Review of Coffee and Cigarettes (1987) by Lara H — 30 Mar 2008

Coffee And Cigarettes, simple as that. No really...that's how simple this film is. Because that's what Jim Jarmusch did with this one. He made a film about people having lunch-breaks, drinking coffe and smoking cigarettes, while talking about everyday-stuff. This might sound boring, but I found this to be a very entertaining, funny and memorable film. It does help off course, that it's well-known people we get to see for most of the time. Musicians, actors and such (some more well-known than others), playing themselves in most cases, are the ones who's smoking, drinking and conversing.

The film is divided into different chapters, and the scenes doesn't have any directly connections with eachothers, so we get to see some very different and absurd situations, with some refreshing and witty dialogs. Among the highlights are a conversation involving Steve Buscemi and a couple of twins. Another one is the one with Jack White and Meg White from the White Stripes, as well as a priceless scene where Bill Murray shows up as the waiter for the rap-artists GZA and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan. But my personal favorite is the one with Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. I mean, just to see the two of them together in a setting like this, is a pretty special thing in itself. But the way they deliver the dialog and acts through out the whole thing, makes it a hilarious and brilliant scene. Still it's clear that it would be hard to keep all of the different scenes just as interesting, with such a limited setting. And I think the one with Cate Blanchett playing herself and her fictitious cousin, was a bit dull compared to the rest. The same can be said about the one with Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, even though I'll admit that the latter had a good ending.

But the variety of the scenes, will probably fit the different viewers taste in different ways. So if you can appreciate a relaxing movie with a lot of talking, then this should be a interesting and untraditional choice. Life, and all its tiny details, are very fascinating, and so it can be enjoyable to just watch people doing simple things, like talking to eachother and having coffee and cigarettes.