Dolce is free to drool now :razz:

Jim Jarmush's yet untitled newest film, described as a warm and witty romantic comedy gets a release date. It'll be relesed on August 5th by Focus. It's starring Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton and Chloë Sevigny among others. Now we all know that the history of Focus and Bill Murray is a good one (Lost in Translation, anyone?), so one can only hope for this one.


Personally, I have seen three Jim Jarmush-directed films so far and my opinion is somewhat mixed. I really disliked the (in my opinion) pretentious and boring Night on Earth. I thought Dead Man was a decent movie, but it didn't blow me away. The real highlights were Depp and the film's music. However, I was really amazed by Ghost Dog, Jim Jarmush's finest film I have seen which would certainly rank in my all-time TOP 100.

I will probably check out the newest one, just for the fact alone that it stars Murray and being released by Focus.

*YES*

Well Jim has to be one of the greatest indie directors ever and regardless of your sentiment towards his films, there is no argueing that he has a fairly large body of work and a following, at least in the U.S. He is a very complex and poetic director, and as much of his sources are literary as visual. He might have even made a better writer than film maker, but his collaboration on some of the best soundtracks, and his cinematography speak for themselves.

Here is the list, I've bolded my two faves:

Coffee and Cigaretts
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Year of the Horse
Dead Man
Night on Earth
Mystery Train
Down by Law
Stranger than Paradise

That's interesting, I kind of felt the reverse. Ghost Dog's narrative structure rendered all the literary and spiritual sources too well defined. You knew where everything was coming from. The one exception was his relationship with the Ice Cream vendor, which apparently was supposed to mimick the relationship of man and dog. That the two can get along beautifully even with language barriers.

Dead Man was steeped in Manifest destiny myth, culture clash, Blake's poetry and visual macabre imagery. I've also read Indigenous criticism that claimed its one of the only insightful works dealing with American Indians. Its a very subtle film, and the soundtrack is one of the greatest produced. I own it.

Down by Law is just an excellent exploration of Louisiana backwoods. Very striking, and incredibly funny. Lurie and Waits hate eachother, but they hate Begnini even more, which actually brings them all together. I love how matter-of-fact it is about their excape from jail.

I wouldn't be surprised Murray was in his new film, he already had a funny little bit in Coffee and Cigarettes with Wu Tang Clan, so he's no stranger to the director.

As I said, I loved Dead Man's soundtrack and the performance by Depp, but it was a bit too anti-climatic for its own good.

I liked the whole idea behind Ghost Dog as well as the great ending. Forrest Whitaker was top notch in the movie and the estabilished relationship between him and the ice cream vendor was ingenious.

I'll rent Coffee and Cigarettes hopefully soon.

Jim Jarmush do something warm and witty? That would be a first.

I'm not a fan. Dolcevita knows this!

Down By Law is on my lifetime top ten list. It is a brilliantly hilarious film.

Since Jarmusch isn't the most prolific director (10 movies in 25 years), I'm always excited to hear about a new project from him...

Yes, oddly enough he looks a bit like Andy Warhol.

Anyways, I hope his new work isn't too edisodic though, since I felt he did much better when he stuck with a few characters, like in Stranger than Paradise, Down by Law, and Dead Man.

John Lurie (Down by Law, Stranger than Paradise) went ahead and started a faux-national geographic special "Fishing with John" series and he takes Tom Waits and Jim fishing (on different episodes). Jim looks deathly bored the entire time. Tom gets incredibly sea-sick and stuffs a fish down his pants. I'm pretty sure they were acting, but pretty much John and Tom acted the same way towards eachother, ambivalent with a hint of caution and dislike, the entire time they went fishing. I always expect them to treat eachother like that even though its not true.

Down by Law is one of the best uses of the spotted light effect of the back-woods and swamp areas. The choice to film in black and wight heightens that, and the entire film is oddly realist but to carefully orchestrated and beautiful to let one suspend their disbelief. (So in fact, we know its not realist). Waits soundtrack is excellent as well.

Well. it looks like the movie is premiering at the Cannes festival this year:

http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6648

Well, the movie has a title now - Broken Flowers.

Moreover Julie Delpy apparently joined the cast.

Sounds good. Delpy is new blood, I'm surprised if he doesn't find a bit part for Braschi though. He's featured either Begnini or Braschi in every single one of his movies so far except for ghost dog. He really works with his muses pretty consistently.

It'll be interesting what Delpy brings to it. Already I can tell its going to be more of a drama by that inclusion, since I haven't really seen Delpy in comic roles. This could be a very fruitfull coupling though. If it works well, she could be in a few more of his future movies!

Hope this gets a warm reception at Cannes. I was pretty dissapointed at how Coffee and Cigarettes was received here. I was sure it would be his breakthrough movie and get 5 million, but it was a bit too episodic even for me. Made it choppy. Still good, but not as much as some of his other films.

Here's the movie's plot I have found:

As the devoutly single Don Johnston (Murray) is dumped by his latest girlfriend (Delpy), he receives a anonymous pink letter informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. The situation causes Don to examine his relationships with women instead of moving on to the next one, and he embarks on a cross-country search for his old flames who might possess clues to the mystery at hand.

Bill Murray stars as Don Johnston.

The resolutely single Don’s latest lover, Sherry (Julie Delpy), has just dumped him. Don resigns himself to once again being left alone and to his own devices. Instead, he is suddenly compelled to reflect on his past when he receives, in the mail, a mysterious pink letter from an anonymous former lover.

