Coffee and Cigarettes

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Coffee and Cigarettes

Coffee and Cigarettes film poster
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Produced by Jason Kliot
Rudd Simmons
Jim Stark
Birgit Staudt
Joana Vicente
Written by Jim Jarmusch
Starring Roberto Benigni
Steven Wright
Joie Lee
Cinqué Lee
Steve Buscemi
Iggy Pop
Tom Waits
Joseph Rigano
Vinny Vella
Vinny Vella Jr.
Renee French
E.J. Rodriguez
Alex Descas
Isaach De Bankolé
Cate Blanchett
Mike Hogan
Jack White
Meg White
Alfred Molina
Steve Coogan
Katy Hansz
GZA
RZA
Bill Murray
William Rice
Taylor Mead
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) 2003
Running time 95 min.
Language English
French
IMDb profile

Coffee and Cigarettes is a 2003 independent film directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film consists of eleven short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread.

Contents

[edit] Plot

A comic series of short vignettes shot in black and white built on one another to create a cumulative effect, as the characters discuss things as diverse as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the 1920s and the use of nicotine as an insecticide--all the while sitting around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. As the movie delves into the normal pace of our world from an extraordinary angle, it attempts to demonstrate how absorbing the obsessions, joys, and addictions of life can be, if truly observed. There are also many common threads between vignettes like the tesla coil, cousins, and even the idea of drinking coffee before sleeping in order to have fast dreams.

[edit] Segments

The eleven segments that make up the film are as follows:

[edit] Strange to Meet You

This is the original 1986 short Coffee and Cigarettes with Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright having a conversation about coffee and cigarettes.

[edit] Twins

Originally the 1989 short Coffee and Cigarettes, Memphis Version, this segment features Joie Lee and Cinqué Lee as the titular twins and Steve Buscemi as the waiter who expounds on his theory on Elvis Presley's evil twin.

[edit] Somewhere in California

Filmed in 1993 as the short Coffee and Cigarettes - Somewhere in California. In this segment musicians Iggy Pop and Tom Waits pretend to play themselves, smoke cigarettes to celebrate that they quit smoking, drink some coffee and have an awkward conversation.

[edit] Those Things'll Kill Ya

Joseph Rigano and Vinny Vella have a conversation over coffee about the dangers of smoking. The silent Vinny Vella Jr. also appears to beg his father for money.

[edit] Renée

Renée French pretends to play herself whilst looking in a gun magazine and drinking some coffee. E.J. Rodríguez plays the waiter anxious to be of service.

[edit] No Problem

Alex Descas and Isaach De Bankolé are a couple of friends who meet and talk over some coffee and cigarettes. Alex has no problems, or so he states repeatedly.

[edit] Cousins

Cate Blanchett plays herself and a fictional and non-famous cousin named Shelly who she meets over some coffee in the lounge of a hotel. There is no smoking in the lounge as the waiter, played by Mike Hogan, informs Shelly. But not, however, until Cate is gone.

[edit] Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil

Features Jack and Meg White of the band The White Stripes having some coffee and cigarettes. They play themselves, although the scene seems to perpetuate the band's former pretense that they are indeed siblings. Jack shows Meg his Tesla coil that he says he built himself and waxes intellectual on the achievements of Nikola Tesla. In the beginning, Jack seems very upset, and it takes Meg some coaxing to get Jack to agree to show Meg his Tesla Coil. Cinqué Lee plays a waiter in this segment. In the end, the coil breaks, and Meg and the Waiter offer suggestion to why it might be broken. Finally Meg says something that Jack seems to agree to, and he leaves to go "home and try to fix it".

[edit] Cousins?

British actors Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan have a conversation over some tea, where Alfred claims that the two are distant cousins. Katy Hansz asks Steve Coogan for an autograph. Steve Coogan rebuffs Alfred Molina until he overhears that Alfred Molina is a friend of Spike Jonze. Although they say they are in LA, the segment was shot in Brooklyn at Galapagos, Williamsburg.

[edit] Delirium

Rap artists (and cousins) GZA and RZA drink some herbal tea and have a conversation with Bill Murray (who appears to be a waiter at the restaurant, and has a cold) about the dangers of caffeine and nicotine.

[edit] Champagne

William Rice and Taylor Mead spend their coffee break having a nostalgic conversation.

[edit] External links