Failing to better such past achievements as Dead Man and Down by Law, The Limits of Control is a pretentious work of abstraction and shameless self-indulgence that does a disservice to Jim Jarmusch’s reputation as a director capable of effortless originality.
An indecipherable plot sparse and cryptic enough to confuse David Lynch follows a nameless individual (credited as the Lone Man) on an ambiguous mission across Spain, encountering a number of mysterious cohorts to whom he speaks in code and exchanges matchboxes with before parting ways. Putting a peculiar, monotonous spin on the hit-man genre The Limits of Control is as limiting in its approach as its appeal, and offers few rewards for the patience it demands.
