See This: The Limits of Control

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on May 8, 2009 5:20PM

Composer John Cage liked to quote a Zen saying: "If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, try it for eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and so on. Eventually one discovers that it's not boring at all but very interesting." Jim Jarmusch seems to have taken that as his modus operandi for his new movie, The Limits of Control, opening today at Piper's Alley.

It's a mystery made up almost entirely of repetitions and oblique clues. A sharply dressed hitman (Isaach De Bankolé, a zenith of cool) slowly makes his way across Spain, his employers and ultimate target both purposefully unclear. Along the way he comes into contact with a series of emissaries (including Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Gael García Bernal) who give him instructions for the next leg of his journey. That about sums up the plot. It's as austere (and Paul Austeresque) a film as Jarmsuch has ever made. None of the characters have names. There's very little of the filmmaker's usual wry dialog. It ought to be supremely dull and annoying. Yet even two weeks after watching it, somehow its dream-like spell still has a hold on us.

The movie might be devoid of drama. But what it does have is a beautifully textured sense of time and place, thanks in no small part to cinematographer Christopher Doyle's exquisite renderings of the Spanish landscape. The meticulous sound design, including some cuts from Boris, also lends flavor.

Because the journey is more important than the destination, when Jarmusch is forced to wrap things up in the last third the movie suffers. Using Bill Murray in a tiny role as a diplomat he tries to make some vague points about American imperialism that unfortunately weaken the sense of mystery that's been so carefully calibrated. Indeed, Murray makes such a tremendous impression that ultimately he's a distraction.

Still, for fans of cinematic enigmas like Last Year at Marienbad and INLAND EMPIRE, this is a journey worth taking.