Unconventional filmmaker Jarmusch turns to suburbia

NEW YORK - Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, known as a cinematic risk-taker, is now taking chances in an unexpected way - by flirting with the mainstream in his latest movie, "Broken Flowers."

The comedy starring Bill Murray drops the stark settings associated with the art house darling's earlier work and instead offers a tour of the suburbs and a reflection on life and love.

Countering its swerve toward conventionality by maintaining an eccentric beat and sensibility, the film by writer-director Jarmusch won the Grand Prix prize at the Cannes Film Festival and begins playing in US theatres on Aug. 5.

"This is an odd one for me," said Jarmusch, who made his mark with quirky, darkly comic, artistic films like "Stranger Than Paradise (1983) and "Down By Law" (1986) that often depict journeys, examine fate and look at life from an outsider or foreigner's perspective.

"Broken Flowers" offers some familiar strands but its odyssey through a suburban world takes the filmmaker outside his comfort zone.

OUTSIDE HIS ZONE

Jarmusch dislikes his main character, which he created expressly for Murray. He abhors retrospection yet has his protagonist confront his past four times over and sheds his 'guy film' image by using an array of actresses including Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton and Frances Conroy.

In "Broken Flowers," devout bachelor Don Johnston has been dumped by his latest lover and resigns himself to being alone. But an ex-lover's anonymous letter telling him he fathered a son 19 years earlier moves Johnston to confront his past.

Goaded into action by his Ethiopian neighbour, played by Jeffrey Wright, Johnston seeks out his former lovers, getting a glimpse of his past and a taste of what might have been.

"I don't identify at all with Don Johnston at the beginning. I don't even like him. That's very unusual for me. In all my films, no matter how damaged or socially inept characters may be, I really feel for them. I love them.

"I don't love Don Johnston. I don't care about some rich guy that made money off computers, had pretty girlfriends and doesn't know what he's doing."

So topsy-turvy was the experience that Jarmusch did the editing process in reverse -- starting from the last scene and working backwards.

"I didn't feel for him in the beginning, but I want to feel for him in the end," Jarmusch said about his protagonist. "It was six weeks of editing before we started looking at the film's beginning."

SHAPING CHARACTERS

The beginnings of the project included a New York night stroll with Murray.

"We walked all the way from the Lower East Side to the Upper East Side (about 4 miles) talking the whole time, preparing the character," said Jarmusch, who prefers shaping a character with an actor rather than rehearsing scenes.

"We were talking about our lives, human nature and love, and love stories and things that misconnect and why they misconnect."

Jarmusch said he consciously tried to create strong female characters in this project.

"In my life I've learned a lot more from female friends and lovers and people close to me than I have from male friends," he said. "Maybe because I don't understand them completely.

"A lot of my female friends said, "'Down By Law" is really a boys' movie, and "Ghost Dog" is really a boys' movie, and so is "Dead Man." We like them but you make boys' movies.'

"Well, I'm a boy, you know?"

One trademark element in "Broken Flowers" is a provocative soundtrack, including a mesmerising lead-in song, "There Is An End," by The Greenhornes featuring singer Holly Golightly.

Jarmusch said he feels no urge to join some new wave directors who have found big-budget studio collaborations.

"To me, I like the margins. I'm not a mainstream guy. Whether it's literature or music, the mainstream doesn't speak directly to my heart, and that's where I get inspired by the world of ideas," Jarmusch said.

"Where they cross with business is a very complex thing. But I don't do this for business. I do it because I love ideas in the form of filmmaking."

- REUTERS