Broken (2007)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

As soon as the main characters are introduced, their names give away a big hint about how this movie is constructed. This movie is about a woman called HOPE and her lover WILL. And about heroin addiction. 'Broken' is more or less a metaphorical reconstruction about the shattered hopes of a young woman, and her struggle with failure. Leaving home with the dreams of being a sing-a-song writer in LA, but soon finding out that this leads to basically nothing, she starts a path of self destruction.We see her working as a waitress, in a small restaurant where she meets all kinds of people. In between those scenes we see how she meets this charming guy Will, and how her romance with Will develops into a lot of misery. Will is obsessed by her, but he is the personification of emptiness. He needs her and after she breaks up with him, he desperately tries to get a grip on her again.At first this movie seems one-layered. It's a bit confusing in the beginning, as you soon find out that the parts of her relationship are not in the same time frame as what happens in the restaurant. Is she having flashbacks? Did she recover from her addiction to drugs? Towards the end of the movie it is slowly been made more clear that basically the people she meets in the restaurant are either a part of her, or show bits of her past. This gives the movie much more depth and it's an interesting concept. In my opinion it could have been worked out a bit better, but still it is pretty well done. I don't know if my interpretation is right, but how I see it is that Hope is actually the part of her that still has HOPE to escape from her misery. She desperately tries to get a grip on her life, and struggles with the need to fulfill her need for creativity and being valued for her talents, or the acceptance of being nothing more than a waitress. Will symbolizes her addiction, and basically the things that she WILL do in reality. The addiction also WILL get back to her to do everything in his power to seduce her again. I will not spoil more. It's an interesting metaphorical movie. If you are not into that, watch something else as you might find it quite boring. But if you do like double layered movies and you can stand a pretty slow pace, it's really worth to watch it. It could have been more, and I actually think this movie would do better as a stage play, but it sure could have been less.

Obviously some viewers have a personal vendetta about this film. It wont be for everyone but it definitely can be appreciated. Its better than 90% of the garbage we watch today. For those that said this movie has no point, or its boring and has no topic would be wrong. You should try just watching a film with an open mind rather than hating on it from the opening credits. This movie is what you make it and its not supposed to be black & white answers. If you had a brain you would understand this film very easily. Most of the characters are just simply symbols for something greater. Whether they exist or not is irrelevant because after all this is why we sit down in front of the TV in the first place, to watch something that isn't real! I think some people tend to forget that.

On Nov. 11, 2008, Lou Silberling pointed out here, "Doesn't anyone get it? Will IS the heroin addiction . . . " To elaborate, Lou goes on "Will (Jeremy Sisto) is the embodied spirit of Hope (Heather Graham's) heroin addiction." Too bad the cast and crew of BROKEN did not realize this while they were making the movie. Let's review BROKEN in light of Lou's insight. Hope first meets "Will" while lying on the ocean beach. (Well, sure it's possible someone on a fishing boat was about to shoot up, and a wave caused them to drop their needle in the sea, where it washed up at Hope's feet, causing her to inject herself to find out what was in this mystery hypodermic . . .) "Will" tells Hope her crappy singing is wonderful (that's the drug talking--sounds plausible enough). "Will" goes into a desert bar a 48-minute drive away from Hope's diner (BROKEN's editor does a series of three paired clock shots to PROVE that "Will" is in one place while Hope is in another, as the time is exactly the same each time the clocks are compared) and robs the bartender of his prized El Camino--in which Hope NEVER appears--at gunpoint. Lou, how does your metaphor theory of "Will" explain this grand theft auto? Oh, wait, it doesn't, because they forgot to call you in as a script doctor, not realizing that their metaphor could not hold up to any serious scrutiny. Pirandelloism (the modern mass media-driven conflict between illusion and reality) has been around for nearly a century, but rarely has it failed so miserably as in BROKEN--if that was the film-makers' actual intent. So Lou, be sure to straighten them out in time for the 10th anniversary deluxe re-release; otherwise, you won't collect any residuals, dude!

