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Limits of Control, The
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 19 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Jim Jarmusch
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 1, 2009
DVD: November 17, 2009
Running Time: 115 minutes, Color
Origin: Spain
Language(s): English | Spanish
Summary
RATING: R for graphic nudity and some language
Starring Isaach De Bankolé, Gael Garcia Bernal, Paz de la Huerta, Alex Descas, John Hurt, Youki Kudoh, Bill Murray, and Tilda Swinton
The Limits of Control is the story of a mysterious loner, a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. His journey, paradoxically both intently focused and dreamlike, takes him not only across Spain but also through his own consciousness. (Focus Features)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
A little like guided meditation with suggestions floated, waiting, left untethered. It's up to you to distill meaning -- which will leave some convinced the director is merely self-indulgent, and others deeply satisfied.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Like everything Jarmusch, The Limits of Control is calibrated for cool.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Almost absurdly quiet and observant, The Limits of Control is about the space between the action, the steps along the way.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
A nondramatic work best appreciated as a pure image-and-sound event.
Read Full Review >Empire Andrew Male
Cool, handsome, self-assured... but, as the existentialists might say, what’s the bloody point?
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Too much of The Limits Of Control feels canned and airless, so stifled by Jarmusch's obsessions that it loses all sense of surprise.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
While The Limits of Control offers some picturesque photography and grist for thought, it is ultimately too much like The Emperor's New Clothes to warrant anything approaching enthusiasm. The message is banal and the means by which it is presented reeks of artifice and pretention.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Unfortunately, the whole seldom adds up to the sum of its illustrious parts, and Jarmusch's trademark deadpan quirks seem to have gotten lost in the translation.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
As it is, the movie's lethal climax, with its vague protest against corporate control--and hence in favor of art, music, drugs, or whatever--feels like a poor theft from a more conventional film.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Even the great ones hit snags. With The Limits of Control, Jim Jarmsuch gets tangled up in his own deadpan.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Only a few events happen in this minimalist film, and most of them keep getting repeated through most of its running time.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's exactly the film Jarmusch wanted to make, but it's also smug, excruciating, borderline pointless. You could call it a deliberate effort to invert the conventions of the thriller; you could also call it, more rightly, a self-deluded disaster.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The Limits of Control, even with its flow of star cameos (Tilda Swinton, Gael García Bernal, a frenetic Bill Murray), is a listless long pause that rarely refreshes.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
It might be that Jarmusch (Broken Flowers) is experimenting with creating a pastiche of dreamlike sequences that audiences can interpret as they wish. Or it may be merely pretension and hubris that fuels such a stylized and insubstantial story.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
This is one of those movies that's too cool to have a plot.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Jarmusch makes some effort to deliver on the promise of suspense near the end, with de Bankole stalking despicable businessman Bill Murray at his fortresslike compound in the hills.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The result is that rare movie specimen, a completely intentional, expertly guided work of art that fails almost completely.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
This beautifully shot and painstakingly constructed film is a self-indulgent bucket of hogwash.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Jarmusch is making some kind of a point. I think the point is that if you strip a story down to its bare essentials, you will have very little left. I wonder how he pitched this idea to his investors.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Jim Jarmusch's Dada meander, shot by Christopher Doyle, is empty and excruciating -- that's really all you need to know.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Michael B gave it a0:
Yes, how did he get the backers for this empty nonsense, he obviously didn't show them the rushes.
James J. gave it a10:
I do not agree with the negativity of the critics. Hardly ever does a movie delve so deeply into the depth of the cinematic universe. This film distills the art and history of cinema into a picturesque haiku. Bravo, JJ!
D H gave it a9:
This is a pretty fantastic movie -- while I wouldn't expect popular audiences to embrace this film, I'm kind of stunned it's getting such negative attention from critics.
John J S gave it a10:
A brilliant film. An extremely rare movie that makes the ordinary seem extraordinary. Don't go if you prefer to leave your brain at the box-office.
Ted L gave it a9:
Jim Jarmusch comes through again with his trademark Zen pacing, philosophical musings and sharp visual sense. He's a thinking man's filmmaker, in the grand tradition of Godard and Antonioni. It's not for everyone, but the rewards can be bountiful for those interested in more than a mindless date movie. '
