MovieChat Forums > The Limits of Control (2009) Discussion > It's a shame this isn't being discussed ...

It's a shame this isn't being discussed more

posted 16 years ago by jjinx
35 replies | jump to latest

I know I'll get a lot of backlash for saying this, but I honestly feel like this is one of the most important films to come along in a long while. From the point of view of filmmaking, I think that it evolves the whole art of movies in a way that very few movies have in a while. It reminded me a lot of The Passenger. It seems to have uniformly negative reviews all across the board, but I suspect that, years from now, scholars will look back at this and it will seem remarkable that it had no attention when it first came out.

It definitely was a hard movie to sit through, because it demanded full and complete attention, and it seemed to paint a picture of a bunch of characters who are living in the world at a different level of perception or awareness than the general public, and we are seeing it from the inside...not from the pov of outsiders looking in. I don't know if I'm explaining it well or making sense, but this movie impacted me so strongly, and I can't get it out of my head after seeing it last night, so I just want to attempt to explain why I feel like that and see if anyone has similar thoughts.

It was like all the characters in the movie are in on some secret about how to read signs of the times, or about how the world really works, and exist outside of the normal world of our perception, yet they exist in the same space as all of us. The characters in the movie have evolved their awareness of what life is, and have caught on to patterns of the universe and are waging an epic war to try to prevent other people from controling the world.

I looked back on what I wrote and I think I made it too simplistic...but anyway, this movie really effected me and I'm disappointed that I can't seem to find any critics who even attempt to really understand what the film is presenting to us. And I think it's wrong to compare it to David Lynch...it may be surreal, but it is not like some strange dream, it is something completely on a different level than what david lynch does. I would compare it more to Antonioni films, like The Passenger. The characters are almost like the characters in the passenger, except that in LImits, the characters have more of an awareness of what the angst is that leads Jack Nicholson's character in The Passenger.

If you've seen the passenger, maybe you'll get what I'm saying. Anyway, thanks for reading this rant if you made it this far, and let me know what you think!

[–] heinrich-pesch 15 years ago

I agree that most critics do not find any sense in this movie. We enjoyed the performance very much. Limits of Control is currently performed in one big cinema theatre here in Helsinki. But we where only about five people watching the afternoon performance.
Jarmusch's films are always well received in Finland. Jarmusch and Kaurismäki are good friends I supposed. There is a reference to Aki's film Beheemielämä (1994) in Limits of Control. There's of course an awful lot of references to all kind of pieces of art from different periods.
Nice landscapes too, the Andalusian mountains as the background to Girl and Death.

There will be no Oscar for this movie, but who cares.

[–] hardwood53 14 years ago

Stories within stories. Each artistic work, location, the architecture, has people and histories connected to it. Even small things are there by design. There are rich meanings to be hidden in such things. The questions to be answered are which were intentional, subconscious, coincidental, or because of budget restraints. I must try to keep that in mind when I watch films.
Thank you for pointing me in that direction.

[–] pukken1986 15 years ago

I kinda agree with you, but on the other hand, I don't. I agree that it is a war. But it is not as exestitialistic as you make it out to be. The people that approached the Lone Man where talking about music, movies, dance, art and science. And they all had a hand in killing the character of Bill Murray. But first Blonde was taken by the men in the black suits and car.

I think the movie is a commenting on the development of the world. More and more things are being taken over by men like The American, people that only does thing with the intent to generate a profit. Blonde represents movies, and today hollywood is very much a profit oriented business. Hence blondes was taken by the men in black suits.

But you are right. The movie demands your attention. It is very much like meditation. I sat and watched it and could not turn my head away, my mind working overdrive trying to get in all of the things that is going on the screen.

Do you know my poetry?- William Blake. Dead Man

[–] Psinex6 11 years ago

"I kinda agree with you, but on the other hand, I don't. I agree that it is a war. But it is not as exestitialistic as you make it out to be. The people that approached the Lone Man where talking about music, movies, dance, art and science. And they all had a hand in killing the character of Bill Murray. But first Blonde was taken by the men in the black suits and car."

