What was broken flowers about

More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit. The resolutely single Don Johnston has just been dumped by his latest lover, Sherry. Don resigns himself to being alone yet again and left to his own devices. Instead, he is compelled to reflect on his past when he receives by mail a mysterious pink letter. It is from an anonymous former lover and informs him that he has a year-old son who may now be looking for his father. Don is urged to investigate this "mystery" by his closest friend and neighbor, Winston, an amateur sleuth and family man.

Hesitant to travel at all, Don nonetheless embarks on a cross-country trek in search of clues from four former flames. Unannounced visits to each of these unique women hold new surprises for Don as he haphazardly confronts both his past and, consequently, his present. Sometimes life brings some strange surprises. Comedy Drama Mystery Romance. Rated R for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use. Did you know Edit. Trivia According to Bill Murray, he considered retiring after doing this film because he felt that it was the best acting performance he could ever give.

Goofs As can be evidenced by the symbols on the airport signs the letters A, B, and C, individually, are in the center of rounded triangles, designating sections of the airport Newark Airport NJ was used for each of the airport scenes, although Murray's character was supposedly going to many different places in the US. Quotes Don Johnston : [to Lolita] That was quite an outfit you weren't wearing earlier.

Crazy credits Unusually, bit part players with no spoken lines in this movie are listed in the credits. Normally only speaking parts are listed. User reviews Review. Top review. Completely open to interpretation.

Whether it was shrewdly planned or not, Bill Murray has become one of our greatest cinematic resources, just as comfortable doing dry comedy as he is acting in a mood piece; his whole melancholy being has become perfect for avant-garde comedy, and this meticulously-mounted and shaded 'dramedy' is a Bill Murray vehicle all the way.

The loosely-structured plot deals with calling up the past, which it says you can't really do because it's gone, and not worrying about the future because it isn't here yet. Murray plays a computer businessman, a committed bachelor and "over-the-hill Don Juan", who receives news he might have fathered a child with an ex-girlfriend 20 years ago.

The film, helmed under the more effective title "Dead Flowers", is an unintended journey of self-discovery which is purposely incomplete but not pointless; the screenplay leaves the scenario open for discussion, and writer-director Jim Jarmusch structures each sequence in such a cockeyed way that we don't really know where the movie is headed.

This is perfect for audiences interested in something a little different, and even if the pacing is dryly solemn or slow, the picture delights in being anti-formula. A very good film, difficult as an entertainment per se and often puzzling or obtuse, though it continues Bill Murray on the path of an actor of incredible taste, decision and consequence.

Details Edit. Release date August 26, United States. France United States. Focus Features United States. Dead Flowers. Box office Edit. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 1h 46min. Dolby Digital. To be fair, Jarmusch had a lot to do with that. The director is an indie filmmaker who traditionally makes the audience work a little harder to enjoy his films, and "Broken Flowers" is no exception. One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer described Jarmusch's style "about questions, not easy answers," and called it "elliptical.

But that doesn't mean the central questions in "Broken Flowers" go unanswered; it just means the answers are more subtle than in a typical film. Murray plays Don Johnston, an aging bachelor who one day receives an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be a former flame, telling him he used to have a son. Johnston visits several of his exes in an attempt to get answers. Along the way, he confronts several truths about himself and the women he used to be with.

In the end, both Johnston and the audience do get something like an answer to the question of his son's identity, but it's far from satisfying. At the end of the film, Don meets a character without a given name, who's credited only as "The Kid. The color pink is an important symbol and visual clue throughout the film. The anonymous letter is typed on pink paper and arrives in an envelope of the same color. Later, Don discovers that one of his exes owns a pink typewriter, which makes her a likely candidate for the mother of his long-lost son.

And the ribbon neatly ties everything together with a bow — almost. Both the audience and Don have reason to doubt The Kid's identity, even with the ribbon. The Kid eventually runs away from Don, and when Don chases after him, a car drives by and another young man leans out and stares at him.