Coffee and Cigarettes
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Movie Reviews of Coffee and Cigarettes
Movie Review: Coffee, Cigarettes and so much style...
Summary: 5 Stars
Eleven Great Stories: Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, The White Stripes (Meg White and Jack White), Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, Cate Blanchett, Steve Buscemi, Bill Murray, The Wu Tang Clan (RZA/GZA) and many more...
First of all, How can you write several stories about coffee and cigarettes FOR A FILM? I think it's COMPLEX, but more than the Topic its the way Mr. Jarmusch made this film.
I think this is a great film to review in all Film Colleges, just get focus in the image treatment (Of course after you watch the movie for the very first time) and you will say: "Wow, I want to make movies, I have to think in simple things, and give them a body, a good one..."
So simple, but as a film maker I have to say it's not that easy, it's not about "technique" it's about "CINEMA CULTURE", we have to develop a Common Sense, "a CINEMATOGRAPHIC ONE"... I'm not wise of course, but I'm doing my best to make "PERSONAL FILMS", we are disgusted by the Hollywood Cinema, we must to work our brains, I'm begging you, we can start a new wave, we are the future, don't swallow that pill for stupid people.
Back again to the Jarmusch's film, I think the best plot is the Molina/Coogan's one, so hilarious, the act is perfect, the camera shot so neat, Don't miss the chance to buy this movie, and don't compare this movie with the early Jarmusch's works.
This movie is great because it's so simple, you don't have to watch this Hollywood "Experimental" Cinema (I'm being sarcastic, one example: "Butterfly Effect") this is the kind of Lame story, "Oh yeah, we want a complex story and then we want to get lost in the plot" well it's because this kind of movies don't make any sense, and it doesn't mean that movies are great.
And please, don't make any judge about this movie without a solid theory, it's not fair for the director. You don't have to make a fantastic story with the best technology, you just need an anecdote (and talent to make this anecdote an interesting story) and cinema sense.
And don't waste your time writing negative reviews, what's for? Go and write about your favourite movies, maybe your cinema culture is the "POP" one, or go and change film history...
Movie Review: A story about nothing
Summary: 5 Stars
Coffee and Cigarettes is my introduction to the genius that is Jim Jarmusch.
And Oh boy!, I am bowled over.
What an amazing filmmaker this man is.
I must admit that Coffee and Cigarettes is not everybody's movie, it might not even
have been my movie at a different time. There is no story, and no suspense, action or drama.
It is a series of pointless conversations between people seated at two ends of a coffee table.
But it is the pointlessness and the bizarre discomfort of these situations that make for a brilliant
movie. As I grow older we live much of our lives in these inane conversations with strangers.
Fidgeting with a cigarette in hand, and a coffee cup, we talk of the mundane, expressing much
more in what we hide than in what we tell. Jarmusch captures those terribly priceless moments,
the embarrassment, the vulnerability behind our social pretenses, the mathematical precision with
which we measure our social interactions, everything comes under a cinematic scrutiny. It is, I believe
what you would call a classic postmodernist cinema. Cinema captures here, not incidents and drama,
but the apparently mundane moments between those incidents, moments which construct our lives.
Coffee and Cigarettes is also an intensely atmospheric movie. I can't even think of this movie made
in color, or with even a different lighting, or a different ambiance. As a student who has spent
a considerable amount of his life in cafes, stirring creamers in coffee, taking that first sip, and watching
humanity, coffee and cigarettes is my own inner voyeur in a dimly lit coffee shop. The minimalist style,
the lack of purpose, the laid back attitude of the movie, all contribute to the making of a masterpiece.
Movie Review: Everyone Else Is NOT, Actually, Just Like You.
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: not for the faint of brain
Summary: 5 Stars
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....Movie Review: Go. Make art.
Summary: 5 Stars
Seeing that it got quite a few 1 star ratings, I decided it needed more credit. The artists here are just excercising their creative urges to go beyond conventional mainstream film making and are having fun doing it. Who has a problem with that? The film follows in the tradition of Warhol's underground films where the movie maker simply puts a camera in front of a couple of actors and says, "Go. Make art" and the great actors start to improv. It's a great risk because it's either hit or miss. And of course in movie making we see mostly the hits thanks to editing. Of course it is a little tighter wound with more grace than the underground Warhol films (sorry Andy!). The film is about everyday normal conversations and situations involving cafes, coffee shops, at work, etc. where there is usually two people talking over a cup of java and smoking some cigs. Some conversations are small talk and shallow, while some other ones are existentialist and profound. It deals with the human condition and relationships and how that can be altered by the two drugs caffiene and nicotine. This film is risk taking at it's best. They went for broke. That's art. I think some viewers of the film thought, "Well, I could do that!" Well, they didn't, so they need to stop whining, get an artistic license, get on the ball, and get a life. Bravo for all the creative people of this film. Encore!