Community Archived Reviews Coffee and Cigarettes
KDHX Film Review - Coffee and Cigarettes
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Reviewed by Diane Carson
What a great idea. Writer/director Jim Jarmusch, one of the most imaginative in his style and content, shoots a series of 11 vignettes over 17 years with a diverse group of cavalcade of wonderfully talented music and film performers. Jarmusch then combines them in a film called Coffee and Cigarettes, shot in beautiful black and white film, all the better to enhance the billowing clouds of smoke and old-time, conversational feel. Jarmusch has a devoted following for his works, including Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train, Dead Man, and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. Never repeating himself, Jarmusch has found another way to present his droll and intelligent humor: have two or, at most, three individuals converse over coffee and cigarettes playing characters close to the real peoples. Each scene is set in a different location. In a few exchanges, it is amazing the compelling obsessions and eccentricities good actors can reveal with a few well-chosen words and great reaction shots.
Among the 11 vignettes, only one, or perhaps two, falter, feel a bit forced. Several are downright astonishing, and, of course, everyone will pick a favorite or two. Among the best for me were the following. Cate Blanchett plays both roles in her section—a movie star taking a break from a publicity junket to see her trashy, jealous cousin Shelly, who can’t help showing her resentment. In another, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits meet in a bar with a jukebox that doesn’t have Waits’ songs, and Iggy can’t wait to slip this into the conversation. Alfred Molina meets with Steve Coogan, with Alfred eager to reveal the results of genealogy research, with a weird twist. Waiter E.J. Rodriguez can’t leave Renée French along, and Jack White can’t wait to show off his Tesla Coil to Meg White. The music changes for each vignette and, always as a subtle backdrop, interprets the mood hauntingly well. This is characteristic of Jarmusch, known for his superb musical sensitivity, even avant-garde tastes. The technical style also holds the disparate slices of life together, with a motif of an overhead shot at least once in each scene. Coffee and Cigarettes is amusing and playful, illuminating and ironic. Jarmusch continues to delight and surprise. At the Hi-Pointe.
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