'Broken Flowers,' hard roads
Bill Murray stars in new Jim Jarmusch film
From CNN's Chris Burns
 | |
| |
| RELATED |
• Final 'Star Wars' not for squeamish
• 'Star Wars' celebration in London
• Final 'Star Wars' debuts at Cannes
• Lucas previews 'Star Wars'
|
|
CANNES, France (CNN) -- In what could seem a sequel to his role in ''Lost in Translation,'' Bill Murray searches among his long-lost lovers for the son he never knew in cult director Jim Jarmusch's ''Broken Flowers,'' screened in competition Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival.
Meanwhile, the story of a small-town American nice guy whose heroism makes him a national celebrity and uncovers his dark past -- David Cronenberg's ''A History of Violence'' -- has shot to the top of some critics' main contenders a day after it was screened here.
Four days away from the filmfest's awards night, Cronenberg is said to be running neck-and-neck with Austrian director Michael Haneke and his French-language film ''Cache,'' or ''Hidden.''
In ''Broken Flowers,'' Murray plays Don, prodded on by his neighbor to crisscross the country to track down four former lovers played by race car driver widow Sharon Stone, animal therapist Jessica Lange, real estate agent Frances Conroy and biker companion Tilda Swinton.
With barebones dialogue similar to Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation,'' "Saturday Night Live" vet Murray puts most of his humor -- and his pain -- in his facial expressions.
At a post-screening news conference, Murray said he's thought about his exes ''usually in the middle of the night in a strange town. I don't recommend it for most people. ...It's a far more precarious position than I thought, before I tried it with four different actresses. It was unsettling and disturbing.''
For fans of cult director Jarmusch (''Stranger Than Paradise,'' ''Mystery Train,'' ''Dead Man'' and ''Coffee and Cigarettes''), he delivers -- though the long, Marguerite Duras-style minimalistic scenes in this road movie are a question of taste.
''This film is all about questions and gracefully not about answers. This film steers away from that,'' Swinton said.
Asked about his incorporating different cultures in his movies -- Don's neighbor Winston is African -- Jarmusch said about America: ''It's odd to me that a culture made up of so many cultures has isolated itself. ... I've always felt a little lost in America for that reason.''
Jarmusch said U.S.-based Focus Features, which underwrote the film, left him to his work, contrary to other financiers in the biz. ''I negotiate my deals with a loaded shotgun,'' he said. ''They were not on the set of the film.''
In ''A History of Violence,'' Tom Stall, played by Viggo Mortensen, overpowers and kills two men trying to rob his small-town diner. The national spotlight on him as a hero blows his cover as a former mob hitman gone into hiding. The real nightmare begins -- dealing with mobsters coming back to haunt him -- powerfully played by Ed Harris and William Hurt.
Hollywood Reporter magazine calls it ''a clever and fast-paced thriller.'' Though Variety says this is toned-down Cronenberg, who screened at Cannes before with ''Crash.'' That despite ''an extra dash of hot sex and graphic violence,'' it cites a ''lack of depth, complexity or strangeness.''
The other considered frontrunner, ''Hidden,'' stars Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche. Auteuil plays Georges, a TV show host in Paris haunted by anonymous videotapes that lead him to a dark past. Lurking in the film is the First World's fear of violence from the developing world. Variety calls it a ''tightly plotted and paced thriller.''
Screening in competition Wednesday is the crime thriller ''Sin City,'' directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. It stars Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy and Benicio del Toro.
