Customer Reviews

Coffee & Cigarettes [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

Coffee and Cigarettes was initiated in 1986 when Jim Jarmusch shot the first skit in black and white with Roberto Benigni as Bob and Steven Wright as Steven. The second scene was shot in 1989 with the twins, Cinqué Lee and Joie Lee, and the waiter Steve Buscemi where they discuss Elvis and the oppression of African-American musicians. The third piece was filmed in 1993 with Tom Waits and Iggy Pop meeting in a Californian bar where the two get together. This suggests that Jarmusch has been working on this idea for some years and there is much more to it than what meets the eye. The culmination of Coffee and Cigarettes came when all the 11 skits were put together in a film in 2003 for the audience to experience and ponder.

Self medicated existential philosophy, awkward dialogues with moments of silence, human connection, and health conscience characters drive the story of Coffee and Cigarettes where Jim Jarmusch displays 11 disjointed vignettes all set in different milieus. What ties the 11 incoherent skits together are the coffee and the cigarettes as they function as a brief opportunity for human connection away from time and responsibilities. The characters continue to inhale the nicotine and consume the caffeine during their meetings in order to stay alert and rid any slight hint of social anxiety. Yet, all the characters remain uncomfortable with one another as silence and meaningless conversation seems to fill their time cramped lives. This creates a socially symbolic oxymoron where the coffee and cigarettes are suppose to function as the key to human connection, but instead these two social drugs for self-treatment of anxiety and sleepiness become an impenetrable unfriendly wall.

There are several highlights in Coffee and Cigarettes as the film has a brilliant cast that occasionally seems to improvise. In addition, the characters in the film often play themselves in an invented situation, which enhances the authentic atmosphere around the characters as they sit down around a small table for coffee and cigarettes. Cate Blanchett's dual performance is dazzling as she presents a rich, famous and successful performer and her envious poor cousin. The connection between Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan brings the viewer gleeful vengeance as the two are apparently distant relatives. All the skits offer humor, insight, and some irony as they continue to inhale their nicotine and drink their caffeine leading to a terrific cinematic experience.

let me say, that i loved this movie. i loved it as a whole. i did not "love" every part of it. I think the part with Tom Waits & Iggy Pop is brilliantly awkward. I think Cate Blanchett can do no wrong. I enjoyed seeing someone else who feels that Nikola Tesla was awesomely bizarre (thanks Jack). I mean, don't get me wrong, some vignettes dragged, but others more than made up for it. When a scene was dragging on me, i just drifted off and enjoyed the cinematography. This movie is very much a "different" experience. With the kinda free-flow dialouge that makes movies by Robert Altman and Richard Linklater so endearing. And a shoulder shrugging hipness that makes Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson some of my personal favorites. This movie reminds me that Jim Jarmusch is a curious observer, just like me, and that he isn't just an aloof director, but that he experiences the pieces much like we do. He's our friend or guide, like in a Walt Whitman poem. But then again, i suppose this movie isn't for everyone. There is no plot to follow, and its not a particularly "flashy" film. It's not even terrible experimental in terms of concept. But i am glad that this is the case, cos oft times that type of stuff borders on pretention when in the wrong hands. The only really "challenge" this film poses, is the challenge of the way you choose to participate in it. I would enjoy seeing more of this kind of filmmaking cos i think it is a welcome change of pace from the "falsh/bang" of hollywood. Or maybe i just really like coffee....

YES!! what a beautiful, wonderful, funny movie!! definatly for jarmusch fans..if you need alot of stupid hollywood action and romance, dont see this movie. anyways...roberto beningi gave the most hilarious performance i have ever seen(yes i think even funnier than dbl)...and of course TOM (not freakin steve EA Solinas) waits and iggy pop were hilarious...and it was awesome how the same conversation came up later in rza and gza's conversation!! only jim jarmusch can take 18 years of film and make it fit together so beautifully!! yes! this film is alot like other jarmusch films, like night on earth and mystery train..made up of short clips...the one strange thing i noticed about coffee and cigarettes is that it was all in english...but this was just as mind blowing as jarmuschs other films...if you like jarmusch see this..i CANT WAIT FOR THE DVD TO COME OUT !!

I think some people who have negatively reviewed this movie are doing so because they didn't find out more about the movie before renting it, and therefore had their hopes up it would be an actual Film by Jim Jarmusch, whereas it is actually a series of short conversations caught ON film. True, some of them are quiet boring and need not exist. I love Cate Blanchett but watching her talk to herself (cousin) for fifteen minutes got on my nerves. On the other hand, watching the akwardness between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, watching the brother and sister argument between Jack and Meg White (don't know if they're really siblings or not still, but they played brother and sister), and watching a naive Steve Buscemi with a southern accent try to talk to a pair of twins about Elvis Presley were all rewarding. Its not real drama or comedy in this movie, its a bunch of quirky little bits and pieces that have little to do with one another, except for the talk over and about Coffee and Ciggarettes. I'd say to fans of Jim Jarmusch or any of the actors in the film, watch it all the way through once, then you can pick out the pieces you really didn't like and never see them again. But don't think that just because it doens't have a linear plot or connecting stories and characters that it isn't worth your time. The truth is, I'm happy I didn't pay full price to see this in a theatre, but it makes for a perfect DVD.

The two funniest sketches are probably the end sketch with RZA and GZA drinking tee with Bill Murray playing their waiter, and the scene between Alfred Molina (whose just looking for someone to love him!) and Steve Coogan. I'd definately rent it before buying it, unless you've just GOT to have the complete Jim Jarmusch collection.