I imagine Jim Jarmusch reading this and laughing his ass off that OCD people would spend so much time reading into the simple film that I made.

[–] IloveCrabs 15 years ago

I was puzzled by how much you can show on a movie with very little talk and action. The movie is insightful and you need both attention and good intuition to understand it properly..
I liked it very much.

[–] zan-jansa 15 years ago

Yeah, i liked this movie too...

Was it just me, or was he tempted on some momments.. about the nude girl that kept following him and seducing him? And then he felt a bit bad when he found her lying dead in his bed?
And why was she following him? Cause she was a messenger also. But she got diamonds in her matchbox. And that is actually the only time we see the matchbox that the lone guy passes on, open.

And what is that yoga like practice that he does? Seems like some body&mind control practice.. Anyone recognize those moves? And i like his walk :)

Yeah someone mentioned the connection between paintings and his mission. Well the guy who sits with him and gives him the guitar finds out that he likes painting(s), so it must be that he seeks meaning in paintings and connects that with his life, his mission in this case, especially the more clear "hint" of blank note and "blank" painting in the art museum in Madrid.

[–] lifemage 15 years ago

I think most would have a temptation to sleep with the woman, but he's in complete 'control'. I am sure, however, that he felt bad, in his own way, for the woman lying dead in his bed. I'm not sure of everything that happened in the movie, but the fact there were diamonds in that box may have been payment for information regarding Bill Murray's charcter and the complex in which he resided. That's just an opinion.

I loved this film because it made me think. Too many movies are entertaining in the way you don't have to think, just be a mindless zombie watching all the action. This film was entertaining, just in a more intellectual sort of way. To me it was a refreshing change of pace from the usual. I'm not, in any way, saying that other films aren't good having their entertainment value based in action or horror, but this film just took it to a different level.

The moves he was making was, in my opinion, Aikido. I couldn't say that to be sure, but I had a little bit of it when I was taking Shudo Kan. Even if it wasn't, it resembles that art. Aikido is about unifying life with energy. It means to harmonize your spirit as well. It's a gentle form of martial art and that seems to be what he was doing. Aikido also emphasizes control, so that you can defend yourself without doing harm to the attacker. The film, in so many ways, was about 'control'. So it makes sense it would be a martial art, and to me, more than likely, Aikido. Aikido is an art, as the film was a canvass with a beautiful and intricate picture painted on it. With Aikido, you learn how to not harm the other person. In order to do this, it is a gentle manipulation of moves, just as the movie itself was. There were clues in the referrences that were used throughout the movie, as to what the movie was about.

The acting was brilliant, the sets were just as brilliant. The movie was a piece of art. It keeps you engrossed and won't let you move, because you might miss something important. If you have a hard time following movies, then this won't be for you, but if you want a movie with a bit of intellectual stimulation and a movie that makes your imagination run wild throughout, then this is the movie for you. It has a dream like quality about it and I have to say, watching it when my head was already in the clouds just intensified that effect. I'd recommend this movie for any philosophical sort, or cinema buff. But steer clear of it if you need to be entertained with loads of guns, action, comedy, or horror.

[–] rockinbone 15 years ago

Wasn't sure what to think after all of the negative reviews on IMDB, but I enjoyed the film. It is visually stunning. Alot is left to the imagination regarding the "plot", but it still held my attention. I always get the feeling that Jarmusch is making films that he enjoys, for film lovers to enjoy. With Lynch, I feel like he's mocking the people that go to see his films. Putting two halves of different films together doesn't make you an artist.

I'm not that proud of everything I've done, but I'm not that ashamed, either.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] uktena92 14 years ago

I must say it's good to hear someone is using their brains out here in the big world. this film really was beautiful and unequivocally elusive as well, however the undertones and great use of the camera was magnificent.

quite surreal in a realistic sort of way.

anyway great thoughts! and i think your quite right as far as what the movie is really about.

[–] M_Salama 11 years ago

Frankly, it's a shame this film was made in the first place!
Broken Flowers is one of my favorite Murray movies, with a similar "style", but tLoC was just bad.