|
|
A stranger (Isaach De Bankole) who's always impeccably dressed and has
some peculiar habits, comes to Spain for the first time, and without
speaking a word of the language - and on the airport he gets his
assignment ... well, part of it anyways, as it seems to be a top secret
and in all likelyhood illegal operation, so the lesser our hero knows the
better. And while collecting the pieces of the puzzle that lead to the
completion of his job, we see the stranger touring the country and
crossing paths with all kinds of people who hand him more and more
information, and also pieces of their own minds. Again and again our hero
bumps into a naked woman (Paz de la Huerta) who sometimes wears a
transparent raincoat, and whose intentions are clear, but he refuses to
have sex while on assignment. Eventually, it seems the competition closes
in on the stranger, as he sees one of his informers (Tilda Swinton)
kidnapped in broad daylight - but that doesn't faze him, as he has set his
sights on the goal, come what may ... John Hurt plays one of the
stranger's informers, Bill Murray plays a rivaling gangster boss. Arguably,
Jim Jarmusch is at best when he takes apart a genre formula and
re-assembles it in a way that's sure to disappoint die-hard genre fans -
and The Limits of Control is no exception here, a film that quite
obviously takes its cues from European crime cinema, but whittles its core
story down to the bone so much it almost seems abstract, and then adds
Jarmusch's trademark laconic humour to it, plus his predilection for
deceleration and long static or almost static shots to make this film's
tried and true concept 100% his own. Now add to this a rather breathtaking
cinematography making perfect use of the Spanish landscapes, and a strong
and colourful cast, and you've got a minor masterpiece for sure.
|
|
|