Review of Romance & Cigarettes (2005) by Adam K — 27 Jul 2011

I had no idea John Turturro written and directed movies. This being my first taste of what he can do I must say, with the help of a great cast and incredible soundtrack, Romance and Cigarettes is a hit!

Nick Murder is in a heap of trouble when his wife finds out that he's been cheating on her. While the two don't speak to eachother, they wander around town and find the passion and meaning of true love in a world that looks only for raw sex. But this isn't just a story of love, lust and hate. IT'S A MUSICAL TOO! Well sorta. Not so much an original soundtrack but songs mostly from the '50s, but the writing to this movie makes it work. It is a kind of off beat story that sways from being silly, over the top and dramatic all at once, but it is an original conciept that finds its creativity. But if music and creativity isn't enough for you, the cast is huge and wonderful, staring James Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon delivering a powerful love/hate relationship, Kate Winslet giving a fun and talented performance like you've never seen her before, (a hooker, clothed, and Irish) and co-staring Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, Mary-Louise Parker, and the one and only, Christopher Walken!

John Turturro has been in a lot of great movies and worked with some of the best, and with the Coen Brothers preducing this movie, Turturro delivers a stylish and wonderful musical. The one this about this movie that is kind of cheap but also original is the singing. Yes, the actors to sing in this movie, but not in a studio. They sing in the mic as the real song they're singing overlaps their voices, so you only hear the actor's voices faintly. It sounds cheap and weird, but it'll grow on you because the choices of songs are perfect classics. Turturro makes this movie look like a fantasy too, it's funny how a lot of the musical scenes are romantic and powerful, but we know that those scenes are only in the imagination and not eally happening in the real narritive. But each scene captures a stylish glims of the gritty city the characters live in, with great cinematography, great camera positions, and a wonderful use of the lighting that shouts independant filmmaking, but looks too natural to be real.

Somewhere in this crazy tale, there's an answer. Though that answer isn't quite clear because it is fogged up by playful acting and a silly story, still, not everything in life is supposed to make sense. But Romance and Cigarettes is a play on genres that mixes very well because of its incredible cast and unexpectedly talented directing.