Coffee and Cigarettes is an episodic film comprised of eleven episodes where different characters chat over the ubiquitous coffee and cigarettes that provide the title and some dark, brooding, cool cinematography. Some scenes are superb- Steve Coogan meeting Albert Molino for instance. Some scenes, featuring big names- Bill Murray, Wu Tan Clan for example fail to be as good as the delicious potential provided.

Overall, some gems mixed in with some less successful dialogue. Worth seeing, and it is the type of film where DVD scene selector really comes into its own.

A collection of vignettes that take place in various setting but all include coffee and cigarettes. This film is all black and white. Some of the short scenes are funny, some sad, some just 'eh, what was that about?', and some that made you think. There are even two totally different scenes that have basically the same dialogue but have a different feel to them because of the actors. This is definitely not a film for everyone but it's worth a try -- the time flew by as I watched and while it was uneven it wasn't wasted time.

I feel the need to correct a statement made by one of the reviewers here. He said "this movie is only for people who really like the IDEA that they're watching a "cool" and "artsy" movie, but who don't actually have any interest in new ideas or even in being provoked into thought." I believe the opposite is true...

This movie is for people who DO HAVE an interest in new ideas and care to be provoked into thought and NOT for those who only like the IDEA that they're watching a "cool, artsy" movie.

I have to say that my first viewing left me confused and disappointed. I guess it all comes down to one's expectations of the film...actually of any film. We expect a plot, confrontation, resolution. We are used to being entertained by high budget films that take us for a ride, spell out everything, leaving nothing to subtlety. This film is all so subtle. It is a quiet film. Its entertainment value lies with those who have an interest in human nature. Upon a second viewing, instead of my waiting for something to happen, I was able to focus on the faces, the body language, the dynamics going on between the actors. I could relate!
I would like also to mention my nostaglia for the title & theme of this film "Coffee & Cigarettes". How I miss the days when I could get a cup of caffeine and light up the nicotine to go along with it while sitting in a public place. I don't know how it is in your part of the country but here if I even light up at someone's barbeque they tell me to walk outside the yard notwithstanding the infinite sky overhead. People have gone crazy over the fear of cigarettes! Coffee shops, as they once were, are nonexistent. They would stone me if I lit up at Starbucks. Oh! the nostalgia of it all.

As scanning the customer reviews here shows, this film is not for everyone. Both less and more than a series of theatrical blackouts, its mostly improvisational sketches reveal how a series of actors / personalities (playing themselves) can turn the glimmer of an idea into something with flashes of insight into the human condition.

Yes, the conversations over coffee and cigarettes are sometimes boring and repetitive, but in the way that smoking and drinking coffee are ways to fill time, I was often reminded of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." This came across most strongly in the last piece between two old men (played by William Rice and Taylor Mead) who seem to be janitors on break in some netherworld where if you listen hard enough you can hear Mahler.

And yes, some of the sketches fall flat, but just when you are about to reach for the remote, you find yourself watching a situation that comes wonderfully to life (Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan are brilliant as two Brits in LA). And as the editorial review at the top of the page indicates, there are several other sketches that are worth waiting for. Finally, when the film was over, I couldn't believe there were no more of them to watch. The 95 minutes had flown by.

Definitely for Jim Jarmusch fans, the DVD includes an entertaining interview with Taylor Mead.

Certaintly this film's not for everyone. But those trashing it make the terrible assumption that Everyone Else Is Just Like Them.

If these vignettes have a theme, it's awkward tension. Some great comedy is born out of awkward tension, but some people prefer John Candy or The Three Stooges. It's like Tom Waits said to Iggy Pop, "If you don't like it here [hip, seedy coffee shop], I guess we could go to Taco Bell."

In response to one particular reviewer: Sure, some artistic "poseurs" might shallowly hype this film -- but that doesn't mean those of us who actually know our stuff don't appreciate it more seriously. Renee French's virtually-solo, nearly-silent role struck an obvious parallel with Warhol's approach to filming his Superstars: "You're so great, you don't have to act." WOW, does that apply to Ms. French! But just 'cause YOU don't dig the Warhol approach doesn't mean NOBODY does.

The good reviews all have one thing right: The Molina/Coogan scene will own your day, and Pop/Waits run a close second. I do think Blanchett's dual role, while impressive, is being overrated here ('cause she's Cate Blanchett, natch.) The Lee twins deserve praise for not being dwarfed by Buscemi's hilarious performance. And yes, the Descas/De Bankole scene was excruciating. In a bad way.

The angry reviewers don't appreciate the lack of narrative, the supremacy of tension over "flow", the passive-aggressiveness of most of the characters. But many of us do, with laughter and sadness and other, more intangible feelings.

Everyone Else Isn't Just Like You, after all.

at least those who went on and on about how boring the film is. First off, the title pretty much tells you what you're likely in for, particularly if you know Jim J's style. But more pointedly, the fact that the film is ultimately about the mundane in various guises is exactly what it was supposed to be ... a film about the bizarre but basically unimportant little things that go on every day in every city in the world. We get a voyeur's look at some of those mundane but still attention-getting stories and maybe compare them with their own. Coffee and cigarettes was simply a vehicle to tie it together. Being a series of vignettes, NATURALLY people will like some better than others. I think some were purposely uneven, others were purposely a bit more animated. But to condemn the entire film because you wanted, perhaps, more action isn't fair. Not every film has to have constant movement. This isn't a film to provoke deep thought or endless debate; it's just a film to watch and enjoy, then maybe talk about a little over... oh, I dunno; coffee and cigarettes....
PS: Just a correction to something another viewer said below... It's Spike Jonz, not Spike Lee.