Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Glacial
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Labyrinthine
- Violence
- Mild
- deadpan
- surreal
- meditative
- late night arthouse viewing
- quiet solitary viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly admired the film’s haunted atmosphere, Christopher Doyle’s cinematography, and intellectual ambition while finding its repetitive, opaque narrative and pacing frustrating.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Lone Man follows strict rules, practices tai chi, orders espresso in two cups, and quietly reads and eats cryptic messages.
Matchboxes, tiny papers, a violin, diamonds, a guitar, and a map circulate through terse meetings without explanatory connective tissue.
Mirrors, distorted compositions, cryptic conversations, and Christopher Doyle’s heightened photography blur physical events with psychological or artistic perception.
The courier’s mission unfolds through warnings, aphorisms, and meditations on art, existence, and control rather than ordinary investigative plotting.
Films like The Limits of Control, and why
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
deadpan crime storytelling, philosophical dialogue, and stylized outsider cool
Dead Man
elliptical narrative, existential drift, and starkly composed journey through unfamiliar spaces
Le Samouraï
enigmatic solitary protagonist, cryptic encounters, and minimalist neo-noir atmosphere
The Passenger
art-house mystery structure, repetition, and ambiguity between material reality and consciousness
Movie Details
- Director
- Jim Jarmusch
- Release Date
- 2009-05-01
- Runtime
- 116 min
- Rating
- 6.0 / 10 (326)
Cast
- Isaach de Bankolé
- Alex Descas
- Jean-François Stévenin
- Óscar Jaenada
- Luis Tosar
- Paz de la Huerta
- Tilda Swinton
- Youki Kudoh
- John Hurt
- Gael García Bernal
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Limits of Control about?
- A taciturn courier crosses Spain through ritualized exchanges and cryptic objects in Jim Jarmusch’s hypnotic, existential crime enigma.
- What is The Limits of Control like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Limits of Control as glacial, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as labyrinthine.
- Is The Limits of Control violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Limits of Control as mild.
- What did critics think of The Limits of Control?
- Critics broadly admired the film’s haunted atmosphere, Christopher Doyle’s cinematography, and intellectual ambition while finding its repetitive, opaque narrative and pacing frustrating.
- Which films are like The Limits of Control?
- Films with a similar feel include Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Dead Man, Le Samouraï, and The Passenger.
- How long is The Limits of Control?
- The Limits of Control runs 116 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Limits of Control?
- In United States, The Limits of Control is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
