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The Limits Of ControlClaudia PuigThe Limits of Control will test the limits of your patience. For those who expect a coherent narrative that moves at a reasonable pace, director Jim Jarmusch's latest movie is likely to confound and annoy. The minimalist story plods at a glacial pace. Characters make pronouncements, rather than conversing or interacting with one another. Despite extended cameos from a cast including Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, John Hurt and Gael Garc?a Bernal, the film is elliptical and obscure. Isaach De Bankol?© is a Jarmusch archetype: a stranger in a strange land. He plays a mysterious, well-dressed man given a series of cryptic instructions by odd characters who greet him with the same sentence: "You don't speak Spanish, do you?" He doesn't, which could be problematic, since most of the goings-on are in Spain. We know very little about De Bankol?©'s character except that he always wears a suit, even while practicing tai chi daily. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't appear to eat, either, except for tiny paper notes and, once, a plate of artistically arranged pears. But he always orders two cups of espresso, which no doubt accounts for his sleeplessness. If this sounds like a parody, it often feels like one. But parodies usually require humor. Though the narrative is flimsy and the characters add little to the plot, the visuals are stunning. Shots resemble still-life paintings. Beautiful real-life images are juxtaposed with an installation in a Madrid museum, perhaps to make a point about the intersection of life and art. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle has an intriguing preference for slow and static shots. He doesn't pan the camera. Rather, characters enter and exit a frame. But with so little story to accompany these stately visuals, the dominant sensation is one of dullness and languor. There are a few cryptic lines that might illuminate the film. Swinton, in raincoat, sunglasses and clutching an umbrella despite a lack of rain, intones: "The best films are like dreams you're never sure you really had." It might be that Jarmusch (Broken Flowers) is experimenting with creating a pastiche of dreamlike sequences that audiences can interpret as they wish. Or it may be merely pretension and hubris that fuels such a stylized and insubstantial story. ?© Copyright 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. |
