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Sarah Jaffe reviews
independent and foreign films,
in addition to reporting the latest buzz behind
Colorado's film festivals.
Coffee & Cigarettes
(2003, Jim Jarmusch)
Jim Jarmusch is the surrealist-absurdist black-and-white
hipster king of indie moviemaking. His movies
don't always make a whole lot of sense, and require
more attention than the average Hollywood movie
fan has, but they are always eye candy and if
you pay attention (and enjoy counter-pop-culture),
you will be rewarded.
Coffee and Cigarettes is no exception. It has
no plot--literally, this time. It's a series of
vignettes with a variety of film and music icons
(Iggy Pop, Bill Murray, Tom Waits, Meg and Jack
White of the White Stripes, RZA and GZA of the
Wu-Tang Clan, and Cate Blanchett, to name a few
standouts) and minor players (an IMDB search on
some of them turns up stints as production assistants
on "Fishing With John," just in case
you thought that PA job was never going to get
you anywhere) sharing coffee and cigarettes. At
first, this appears to be all that the shorts
have in common, aside from Jarmusch's signature
black-and-white photography, but as the movie
goes on, certain motifs are repeated.
Coffee and cigarettes are staples of the hipster
diet, but this movie pokes fun at pretentious
movie stars and rock stars, laughing at their
professed knowledge of medicine and science and
their need to one-up each other. The stars all
play themselves, in exaggeration. Iggy Pop and
Tom Waits share cigarettes while quietly putting
each other down, and Cate Blanchett turns in the
best performance of the film, playing herself
and her own cousin, who is unsure of how to deal
with Cate's fame. By far the funniest appearance,
however, is Bill Murray's.
I can't tell if people will like this film. Judging
by the amount of people who walked out of the
screening, not everyone enjoyed it nearly as much
as I did. If you like Jarmusch, are a fan of any
of the rock stars named above, or enjoy subtle,
layered humor, you should enjoy it.
www.coffeeandcigarettesmovie.com
coffee and cigarettes opens
may 28 at Landmark Theatre - go to www.landmarktheaters.com
for showtimes.
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