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The Limits of Control (2009) 6.1
Ratings:
6.1/10 from 10,350 users
Metascore: 41/100
Reviews: 99 user | 157 critic | 22 from Metacritic.com The story of a mysterious loner, a stranger in the process of completing a criminal job. Director:Jim JarmuschWriter:Jim Jarmusch |
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Isaach De Bankolé | ... |
The Lone Man
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Alex Descas | ... |
The Creole
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Jean-François Stévenin | ... |
The Frenchman
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| Óscar Jaenada | ... |
The Waiter
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| Luis Tosar | ... |
Man with Violin
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| Paz de la Huerta | ... |
The Nude Woman
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| Tilda Swinton | ... |
The Blonde
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| Yûki Kudô | ... |
Molecules
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| John Hurt | ... |
Man with Guitar
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| Gael García Bernal | ... |
The Mexican
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| Hiam Abbass | ... |
The Driver
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| Bill Murray | ... |
The American
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Héctor Colomé | ... |
Second American
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María Isasi | ... |
Flamenco Club Waitress
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Norma Yessenia Paladines | ... |
Flight Attendant
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Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Storyline
A solitary man who does not speak Spanish is an underground courier. Two men who are both thuggish and philosophical send him to Madrid with cryptic instructions. Over the course of a few days, he receives his instructions from a series of distinctive individuals who provide words of philosophy or of warning and also give him a matchbox with a tiny piece of paper, which he reads then eats, accompanied by espresso served in two cups. He is quiet, self-contained, focused on his work. He has rules. He encounters and at times transmits a violin, diamonds, a guitar, and a map. Is he a smuggler? Merely an independent conduit? Or, something else? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
Taglines:
For every way in, there is another way out.Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
Rated R for graphic nudity and some language | See all certifications »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See full technical specs »
Details
Release Date:
19 September 2009 (Japan) See more »Also Known As:
No Limits No Control See more »Box Office
Opening Weekend:
$55,820 (USA) (1 May 2009)Gross:
$425,025 (USA) (26 June 2009)Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
Edit
Creole: [character speaks in Spanish/French creole, English subtitles] You don't speak Spanish, right?
French: [character translates for Creole] You don't speak Spanish, right?
Creole: You are ready? Everything's cool?
French: You are ready? Everything's cool?
Lone Man: Yes!
Creole: Good.
French: Good.
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
The Finnish film Guitar refers to is La vie de bohème by director Aki Kaurismäki, a friend of Jim Jarmusch. See more »Goofs
When the Lone Man travels from Madrid to Sevilla, he enters a S 100 AVE train set. But the interior shots are clearly done in a S 103 (Velaro E), a totally different - and much newer - type of train. See more »Quotes
[first lines]Creole: [character speaks in Spanish/French creole, English subtitles] You don't speak Spanish, right?
French: [character translates for Creole] You don't speak Spanish, right?
Creole: You are ready? Everything's cool?
French: You are ready? Everything's cool?
Lone Man: Yes!
Creole: Good.
French: Good.
See more »
"The Limits of Control" is a post-modernist exercise. It doesn't tell a story. (There are apparently no stories worth telling on a planet defined by a singer as dirt.) Rather, the movie borrows the plot lines and dialogue of film noir, the preoccupations of French art criticism, and other semi-art cinema fare, and recombines them in a heavily ironic and lushly sensual setting, (1) to draw attention to itself and (2) to comment on dreams, art, and the making of art.
Does it take itself seriously? Not really. Is it fun to watch? Of course. Who wouldn't enjoy watching a reclining nude woman with a revolver try to get her man (who responds "never while I'm working")? A laconic buff control freak in service to wise guys methodically inspect, and then eat, the coded messages that arrive at his patio table in matchboxes? A series of go-betweens solemnly ask the central character, in various languages, "Do you speak Spanish?" before launching into their wild-eyed explications in English?
The only part of the movie I found disappointing was the ending, a paean to flights of imagination wrapped in a faux action film climax. Bill Murray is simply unconvincing as a bellicose bad guy and the resolution is all too neat. But until then the dreams are great, the cinematography is first-rate, and the acting is top-drawer.