Review of The Limits of Control (2009) by Jeremy S — 08 Aug 2015
The Limits of Control is a beautifully constructed film. It has a symphonic structure in which most of the dialogue occurring in the film is set out in a comically absurdest overture. As the stunning visual images progress, the themes laid out in the beginning are explored with variations, always with the recurring tag-line "You don't speak Spanish, right?" Music, film, science, language (the term bohemian), and hallucination are the motifs of this theme-and variation.
A through-line is provided by the Nude Girl, who begins as strongly visual, fading through resonant images, but growing in the Lone Man's mind, and by paintings in the National Library. The motifs are recapitulated by Bill Murry before he is strangled; the final image is the Lone Man sitting in front of a sheet-covered painting, evoking the sheet-covered body of the dead Nude Girl.
All images and themes criss-cross, and tie up at the end. Beautiful.
This review of The Limits of Control (2009) was written by Jeremy S on 08 August 2015.
The Limits of Control has generally received mixed reviews.
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