Coffee and Cigarettes
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| Coffee and Cigarettes | |
|---|---|
 Coffee and Cigarettes film poster |
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| 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. Renée 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, medical knowledge, cousins, and even the idea of drinking coffee before sleeping in order to have fast dreams. It is interesting to note that in each of the segments of the film, the common theme of alternating black and white tiles can be seen in some fashion.
[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 (played by 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 (played by herself) drinks coffee while looking through a gun magazine. 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 of the Wu-Tang Clan drink decaffeinated herbal tea and have a conversation with the waiter, Bill Murray about the dangers of caffeine and nicotine. Murray requests that GZA and RZA keep his identity secret while GZA and RZA inform Murray about nontraditional methods to relieve his smokers hack.
[edit] Champagne
William Rice and Taylor Mead spend their coffee break having a nostalgic conversation.
[edit] External links
| Films Directed by Jim Jarmusch |
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| Permanent Vacation • Stranger Than Paradise • Coffee and Cigarettes • Down by Law • Coffee and Cigarettes, Memphis Version • Mystery Train • Night on Earth • Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California • Dead Man • Year of the Horse • Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai • Ten Minutes Older • Coffee and Cigarettes • Broken Flowers |
