Coffee and Cigarettes

Released 2003
Stars Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Joie Lee, Cinque Lee, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Joe Rigano, Vinny Vella, Vinny Vella Jr., Renee French, E.J. Rodriguez, Alex Descas, Isaach De Bankole, Cate Blanchett, Meg White, Jack White, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, GZA, RZA, Bill Murray, Bill Rice and Taylor Mead
Directed by Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch has been working on "Coffee and Cigarettes" for so long that when he started the project, you could still smoke in a coffee shop. The idea was to gather unexpected combinations of actors and, well, let them talk over coffee and cigarettes. He began with the short film "Coffee and Cigarettes I," filmed in 1986, before we knew who Roberto Benigni was (unless we'd seen Jarmusch's "Down by Law"). Benigni the verbal hurricane strikes the withdrawn Steven Wright and is so eager to do him a favor that he eventually goes to the dentist for him.

My favorite among the segments is one of the longest, starring the actors Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan. Molina has asked for the meeting. Coogan is not sure why and grows more condescending as Molina, all politeness and charm, explains that his genealogical research has discovered that the two men are related through a common Italian ancestor centuries ago. Molina hopes that perhaps this connection might lead to them becoming friends and "doing things together." Coogan is distinctly unenthusiastic until Molina says something that impresses him, and then he becomes ingratiating. In its compact way, this segment contains a lot of human nature.

The structure -- smoking and drinking -- provides all the explanation we need for the meetings, although sometimes the actors seem to smoke a little too self-consciously and Murray drinks his coffee straight from the pot. The prize for virtuosity goes to Cate Blanchett, who plays a dual role: herself and her cousin. As herself, she is the movie star Cate Blanchett. As her cousin, she is quietly envious of Cate's success and feels patronized when Cate gives her some perfume -- a bottle, she correctly guesses, that the star just received as a freebie.

Sometimes movies tire us by trying too relentlessly to pound us with their brilliance and energy. Here is a movie pitched at about the energy level of a coffee break. That the people are oddly assorted and sometimes very strange is not so very unusual, considering some of the conversations you overhear in Starbucks.

Summary by Roger Ebert

My experience with short film festivals or a film with several vignettes is only a few of them appeal to me while the others are boring or just ok, and that's what happened with this one. I loved both segments with the cousins, which were similar in some respects but very different in tone. The segment with Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan had me laughing out loud, and the movie is worth seeing just for this segment. Then there was the segment with Cate Blanchett playing a dual role, which was a lot darker than the other cousins segment but still funny. The subtleties she expressed in both roles were very impressive, and her acting alone also makes this movie worth seeing. Both cousins segments are very entertaining and insightful about celebrity. A few of the other segments are worth watching (like "Champagne," Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, Jack and Meg White, and the Bill murray segment), but many of them become repetitive and dull. I don't drink coffee and I hate cigarettes, so it's possible some of the film's charm was lost on me. I still think it's worth a rental, but keep the remote handy. --Bill Alward, November 19, 2004