Comments on: Stranger Than Paradise

By: Ellipsis #16 « The Seventh Art

Ellipsis #16 « The Seventh Art — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 13:40:09 +0000

[...] film’s central argument of there being no originals in art as well as life. It asserts, as does Jarmusch’s latest, that meaning and authenticity exist in one’s gaze of objects rather than the objects themselves [...]

By: Short Films #9 « The Seventh Art

Short Films #9 « The Seventh Art — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 16:21:44 +0000

[...] undiluted phantasmagoria, The Heart of the World (2000), is a postmodern film about modernism. Like The Limits of Control (2009) – a postmodern film about postmodernism – Maddin’s picture parodies modernist [...]

By: Favorite Films Of 2009 « The Seventh Art

Favorite Films Of 2009 « The Seventh Art — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:23:55 +0000

[...] The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch, [...]

By: Just Another Film Buff

Just Another Film Buff — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:36:53 +0000

I can empathize. This was also my gripe while watching the film, but after 2-3 days, It kind of sunk in. And yes, gorgeously filmed.

By: ABVan

ABVan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:18:17 +0000

Just saw the movie. Yeah, in a way its an antithesis of all things “Hollywood”, and beautiful cinematography.

The only exception I took was the dialogues. Some were extremely fake and hammering the fact hard that “This is an art movie and we are in the process of contemplation”

…. I mean, that process could’ve been a bit more subtle. Lovely movie nevertheless.

By: Just Another Film Buff

Just Another Film Buff — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:48:02 +0000

You know Omar, I would rather like a Victor Erice or a Tarkovsky out of him than a Soderbergh or a Ford. He is making films at an average of about one per four years. And I really think its worth the wait…

By: OMAR AHMED

OMAR AHMED — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:48:01 +0000

I haven’t seen this one yet but looking forward to it. You make parallels with Melville’s La Samourai – this sound promising then. JJ might actually be one of the few independent American directors left who have managed to keep their integrity intact – if consistency counts for anything then JJ rules. Personal favourites are: Mystery Train, Down By Law, and just about everything else! JJ is a classic procrastinator though. He needs to make more films.

By: Just Another Film Buff

Just Another Film Buff — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:06:57 +0000

Thanks Sam for your usual generosity. Do see the film. I’m not sure why critics are so cold to this one, especially Ebert, who had loved Broken Flowers.

My favorite films of JJ would be Stranger, C&C, Broken Flowers, Down By Law, Dead Man and this one…

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:42:35 +0000

“Throughout The Limits of Control, there is the notion of interchangeability of art and life – of reality and memory. Representation becomes perception and vice versa. One character even believes that violins have a memory and can remember every note that is ever played on them. The Lone Man watches the paining of a nude woman, only to find a nude woman lying on his bed, in a similar position, a few minutes later. His point-of-view shot of the vast expanses of the city of Madrid is intercut with a similar paining of the city. Life becomes images and images come to life.”

“There are also movies that Jarmusch loves and pays tribute to. There is Jean-Pierre Melville, there is Aki Kaurismaki and there is Andrei Tarkovsky, packed somewhere into this seemingly sparse and empty film.”

“The major attack against The Limits of Control, I imagine, would be regarding the self-indulgent nature of the film. Sure the film is self-indulgent, but it is also more than that. It is a self-indulgent movie that promotes self-indulgence.”

Well, Sir, this could well qualify as your ‘piece de resistance’ among the essays of yours I’ve read, but your are so spectacularly consistent that I might be posing the same judgement in a few days when your next review appears. You are some serious talent!
In any case, I did not see this film yet, even though I try to see nearly all major and independent theatrical releases. What soured me of course were the uniformly bad reviews. But a number of bloggers have apparently come to the film’s defense as you have to a fair degree. Your broaching of Resnais and LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD a few times during your review is most interesting, as I see where you are coming from there mwith that ‘matter of perception.” And you seem dead-on with those insights/comparisons with GHOST DOG and the ending of DEAD MAN. (and can’t forget that home turf Jersey City seeting either).

The comparison in the middle paragraph copied above that intimates Tarkovsky, Melville (earlier you had broached LE SAMURAI)and Kaurismaki is fascinating. And the finale paragraph both dismisses and promotes the film simultaneously. I like that, as I do the first-paragraph insight blutting reality and memory.

Tremendous review of a film I will watch soon enough on the recently-released DVD. My favorite Jarmusch films are STRANGER, MYSTERY TRAIN, NIGHT ON EARTH and DOWN BY LAW. appropriate title there for your review.

By: Christy Bharath

Christy Bharath — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:32:09 +0000

dam dam dam! yep broken flowers…schmidt’s by payne, also off-kilter and glorious