Friday, October 15, 2004
Rush to Caffeinated Leisure
Netflix, greatest self-indulgence idea since Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Emporium, delivered, as promised, the DVD version of Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes a few weeks ago. I had a chance ot see the movie on The Big Screen in the early summer. Enjoyed it tremendously, but missed some of the lines. Mumbling does that to you. So, having the ability to re-play scenes over and over again (until my wife started to throw her shoes at my noggin) was such a pleasure.
I know what i'll be pawing through my Christmas stocking for this year.
No blood. No gore. No sex. No animal sacrifice. No color.
Yes to cigarettes. Yes to coffee (and Tea, including the Tea Mother). Yes to Tom Waits & Iggy Stooge.
Yes to Bill Murray, RZA, & GZA. Yes to Steven Wright & Roberto Benigni.
And, of course, there's some additional items, including outakes (but NOT enough of them) and director's commentary. More time for lounging and soaking it up.
The best part of the movie? No scenes in Starbucks or a facsimile.
Worst part of the movie? No scenes in Starbucks or a facsimile. Damn!? I would have loved to see Mr. Jarmusch do at least one of the bits in a mass commercial establishment, just to see his take on the matter.
The film:
"Muze Description -
Jim Jarmusch has consistently wowed audiences with his truly distinctive cinematic vision. Shot over the course of a 17-year-period, COFFEE AND CIGARETTES proves once again that Jarmusch is a true original. This time around, the director tries his hand at the short film genre, delivering 11 shorts
that are all based around the seemingly insignificant acts of drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. In the first short, "Strange to Meet You," Steven Wright and Roberto Benigni discuss the perks of cigarettes and coffee. In "Somewhere in California," Iggy Pop nervously tries to befriend Tom Waits, who decides that he can have a cigarette because he just quit. Cate Blanchett delivers a towering dual-role performance in "Cousins," playing both her Hollywood superstar self as well as her bitter cousin. In a similarly titled yet totally different short, Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan are brilliant in "Cousins?" And then there is "Delirium," one of the best short films ever made, in which Rappers Rza and Gza (Wu-Tang Clan) discover that Bill Murray is a coffee addict, and they use their expertise to preach to him the benefits of alternative medicine. Jarmusch builds to a poetic conclusion and the film is shot in an artistic black-and-white, making COFFEE AND CIGARETTES both an impressive work and a lighthearted, yet genuine, tribute to the art of smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee" (from( Rotten Tomatoes)
The vignettes form was previously a technique he used in Night on Earth, my personal favorite of Mr. Jarmusch's.
(An aside: Why the ?!NASJLANS&%!%? isn't his available on DVD? My VHS copy screeches sometimes when I'm playing it. I see double images.) While Night on Earth had carefully scripted stories that all tied together, Coffee and Cigarettes has a (very)thin thread that runs through some of the bits, namely Nikola Tesla, a scientist of Croatian birth, that seems to be having a revival of sorts and the checkered pattern of some of the tablecloths. Each item is an observation of Coffee/Cigs manners, even ones we may have witnessed or participated in. Well, perhaps not the Jack White filmette.
As is usual with a Jarmusch flick, there are great one-liners and confused faces. Some of the stories must have been of the one-take variety. The Wright-Benigni piece, first of the eleven to play, is an example.
I strongly urge a Netflix rental. And then decide, after multiple viewings, if this is one DVD that needs to be possessed.
Netflix, greatest self-indulgence idea since Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Emporium, delivered, as promised, the DVD version of Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes a few weeks ago. I had a chance ot see the movie on The Big Screen in the early summer. Enjoyed it tremendously, but missed some of the lines. Mumbling does that to you. So, having the ability to re-play scenes over and over again (until my wife started to throw her shoes at my noggin) was such a pleasure.
I know what i'll be pawing through my Christmas stocking for this year.
No blood. No gore. No sex. No animal sacrifice. No color.
Yes to cigarettes. Yes to coffee (and Tea, including the Tea Mother). Yes to Tom Waits & Iggy Stooge.
Yes to Bill Murray, RZA, & GZA. Yes to Steven Wright & Roberto Benigni.
And, of course, there's some additional items, including outakes (but NOT enough of them) and director's commentary. More time for lounging and soaking it up.
The best part of the movie? No scenes in Starbucks or a facsimile.
Worst part of the movie? No scenes in Starbucks or a facsimile. Damn!? I would have loved to see Mr. Jarmusch do at least one of the bits in a mass commercial establishment, just to see his take on the matter.
The film:
"Muze Description -
Jim Jarmusch has consistently wowed audiences with his truly distinctive cinematic vision. Shot over the course of a 17-year-period, COFFEE AND CIGARETTES proves once again that Jarmusch is a true original. This time around, the director tries his hand at the short film genre, delivering 11 shorts
that are all based around the seemingly insignificant acts of drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. In the first short, "Strange to Meet You," Steven Wright and Roberto Benigni discuss the perks of cigarettes and coffee. In "Somewhere in California," Iggy Pop nervously tries to befriend Tom Waits, who decides that he can have a cigarette because he just quit. Cate Blanchett delivers a towering dual-role performance in "Cousins," playing both her Hollywood superstar self as well as her bitter cousin. In a similarly titled yet totally different short, Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan are brilliant in "Cousins?" And then there is "Delirium," one of the best short films ever made, in which Rappers Rza and Gza (Wu-Tang Clan) discover that Bill Murray is a coffee addict, and they use their expertise to preach to him the benefits of alternative medicine. Jarmusch builds to a poetic conclusion and the film is shot in an artistic black-and-white, making COFFEE AND CIGARETTES both an impressive work and a lighthearted, yet genuine, tribute to the art of smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee" (from( Rotten Tomatoes)
The vignettes form was previously a technique he used in Night on Earth, my personal favorite of Mr. Jarmusch's.
(An aside: Why the ?!NASJLANS&%!%? isn't his available on DVD? My VHS copy screeches sometimes when I'm playing it. I see double images.) While Night on Earth had carefully scripted stories that all tied together, Coffee and Cigarettes has a (very)thin thread that runs through some of the bits, namely Nikola Tesla, a scientist of Croatian birth, that seems to be having a revival of sorts and the checkered pattern of some of the tablecloths. Each item is an observation of Coffee/Cigs manners, even ones we may have witnessed or participated in. Well, perhaps not the Jack White filmette.
As is usual with a Jarmusch flick, there are great one-liners and confused faces. Some of the stories must have been of the one-take variety. The Wright-Benigni piece, first of the eleven to play, is an example.
I strongly urge a Netflix rental. And then decide, after multiple viewings, if this is one DVD that needs to be possessed.
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