Director: Jim Jarmush
Genre: Drama/Crime/Mystery/Thriller
Year: 2009
If you are familiar with Mr. Jarmush’s work, then you already know you will be walking off the beaten path. Rarely does he fall in line with what is normally accepted in Hollywood as standard and more often than not he focuses on characters rather than actual plots. There is a certain signature to his work that is almost palpable and seems to saturate his films entirely. Some might find that appealing; the majority–I venture to guess–will not. Jarmush demands patience, encourages an eye for detail and often pushes symbolism into the screen.
Down by Law, was perhaps the first Jarmush film I ever saw and I knew from the moment ‘Jockey Full of Bourbon’ started playing that I had stumbled into something unique. Even by my own definition, Jarmush fills a niche that is quite difficult to describe; I neither like or dislike that particular place but often find myself fascinated with it regardless. The formerly mentioned film along with Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Coffee and Cigarettes, Dead Man, Mystery Train and Stranger than Paradise…all tested me considerably. He is not easy to watch, but at the same time, watching his films unfold can be a very beautiful thing even when the story does not make much sense, or as is the case with The Limits of Control, is almost entirely missing.
I find myself in the middle of a tug of war in this film, because the idea of a Lone Man (Isaach De Bankolé; Casino Royale, Manderlay) guiding himself through Spain, receiving enigmatic, coded instructions inside match boxes from anomalous individuals is very very intriguing to me. The Lone Man, a very disciplined man brings to mind Ghost Dog, from Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. There is that same intensity, that alienation, that quirkiness to the character who may not say much but is just as readable to the audience–if not better–than one giving a monologue. Lone Man’s mission, is given to him by a Creole and routed by French, his translator. From the beginning, one gets a taste of the humor that seems to subtly populate Jarmush movies. Brief instructions, one match box, and the hunt is on.
The entire movie is really a series of encounters, all of them staring with the same assertive questions that ensures each of the other seedy characters–played by the likes of Gael Garcia Bernal, Paz de la Huerta, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt, among others–that Lone Man does not, in fact speak Spanish. Why this is relevant? Well, that is where the film becomes problematic. The use of symbolism in this film is so heavy that at the end of the film, which seems rather simplistic considering the process it took Lone Man to get to that point, one gets the idea that nothing makes sense. While I am always one to encourage the use of symbolism to give substance to a story, in this case everything has been abstracted to such an extent that it is entirely unclear what is is we have watch and leaves you with the feeling that you have just witnessed an inside joke and Jarmush is the only one laughing.
It is a dichotomy strong enough to split me down the middle. On the one hand we have beautiful cinematography, good acting, very interesting characters coming together for what turns out to be on the other hand: not much or a rather generalized view of the workings of the world. If the point of this film is the former, then this movie is only worth the accumulation of its artistic merit (which is considerable), if it is the latter, then it is almost a slap-in-the-face ending considering the idiosyncrasies involved for most people.
In conclusion, if you are a Jarmush fan, watch it, it definitely caters to those that enjoy his films and if you are like me you will get plenty out of it, but I would say that the majority of the people will find this a waste of their time, unfortunately.
Rating: 



My rating might be biased by my enjoyment of Jarmush films, yours could be considerably lower.
Comments: Various spoken films but mostly it is in English. There is also one character–aptly named Nude–who spends her entire time on screen in a state of undress. Expect a few moments of violence and some language as well.
Quote: Mexican: The old men in my village used to say, “Everything changes by the colour of the glass you see it through.” Nothing is true. Everything is imagined. Do you know these reflections? For me sometimes the reflection is far more present than the thing being reflected.