Jim Jarmusch is known as the first person in American independent film. He not only promoted American independent film, but also made outstanding contributions to the development of the world independent film industry. His existence has made world filmmakers realize that the United States not only has highly commercialized Hollywood, but also independent films with pure artistic and small investment. The spirit of artistic value is the greatest inspiration for independent films.
Jiamusu and Ang Lee are brothers from the same school. They studied film at New York University at the same time, but they didn't know each other in college. At that time, Ang Lee was like a duck to water at New York University, recognized as a good student, excellent in both character and study. Jarmusch, on the other hand, was considered a movie idiot and did not get a degree from New York University until graduation. Who would have guessed that these two people who encountered very different things in college would become world film masters in the future, contributing their own strength to world film.
Jiamusu is good at using extremely low cost to shoot films with high artistic value. His films are good at depicting awkward and interesting interpersonal relationships between people. His films are alienated and indifferent, depicting a kind of modern people. The state of mind, the boundlessness of life, the sense of emptiness, and the sense of nothingness are vividly and delicately reflected in his films. The music in his films plays a very important role, and those rock and roll can grasp the psychological state of the people in the play in a timely manner. His graduation work has a long holiday, which was once considered by the professors of New York University to be ignorant of the so-called movies, and will be regarded as classics by fans in the future. His talent, his feelings first appeared in that film.
The Broken Flower is already a very late work by Jarmusch, but the style is still the same as Jarmusch. This is a story about reminiscing and searching for the past. Although this film is a comedy in style, in fact, behind the laughter is a middle-aged man's disappointment and helplessness. This is actually a heartbreaking story. Those dark humors are just in my opinion. The director's ridicule and self-deprecating, but hidden in his bones is an endless loss.
The film is not complicated. It tells the story of a man over fifty years old who visits several ex-girlfriends in order to find his son
. Bill Murray accurately grasped the middle-aged man Tang's demeanor, his confusion about his emotional life, his recollection of the past, his nostalgia for his youth, and his inability to live his life were all accurately written on this man's face. Those 4 ex-girlfriends who have different attitudes towards them are either enthusiastic, hesitant, indifferent, or angry. The flowers in these former lives were obviously not satisfactory. Although some of them were married, their husbands died prematurely and they and their daughters depended on each other. Some are rich, but have no real relationship with their husbands. Some are still single because of an unhappy married life. Some were very embarrassed, and finally lost patience with love. No matter how these flowers treated him, they were not as touching to him as the one lying in the cemetery. For the lost life, there is no outlet to talk or recall, and only sentimentality remains. Just like the title Broken Flower, these flowers of life have begun to shatter and begin to wither. Time and love are passing, but the flowers of youth are withering.
During the visit, Tang was never able to find any trace of his son. When he finally returned home, he met his son by chance, but he also let his son escape from him in joy. The final outcome is frozen in a 360-degree surround shot on Don's dull but disappointed face.
The end of the film is an open ending. We don’t know whether Tang found his son again in the end. The result of the film is not the focus of Jarmusu’s attention, but the process of finding him. This film expresses Jarmusu's reminiscence of time and youth, the impermanence of life, and the helplessness and emotion of the passing of love through the process of finding his son. I think everyone should have this kind of sadness. My youth is gone forever, and the friends I used to have are now separated from each other, and they are all working hard for their future. I don't know if the flowers that I liked in my life are doing well now. They are all struggling, but I am standing in this lonely city disheartened, full of confusion about the future, not knowing where to go.
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