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THE LIMITS OF CONTROL Send This Review to a Friend
Writer-director Jim Jarmusch shows with “The Limits of Control” that he does know how to control, or at least grab the attention of, an audience. His new and very odd road picture mixes a style reminiscent of Antonioni with an attitude akin to films by Sergio Leone. The protagonist, played by charismatic Isaach De Bankolé, wanders through Spain on a mission. We don’t learn of what it is until toward the end, but we are clued in gradually by piecemeal results of his cloak and dagger behavior.
The pace is easy going as Lone Man (Bankolé) is met by a series of strangers. They ask, “You don’t speak Spanish do you?”, seemingly a code, and another recognition signal may or not be Lone Man’s habit of ordering two espressos, not a double, but in two cups placed side by side. It is an amusing touch, along with other amusing bits in what is basically a tale involving danger.
The enigmatic script serves the enigmatic tone. The journey is enlivened periodically when a new character turns up, such as Tilda Swinton as a mysterious blonde, and Paz de la Huerta, who likes to be nude and flaunts herself to Lone Man, who tells her he doesn’t like sex when he is working.
Meanwhile we are taken over interesting locales and landscapes done justice by Christopher Doyle, director of photography, and treated to some evocative music and a dash of Flamenco. Ultimately the trail leads to what the protagonist is supposed to do, and at that point Bill Murray enters the film as an American. Others in the mix include Alex Descas as Creole, who hands Lone Man his orders.
Once again Jarmusch demonstrates his filmmaking prowess, although the patience of some will be tried by his pacing and his determination not to inform the audience of what’s up until he is ready. A Focus Features release.
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