The letter informs Don that he has a 19-year-old son who may now be looking for him. Don is urged to investigate further by his best friend and neighbor, Winston (Jeffrey Wright), an amateur sleuth and family man.

Hesitant to travel at all, Don nonetheless embarks on a cross-country trek to search for clues from four former flames (Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, and Tilda Swinton). Unannounced visits to each of these unique women hold new surprises for Don as he confronts both his past and, consequently, his present.

Heart... Beat... I'M LOOKIN' FOR A HEAAAAAART BEEEEATT!

God, it's a fucking road movie to boot. Dolce will be in heaven. To bad I will be sleeping.

-andaroo (resident Jarmush hater!)

Ten bucks says he finds out he's got more than one son...they'll all deliver the same news.

Notice how Murray had a long-lost son in Life Aquatic too? He should be old hat at this by now.

Ooooooh. Tilda Swinton's in this too?

Yesssss. I love roadtrip movies! This one is going to go the route of Mystery Train maybe? \:D/

Some film clips.


http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2005/ ... railer.php

My comp can access them for some reason. Are they looking interesting someone?

I've been watching this trailer all day on Universal HD.

Wes Anderson should sue.

Brilliant! I'm reading an article on Flowers in a periodical right now called Film Comment. It also has pages and pages on 2046. Anyways, the article looks forward to the film and sounds like this will be Jarmusch's crowing achievment thus far in his career! I tried to go download the article off the OCLC, but they only have the periodical issue updated to two issues ago. Maybe I will motivate to type out a few of the promising paragraphs. This is really sounding spectacular.

I peeked in on imdb, and am taking the early reviews with a grain of salt since I'm not sure who is submitting them or when they had access to the movie, but its at a whopping 8.8 right now with over 100 votes. It's 7 and 1 over at RT right now, with the negative criticism coming in regards to how underhanded and austere the movie is. I'm pretty used to Jarmusch's work, and its all a bit dead-pan, so this doesn't bother me so much. The article in the magazine actually even opens with an homage to the perfect dead-pan expression, and how it transcends the film space when performed well.

More to come!

Me wanna see this

August 5th is shaping up to be a big indie weekend with 2046 and Broken Flowers. Consider the reaction Broken Flowers has gotten so far since Canne, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say this will get at least one Oscar nomination.

Xia, yes. Flowers is going to do what I had hoped Coffee and Cigarettes would do two years ago...break through to mainstream. Jarmusch has a huge rental/dvd ownership following, and each one of his movies have slowly increased in box office sales. Ghost Dog came in around 3 million I believe. I was sure C&C would take in over 5, but it was too episodic for most people's tastes.

I see Broken Flowers getting him a direction nominee the way David Lynch and Mike Leigh got them for small movies, but acknowledging an entire body of work.

I'll get the article I read posted as soon as its updated on the periodical databases so I can copy it into this thread!

Found a promising article in Variety:



More mainstream? They've been promising that since Ghost Dog. Still I'd like to see this get bit more recognition with audiances, so here's hoping. I like how in typical Jarmusch style, the article acknowledges he avoids sap and cliche.

Oh ya. When I started a prediction thread for this yesterday, I *knew* someone was talking about this somewhere. I've never been a fan of Jarmusch (rather, I don't know him - I've only seen "Coffee & Cigarettes" and I didn't care for it)... However, I must say... this picture is looking great. I love the casting, and I love Bill Marray. I've seen the trailer five times over Can't wait.

I read that Variety article, dolce, and thats one of the reasons I'm looking foward to this. For now, more mainstream sounds better to me. :razz: And that means that the rest of the noninternet world might give this a chance, too. Here's hoping, anyway....

Bill Murray's latest picture looks....good
I am still waiting for the next Lost in Translation; and after seeing Elizabethtown's trailer i think that could be of a similar stature despite its iffy actors.

I doubt this will break ground but post-translation Murray was going for just...wrong roles for him.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_fea ... owers.html

Mods, please merge with this thread: http://worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5855 over in foreign/indie

Michael, check out the above link, we've been talking about it since its early stages already. A couple weeks since news started seeping in. Thanks for the trailer link!

Sorry Galia; ive been using KJ search all night for the old threads but its like the least accurate search ever.

Ten reviews in at rt. It's 9 and 1 right now. Not bad tracking in comparison to both Coffe and Cigarettes, which barely held onto fresh at 64% (70 CoftC), and Ghost Dog; 78% (68% CoftC).

I reallly hope this will finally be the break through movie for Jarmusch. I thought Coffee and Cigarettes would be since Ghost Dog pulled in 3.5 million in B.O., but then the film ended up making less than its predecessor. I have heard so much buzz about Broken Flowers though. Much more than I usually hear about Jarmusch films leading into their openings. You know in RT's autumn preview its one of the few movies they list...and on the same list as HP4 and Corpse bride, etc. So I think its getting alot more attention than his films usually do.

Also, its going to help that it looks like they have a very smart release schedule with a 25 theatre limited opening. 25 is a great number for someone with his name. Rather than just two or three, or two hunderd which is too big. I hope they don't botch the expansion, because this August looks very week. Broken Flowers will be perfect counter programming to Dukes of Hazzard, and then its smooth sailing since while Hazzard has appeal, the following weekends Duece Bigalow really doesn't.

This is it guys. I feel that this is going to be BIG! \:D/

Does Coffee and Cigarettes' relative failure (you know what I mean) really surprise you?

A black and white conversation movie with minor/alternative "stars", a breakthrough?