated urban plazas at night, mapping lovers' trajectories while zigzagging into these little offshoot, genre-y subplots - just feels so much stronger (admittedly, with the benefit of some distance), more convincing & panoramic & unique. jarmusch still hasn't totally figured out working inside digital, yet, i don't think, & there's something just so concrete & strong about the grammar of those earlier films. the deadpan tone feels real. there's a kind of awkward, echoing lack of consideration to some of this film, i think - the sincerity of one of the character's deaths, late in the film, of fully celebrating Guys In Shades, of slipping into kinda brash concert footage at the show they visit - that makes me miss his evenness. it's a lovely film, & its romantic peaks are really memorable, but i can't see how it beats like, dead man in detuned originality, mystery train in singularity, down by law in fun, &c.
― schlump, Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:54 (nine years ago) link
schlump otm
also we have a goddamn general Jarmusch thread
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:56 (nine years ago) link
i can't see how it beats like, dead man in detuned originality, mystery train in singularity, down by law in fun, &c.
I think it does, especially in precisely what you said – beautifully – inhabiting dilapidated urban plazas at night, mapping lovers' trajectories.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
but i can't see how it beats like, dead man in detuned originality, mystery train in singularity, down by law in fun, &c.
yeah these are top 3 for me, perplexed at prospect of him bettering any of those this late in his career but I guess its possible
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:02 (nine years ago) link
feelin kinda Jarmusch-y lately, Limits of Control is the only one I haven't seen so far, I should get on that
Watched Ghost Dog last night for the first time in eons - it's pretty good but a bit clunky in places and feels like a step down (or an awkward sidestep?) from Dead Man, which I unabashedly adore. That Rosenbaum book is worth getting? I didn't even know there was one.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 June 2015 16:02 (eight years ago) link
yeah it's really interesting, & nerdily kinda really added layers to my understanding/appreciation of the film. lots of just very satisfying dialogue w/ JJ, too, cool stories & stuff.
i remember having that experience rewatching ghost dog, thinking the broad mafia humour was kind of almost televisionish, & sometimes couldn't quite hold the weight of its like ... flava fav dialogue, while still being fun nonetheless. so many other satisfying strands of the film, though -- isaach de bankole, the little girl, gratuitious rza cameo & beautiful rza score, cool mysterious woman watching cartoons in limo, devestatingly probably the most recent use of forest whitaker's meditative quietness, &c&c&c
― tender is the late-night daypart (schlump), Friday, 5 June 2015 16:43 (eight years ago) link
there's enough little bits in it to make it worthwhile, many of which I'd forgotten - the guy building a boat on his roof, for example. Or Forrest coming across the rednecks who have killed a bear. Gangsters always watching cartoons. All the stuff between de Bankole and Whittaker is classic Jarmusch.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 June 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link
my heart is warmed just remembering bankole/whittaker exchanges in that movie
― tender is the late-night daypart (schlump), Friday, 5 June 2015 17:01 (eight years ago) link
haha yes all the repeated dialogue
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 June 2015 17:02 (eight years ago) link
xpost
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 21:10 (eight years ago) link
Rewatched this today. Only this time through I recognised the Stalker reference.
I have this image in my head of a room full of sand. And a bird flies towards me, and dips its wing into the sand. And I honestly have no idea whether this image came from a dream, or a film.
Really enjoyed it this time through.
― call me by your name..or Finn (fionnland), Tuesday, 16 January 2018 21:32 (six years ago) link