The past is gone, the future's not here and I can'’t control it, so I guess it's just this -- the present.

Don Johnston in Broken Flowers, a film by Jim Jarmusch

Past is not really gone for Don Johnston. He is sent to a journey of rediscovering his past and with a goal finding clues about who is the mother of his supposed son, a news announced in an anonymous letter after twenty years. The journey consists of five visits: a closet decorator, an agent of real estate, an animal communicator, a motorist and a tombstone (of someone who died in a car accident five years ago.) To each of them, Don presents a bouquet of pink flowers; each of them then reacts with different attitudes: grateful, puzzled, discreet, furious and silent. It seems like only by looking into the past, Don can find his future, if indeed any. Hence the trinity of time, the past, the present and the future, are mingled in a paradoxical way.

• Courtesy of Internet Movie Poster Awards for the poster.
• More information on the official site.
• Review on New York Times: A Bittersweet Trip to the Land of Lost Love.
• This is the third film in my list of 2005 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.