One World Cinema

"Limits of Control" reminded me slightly of "Coffee and Cigarettes", only with two espressos (separate cups), matchbooks, and wooden string instruments, set in Spain. The film opens with the quote, "as I descend down impassable rivers, I no longer feel guided by the ferryman", and very little dialogue thereafter. "Usted habla espanol?", and "whenever someone thinks he is bigger than the rest of us, he must go to the cemetary", are repeatedly stated throughout the journey of a mild mannered mysterious man in a well tailored gray suit. 

At the After Party held at "Shang" located at 187 Orchard Street, I sat down with the Director who had the following to say: 

Q: "The reactions I've read on the film have been on either extreme, why do you think this film is considered "controversial", for lack of a better word. 

JJ: "Is it? I don't know, we were just trying to make a film that was dreamlike, and a lot of people will want, some may expect plot oriented things, by conditioning, and that's okay, but that wasn't the kind of film we were trying to make. It seems to draw a kind of line, but I only read the bad reviews, 'cause I love the bad reviews. Honestly, I've done that for years. 

I read a  great one by Rex Reed today.  The last sentence was, "It's pure unmitigated crap, the worst film I've seen "Synecdoche, New York".  So, that made me very happy. Wow, you are putting me in the same garbage can with Charlie Kaufman, I'm honored." 

Then there was a very bad one in "Variety" that lifted my spirits on Friday.  They are there to analyze it's commercial potential, but I liked it, it really lifted me up, because if I had gotten a review in "Variety" that sort of understood the movie, I would find that very disconcerting. Because they are analyzing it from the opposite side of the view of perception of reality.  How does it relate to the business, how is it as a product?"

Q: What or who was your inspiration for "The Limits of Control"?

JJ: "Oh man, many, many inspirations, but I started with wanting to make a film with Isaach De Bankole, where he was a very quiet, sort of criminal type character, very kind of focused, fastidious."

Q: How did you decide on the music?

A: "Boris" is a band I love, I think I first heard them in 1999, a Japanese band. When I was writing the script to the story that the film was based on, I was listening to a lot of their stuff, and wanted to have it as the score in the film, along with "Sun" and "Earth" and other bands that I school.  Then, yeah, my band made music for places  where we couldn't quite find existing stuff from the bands that I love, that worked, so we decided to try to make some of our own and it winded up working for us, so we wound up making the music when he is in the museum, and when he first arrives in Sevilla."

Q: What's next?

A: "If I knew, I wouldn't tell you.  I never talk about it, my things come in very fragile forms, and even when I'm making a film, I don't want to talk about it until it's done."