Broken Flowers

Went to a double header at Castleton last weekend. Saw this and Junebug back to back. That, to me, is a great way to spend a Friday night. This was acclaimed as an even better role for Bill Murray than Lost in Translation. I'd have to agree he did a pretty good job in here. The basic plot is that Bill Murray is a bit of a Don Juan and suddenly gets a mysterious letter. It lacks a return address, readable postmark and signature of sender. This letter informs him he has an 18-19 year old son that might be out looking for him. Don and his neighbor Winston, Jeffrey Wright, decide to do a little detective work to find out just who this person is. So Don figures out who all of his girlfriends were from 20 years back or so and they go to work. Don decides to go visit these women and try to figure out if they're the one. Some clues Don is looking for include a typewriter, pink items - especially stationary, and a red ink pen. Unfortunately everyone he visits seems to have one or more of the clues. I think my favorite had to have been when he visited Laura and Lolita. Lolita is a bit of a 'tart', but we soon find out she is just closely mimicking her mother. One of the best lines has to be when Don says, "So Lolita...that was some outfit you weren't wearing earlier." I won't explain...you just have to watch. After returning home, Don starts seeing different young men loosely matching the description of a possible son and starts assuming/fantasizing it might be "him". We never really find out what happens in the end, but it's not like you're left hanging or feeling let down either. This is definitely one of those "artsy" and "independent" films. So if you're not into them steer clear of this one. I'd say this is worth a watch, but I'd be surprised if it makes it to my top 10 list for the year.