Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2009

©2008 PointBlank Films Inc. All Rights Reserved

This ultra-minimalist effort is a bit of a disappointment from indie director Jim Jarmusch (Down By Law, Ghost Dog, Broken Flowers). A pokerfaced man, most likely a criminal (Isaach De Bankole), wanders through sunny Spain, ordering in cafes two espressos in two separate cups. He is contacted in each of half a dozen such places by a person (Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal, Youki Kudoh, Paz de la Huerta, John Hurt) representing something antithetical to Big Business: art, music, movies, literature, sex, science, etc. Each passes him a matchbox containing some coded information, which he eats. This process is slow and repetitive, but also somewhat hypnotic and compulsive. Where is it all going? The most excellent cinematographer Christopher Doyle turns this into art, making wonderful use of occasional splashes of color amid the stark, sun-drenched Spanish countryside. So you’re willing to go along with it for a while. It’s obtuse, but it’s Jim Jarmusch. After indulging the director for two hours, however, the wind-up is, to be kind, anticlimactic, and the “message” is naive and banal: art is good, corporations are bad. Well, duh. I felt cheated.

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