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The Limits of Control

The Limits of Control

Movie · 2009 · 15 people

Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed an open-ended, poetic crime story that crosses drama, crime and mystery: the American film The Limits of Control, made in 2009. Focus Features distributed it, and it screened out of competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. As Jarmusch's tenth feature it is still and minimal in tone, slow in pace and sparse in dialogue, shaped in large part by the crew's improvisation.

The story follows a mysterious solitary man, played by Isaach de Bankolé, who dresses immaculately. A stranger travelling through Spain to complete a job, he trusts no one, and his purpose stays unclear for a long time. Most characters go unnamed: Tilda Swinton is the "Blonde", John Hurt "Guitar" and Gael García Bernal "Mexican". Hiyam Abbas, Bill Murray, Alex Descas, Luis Tosar, Óscar Jaenada, Paz de la Huerta and Youki Kudoh are also in the cast. The journey takes the man not only across Spain but into his own consciousness.

Filming began in February 2008 in Madrid, Seville and Almería. Christopher Doyle was the cinematographer, the Japanese band Boris composed the music and Stacey Smith produced. Reviews were mixed: the slow pace and inaccessible dialogue drew criticism, while the beautiful photography and ambitious scope earned praise.

DirectorJim Jarmusch

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Cast

Only cast members with a profile on this site are listed.

Tilda Swinton Tilda Swinton Actor · 65 years old Hiyam Abbas Hiyam Abbas Film actor · 65 years old Isaac de Bankolé Alex Descas Jean-François Stévenin Óscar Jaenada Luis Tosar Paz de la Huerta Youki Kudō John Hurt Gael García Bernal Bill Murray Héctor Colomé María Isasi Miguel Alcíbar

More from this director

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Jarmusch's tenth feature takes the skeleton of the crime genre and deliberately hollows it out: there is a job and a stranger who trusts no one, but no plot in the classic sense. Because the journey runs through the man's own consciousness as well as through Spain, the film sits closer to an inner monologue than to a thriller. Christopher Doyle's photography is strong enough to carry the minimalism, and Madrid, Seville and Almería become almost characters. Still, a structure shaped largely by improvisation doesn't always pay off; in my view the deliberately opaque dialogue eventually slides from depth into affectation. For Jarmusch fans it's a meditation, for everyone else a test of patience.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

On paper there's crime, mystery and a lone man on a job, so you expect tension, but the film deliberately refuses to deliver it. The pace is very slow, the dialogue sparse and cryptic, and this is no film that promises shootouts or chases. A hero whose purpose stays unclear for so long asks too much patience of anyone after thrills. The images are beautiful, granted, but if you want a genre film, look elsewhere.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film centres on a stranger who crosses a whole country yet belongs nowhere, and in that sense it can be read as a parable about rootlessness and distrust in the modern world. A hero who trusts no one, and characters known not by names but by labels such as 'Blonde' and 'Guitar', suggest an order in which relationships stop being personal and shrink to functions. Yet the film never spells out a social reading; nearly all the meaning is left to the viewer, which may leave those wanting a concrete statement empty-handed. Still, it offers fertile ground for anyone who wants to think about loneliness and alienation.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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