So I’m watching this weird movie. It’s in a couple of different languages, English included, but the subs are not helping me really understand what it’s about. So why don’t I turn it off? For one, it’s cinematically beautiful, very stylized, but not in a bad way like Ecks vs. Sever.
When I check IMDB to get some details on the film, I see that it’s by Jim Jarmusch and that alone, explains a lot of things, like why you don’t understand it, but can’t look away.
I don’t like or hate Jim Jarmusch, but I can say that if I knew this was one of his films going in, I probably wouldn’t have watched it and that would have been my loss. And again, not because the film is good, with Jarmusch, you’re never sure, but because the visuals are so stimulating, it gives you a sort of virtual high.
The movie stars Isaach De Bankolé, from Ghost Dog (another Jarmusch film), as the Lone Man. He seems like a hitman, but might be a diamond smuggler, I don’t know. All you see him doing in meeting weird people and exchanging matchboxes. There is a delightfully weird performance put in by Tilda Swinton as Blonde, one of the people he’s exchanging match boxes with. Each person the Lone Man runs into gives some weird, stunted, monologue and they all have strange names like Nude, Violin, Molecules, etc.
I’ve seen Isaach De Bonkole in movies and TV shows before and thought looks wise, that he was OK but Jarmusch films him in a way that makes him look like a handsome god. The suits he wears are beautifully tailored and fit him like he was born in them. The colors of the clothing do nothing but accentuate his beauty. There are many close up shots where you get to see the beauty in his asiany eyes, chiseled cheekbones, beautiful full lips and almost flawless skin. And as if for me personally, there a even close up shots of his beautifully strong hands.
I’m about half way through this film and I’m going to watch it till the end. I would say if you’re into Jim Jarmusch or arty films in general or you just like being visually stimulated, check out the The Limits of Control. But if you couldn’t sit through films like Dead Man (with Johnny Depp) or Mystery Train, you might want to skip it.