Certainly it comes at little surprise, given the near-universal harshness of the reviews, that Jim Jarmusch‘s latest, The Limits of Control, is vacating Austin after a mere one-week run. This Thursday, May 28, will be the last day to catch a screening at the Arbor Theatre. Consider making Limits a priority because I’m here to tell you that all the naysayers are flat-out wrong. Distributor Focus Features has probably already given up on garnering any more business in the hinterlands after the poor showings the film had in its New York and L.A. debut and decided to cut its losses. Since no advance screenings were held in Austin for critics, I caught the movie over the weekend. Yes, the film is dreamy and enigmatic, but is by no means as ponderous and abstruse as many of the reviews have made it out to be.
Surely, it’s no wispier a story than Jarmusch’s Dead Man or Ghost Dog, although it stars Jarmusch regular Isaach De Bankolé rather than those films’ Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker, respectively. Filmed in Spain, Limits also features beautiful and crisp imagery by frequent Wong Kar-wai cinematographer Christopher Doyle and an enticing music score by Boris. Other key performers include Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Bill Murray. As one of the characters says: “The best films are like dreams you’ve never had.” Don’t make The Limits of Control the film you never had.
This article appears in May 22 • 2009.
