Double Features: Broken Flowers & Chinatown

By Corinne Cordasco and Emily Aycrigg
Published in In Earnest Magazine in 2014

Broken Flowers

“Well, the past is gone, I know that. The future isn’t here yet, whatever it’s going to be. So, all there is, is this.  The present. That’s it.” —Don Johnston

Why It’s Worth Watching

Broken Flowers, a film by Jim Jarmusch, of Coffee and Cigarettes and Only Lovers Left Alive fame, stars Bill Murray as Don Johnston, a man who receives an anonymous letter from an ex-lover telling him that he has an eighteen-year-old son who has recently left home to look for his father. Don’s neighbor Winston (Jeffery Wright), a father himself, convinces him that he must discover the identity of his alleged son’s mother. After narrowing the list of possible women down to five, only four of whom are still alive, Winston strong-arms a beleaguered Don into a road trip that takes him across the country in search of these four women. Studded with guest appearances by Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, and Chloë Sevigny, the film won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2005.  It showcases Murray at his most charming—so charming, in fact, that he considered retiring afterward, believing he could never top his performance as Don.

Where to Watch It: Netflix Instant

Chinatown

“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.” —Walsh

Why It’s Worth Watching

Chinatown, Roman Polanski’s gritty, 1974 neo-noir classic, follows private detective Jake Gittes, (Jack Nicholson) as he seeks to unravel the web of intrigue surrounding the recently widowed Evelyn Mullwray, a compelling femme fatale (Faye Dunaway) and her menacing father (John Huston), and their connection to the southern California Water Wars. The film was ranked number 19 on the AFI’s 2007 top 100 films, and was also included in their top 100 Thrills List, as well as on both sides of their, Top 100 Heroes and Villains List and twice in their Top 100 Movie Quotes The film also received eleven Academy Award nominations, although it only won one—for its screenplay, penned by Robert Towne. As a period piece whose scenes span every possible landscape that late 1930s Los Angeles could offer, Chinatown is ambitious in its scope. Also notable is its haunting score, composed at the last minute by Jerry Goldsmith and full of poignant trumpet solos. The film’s memorable characters are aptly cast and excellently acted, especially Nicholson’s coolly earnest Gittes and a poised-but-damaged Evelyn, who Dunaway imbues with equal measures of grit and fragility.

Where to Watch It: Netflix Instant

In Tandem

NOTA BENE: This section alludes to the ending of both films. While there are no explicit spoilers, you may want to wait until after you view both films to read our thoughts.

Among its many roles, story is often a method of mental escape for the world-weary. As evidenced by the audiences that flocked to see Snow White during the Great Depression, happy endings provide hope that our story isn’t over yet and that our current struggle will be rewarded with resolution. When a film leaves loose ends, or when evil seems to triumph, we feel robbed of conclusion endorphins. The energy and time that we invested feels wasted unless we readjust our approach to film, and see it not merely as an escape, but as an exploration of the way that we confront our world’s problems. Both Chinatown and Broken Flowers feature main characters who spend the duration of their stories searching for truth, only to be left dissatisfied by their quests.

Roman Polanski was hesitant to agree to direct Chinatown because it would force him to return to the state where, five years prior, his wife and unborn child were murdered. Polanski accepted, but with one caveat: he would change the film’s original resolution to reflect the triumph of injustice that had devastated his own life. “That’s how it is in life very often,” he said. “That the culprit survives…You have to give people something they can think about. If everything is wrapped up in a happy ending…the audience leaves and forgets about the problem right over their dinner.”

Unsatisfying in a different way, the open ending of Broken Flowers allows the viewer to project many possible endings onto the plot of the film. Without any fragment of resolution, the viewer is left to pour over a series of intentionally misleading clues and red herrings as they wonder what’s next for Don. For example, one of the possible candidates for Don’s son is played by Bill Murray’s actual son, Homer, a subtle detail that further obscures the situation.

No story about family dynamics and dysfunction, if it is to be realistic, can come to an end; conditions may improve or deteriorate but they always continue to change. Additionally, we don’t always find the answers that we search for, and sometimes even when we do, they fail to satisfy. Because these films don’t have fairytale endings, they more closely mirror our own lives, forcing us to engage with them on a more visceral level, even after the credits roll.

For discussion…

  • What obligation do Don and Jake have to continue their respective searches for truth and justice?
  • Do you think Chinatown would have been a better film without Polanski’s version of the ending? Did he overstep his role as director in insisting on the change?
  • How did each film’s soundtrack contribute to its unsettling story? Which did you like better?
  • Does the idea of a hopeless ending imply a moral failing on the part of the story? Which film’s ending did you find more frustrating?

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