Coffee and Cigarettes
For those people familiar with director Jim Jarmusch and his work, COFFEE AND CIGARETTES will be a welcome addition to the DVD market. It comprises of a series of 11 short sketches that all take place over coffee and cigarettes in a variety of different locations. Although slightly different, anyone who has seen Jarmusch in Wayne Wang’s excellent film BLUE IN THE FACE sho
For those people familiar with director Jim Jarmusch and his work, COFFEE AND CIGARETTES will be a welcome addition to the DVD market. It comprises of a series of 11 short sketches that all take place over coffee and cigarettes in a variety of different locations. Although slightly different, anyone who has seen Jarmusch in Wayne Wang’s excellent film BLUE IN THE FACE should know what to expect with this film, as the same idea is being acted out, only in that case it was Jarmusch himself and Harvey Keitel discussing coffee and cigarettes.
The first sketch starts with Roberto Benigni and Steve Wright both pondering the virtues of smoking and coffee drinking, even though they both have the coffee addict trade mark shakes. One suggests to the other that maybe someone should invent a coffee popsicle, so that they can get kids addicted at an early stage. Then totally irrationally one decides to go to the others dentist appointment and takes his place. Then it ends.
Sketch 2 involves Spike Lee’s brother and sister, Cinque and Joie, as twins debating the positive attributes between ready rolled smokes and hand rolled smokes. Then Steve Buscemi, the waiter, arrives and starts winding the twins up, recounting a story about Elvis Presley and his unknown twin brother Baron Presley, who Buscemi says did all the bad shit that everyone remembers Elvis for. Then he starts to try and figure out who out of these twins is the good and evil one.
I won’t continue with the blow by blow account but this is the kind of sketch that fills out this film. Each sketch is well observed and presented and filmed in such a way that once it has won you over, you will find yourself giggling away to yourself over the smallest of facial gestures by the actors on show.
One of the classic sketches involves Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan and the consequences of amateur genealogy (family trees). The sketch finds away of reversing the tables for each actor, who, as in most of the sketches, has the actors playing themselves. It shows that in Hollywood there is nothing more important than who you know, and that being family is only a stepping stone for potential connections. It is networking gone crazy.
Another classic and must see for anyone interested is the sketch between Tom Waits and Iggy Pop. Again they play themselves, this time though they are both ex-smokers who decide to have a smoke together whilst drinking their coffee. Again I don’t want to give too much away as it may spoil the matter of factness of the sketch but you’ve got to see this one. Tensions are created and yet again the coffee has a direct effect over the conversation. This is a really well observed sketch and brings back memories of the famous Joe Pesci ‘funny guy’ scene in GOODFELLAS.
In another, RZA and GZA from the Wu Tang Clan discover Bill Murray has another job working as a waiter in a coffee shop. This sketch has some hilarious dialogue and is an all round winner, mainly due to the preposterous situation and the top draw acting.
Kate Blanchett pops up as both herself and her Australian cousin who has arranged a visit during one of Blanchett’s press junkets whilst she’s advertising one of the films she’s in. Not only is this scene technically well handled but her acting is fantastic and her character observations are astute, especially for the Australian cousin who is receiving the star treatment or the cold shoulder, depending on which way you see it.
For those into The White Stripes there is also a sketch featuring Jack and Meg White and a Tesla coil. This is probably one of the most bizarre sketches on show in this collection but also one of the most interesting.
All in all I think that this film and its contents is best discovered by the viewer as there are many gems to be discovered in it’s running time. Certain themes and dialogue find a way of being repeated throughout the other sketches and this is what makes the film cohesive as a whole, even though each sketch is a world unto itself and is made up from astute observations.
The camera work is top draw, with 3 major cinematographers filming the sketches. The film was filmed over a period of years between and during Jarmusch making his other movies. Frederick Elmes, probably most famous for filming THE ELEPHANT MAN, tackles the majority of the black and white sketches, with support from Ellen Kuras (responsible for the fantastic cinematography on Spike Lee’s SUMMER OF SAM) and Tom Dicillio (who later went on to direct the comedy and cult gems JOHHNY SUEDE, LIVING IN OBLIVION, BOX OF MOONLIGHT and THE REAL BLONDE).
The sound comes in Tartan’s now 3 standard forms, Dolby Digital 2.0, 5.1 and DTS surround 5.1. The sound is clear and adequately serves it’s function of establishing the ambience for the 11 different locations. It is minimally applied and ably nurtures the sketches and their subtleties.
The DVD also has a few extras, although not very long in length, that are nice additions. First up is a music video for the song ROOFTOPS by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, which is outtake footage montaged into musical form. If you like the music you will probably like this extra, although for Jarmusch completists out there this is not directed by him. Next up is an outtake from the Bill Murray and Wu Tang sketch, which after you have seen the real sketch is kinda funny in a Bill Murray kind of way. The best extra on show though is an interview with veteran actor Taylor Mead, who stars in the final sketch of the film. He talks about working with Jarmusch and his standard 2 or 3 takes filming technique and also about the nature of the film itself, fingering Cate Blanchett, so to speak, as his favourite of all the sketches.
All in all this a funny, well acted, shot and executed film. The gems all come from the characters being placed in the scenarios in which each one is set. The dislocation of most of the characters is clear, not only from themselves but also from each other. Many uncomfortable moments rise out of the most mundane of situations and the observations made are ones that most people will be able to relate to. It is in these astutely observed moments where the humour resides. As with most of Jarmusch’s other films the first time it is seen will probably be the most pleasurable watch. The DVD is well put together and again is a complete package, even though it has no extras of any substantial length but it is the film that is the showpiece in this case, so check it out. There aren’t many films out there right now that are comedy masterworks and this isn’t one of them but you could do a lot worse that selecting this one and having an enjoyable night in with your beer and smokes of choice.
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