I watched BROKEN last night after a long hard day at work. I figured I wouldn't have the energy to understand it, or I would be in an entirely wrong mood to enjoy it.I'm a huge fan of Jeremy Sisto and a longtime admirer of Heather Graham. Ever since I first heard about BROKEN, I've wanted to see it. There was just something about it. There IS just something about it. I knew instinctively that I would either love it or hate it, not depending on the story, but how the story was carried out, executed, you know what I mean. If a story of this nature is carried out by a bad team of filmmakers, it could easily end up a gratuitous, offensive piece of garbage or a watered down, soapy melodrama.I LOVED it. BROKEN is a story with a very clear message. Unfortunately, I see many critics and filmgoers have failed to get that message. There is no moralistic preaching. The filmmakers and writers were far more creative than that. Sappy TV movies of past and present like to mollycoddle viewers and talk down to us like we're children, wanting us to care about issues like drug addiction, yet giving us vapid, stereotyped characters who are dealing with addiction, all while censoring the awful effects of what "wrong" and "sin" can do to human beings. BROKEN tones nothing down. If you are disturbed by the kind of raw grit found in films like TRAINSPOTTING and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, you might consider avoiding BROKEN.If you are familiar with their work, you know that Graham and Sisto are actors who have shied away from nothing in their careers. Both of them get far less respect and recognition for their courage, not to mention their CHOICES, than they deserve. Obviously, they are continuing to choose projects that they believe in, no matter how "small", giving 110% of their individual gifts to it, and hoping that at least a few filmgoers will have the perception to absorb the message being conveyed.Though, as stated before, there is no preaching in BROKEN, the message being sent is clear, ageless, powerful, quite biblical in scope, comparable as well to the fables of Aesop and the ancient myths of Greece. Their names are HOPE and WILL, but they are also known at first as INNOCENCE and INSPIRATION. INNOCENCE comes to the big city to follow her lifelong dream of being a musician, HOPE-ing that her talent WILL be recognized. She crosses paths with a man who becomes her INSPIRATION, and the two fall deeply and sincerely in love.INNOCENCE and INSPIRATION all too soon give way to DISCONTENT and SEDUCTION, as Hope finds that the path to stardom is a lot steeper than she imagined. Her beauty and talent are getting her nowhere in a city where beauty and talent seem to be a dime a dozen. At this time, Will offers Hope the only solution he knows to combat sadness and DISCONTENT: He SEDUCES her with the escape of heroin.For a while, Hope is eager to indulge, prefering to drift off into a zone where she doesn't have to feel the effects of the rejection of her dream. It's obvious she doesn't see that Will is someone who will not help her, but rather harm her, because he has no dreams of his own, no desire for success or a productive life or anything other than to live in a drugged stupor. To see Will wanting nothing but this is a profoundly sad thing. It made me want to know more about his past, what made him feel like his life was so meaningless? What made him hate himself so much that he could care less if the next shot might kill him? But this is Hope's story. At first I didn't like the idea that the story was focused solely on Hope while Will was one of many side characters. But if you pay attention to the story and its purpose, you will understand. Will, along with the many characters in the diner who interact with Hope, are representations of her long struggle, her INNOCENCE, her INSPIRATION, her DISCONTENT and her SEDUCTION from light into darkness. Her stillborn dream, her ignored talent and beauty in a city wrought with ruthless competition for fame and fortune; her WILL-ful decision to either make her dream come true or waste her life being strung out on drugs and prostituting herself, reducing her life worth, degrading her value, for the next temporary high; and finally her abrupt realization that her life does have meaning, and her life can touch the lives of others, if she doesn't squander it, no matter who she ends up being, no matter whether she is famous or anonymous, her renewed sense of strengh, purpose, and of course HOPE.Graham and Sisto both give beautifully emotional performances, and are joined by a wonderful ensemble which includes Jake Busey, Linda Hamilton, Valerie Azlynn, Michael Goorjian, Mark Shepard, Tess Harper, Bianca Lawson, Joe Hursley, Randall Batinkoff and the amazingly pretty Jessica Stroup who stands out as a heartbreakingly young girl who is enjoying her first ecstasy high, but perceptive enough to realize that she is being preyed upon in much the same way Hope has been.The music by the Brian Jonestown Massacre is fitting to the film's dark tone and the "Hanging Tree" song, performed in the film by Graham, is haunting and gorgeous.I recommend this film highly to anyone who has the sense to watch it with eyes wide open. I feel very satisfied, yet there are elements I do not yet understand fully. So I will be "chewing" on this great film for a time to come.I'll give it an A+.