brokenflowers

I having trouble even beginning this review because I have so much I want to say. Let me preface
by saying this ... go see this movie. My god. See this movie. It's beautifully crafted and acted
brilliantly. I don't even like arty films normally, but I got dragged into this one and came out with a
fresh look on my life. (I know it sounds cheesy.... I do. But that's what I felt at the time..... Don't
look at me like that.)

Basically, this guy Don (Bill Murray) gets an anonymous letter in the mail by a woman saying that
twenty years ago she bore his child. She didn't want him to feel obligated so she didn't tell him
about it, but now that the boy is older he wants to find his father. The woman hasn't told her son
anything about who his father is, but he's out looking for him anyway. This causes Don to go on an
extended trip to visit all five women he was intimate with during that time to figure out if he really has
a son. On this journey through failed relationships and awkward dinners, Don starts to learn a little
about cause and effect and the consequences of his actions ... or more appropriately - his lack of
action. There's a definite feeling of fate/redemtion ominously lurking about every corner and it
questions what makes life good and what makes it moderately acceptable.

Don's character is what makes this film brilliant. He's described as "Don Juan" (A term he hates)
because of all the women he's been with. But he's not slick or smooth or anything like that. He's
that guy ... we all know at least one.... He's the guy that doesn't do anything. He's quiet and
unassuming and doesn't really do anything at all. Women see this and instantly think that he's
pensive or reflexive or troubled or something innately mysterious that we, as curious entities, must
get to the bottom of. Thus ... he gets lots of women. What makes you still like Don is that he's not
really a womanizer. He never gives the impression that he used these women. On the contrary, it
seems like he loved each and every one of them. It's even implied that all these women eventually
left him, not vice versa. Which, of course, makes perfect sense because after the woman realizes
that there isn't a mystery to be solved and that the guy simply enjoys his complacency and isn't
going to make an effort to change any time soon, she leaves. But as he visits each and every one
of them, they're reaction to him shows that they never really stopped feeling things for the quiet
man.

Don's complacent behavior is so ingrained that he wouldn't even have thought twice about the
letter had it not been for his best and only friend in the world, his next door neighbor. Throughout
the entire film Don is reluctant to even leave his house or get off the couch unless his friend
motivates him to do it.

There's a thousand other things that make this film brilliant and I'm eager to spell out each and
every one of them, but I'm going to suppress that urge so you can discover them yourself. Go with
a group of friends, or take that guy that we all know that is content to contemplate everything
without ever acting on anything ... it might be a nice wake up call for him. Either way, you'll have
plenty to talk about afterwards.