The first thing I ever saw by Jim Jarmusch was Horse, a concert film/documentary of the great Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse, in case you were wondering. I was hanging out at the home of my friend Big John, a rock star in his own right and major Young fan, drinking and smoking as hip college goers are known to do. Through the chemical haze, I decided that Horse was actually a pretty good concert film as it turned out, featuring vintage footage of the band combined with present day concert performances. The name Jim Jarmusch got stuck in my head that day, just waiting for a time that it could bust out and convince me to finally see one of his movies. Biding it’s time, like a tiger on the prowl.
That time is now.
Coffee & Cigarettes was an independent film directed by Mr. Jarmusch in 2003. The movie is presented in a series of vignettes, each featuring different actors, with no overarching narrative. In all but two of the stories, a characters enters the scene, somebody consumes some coffee and cigarettes, an awkward, vaguely hostile conversation is held, and then a characters at the end of the scene (the only differences, by the way, are in the one instance where the characters drink tea, and another where no characters enter or leave). The title of the vignette reveals to us the nature of the story, “Twins” has twins for main characters, “Delirium” has a conversation relating to delirium, and so on. It’s not a bad way to do things, and using coffee & cigarettes as a connecting theme is as good as any, but there’s a distinct lack of weight in these vignettes. Why are these people so passive-aggressive? Is it the caffeine/nicotine? The the scene ends, and I’m wondering how I just spent several minutes of my life.
I will give credit to Jarmusch in grabbing some damn interesting talent for his movie, which leads to some amusing situations. Who hasn't wanted to hear Steve Buscemi talk about Elvis Presley’s evil twin, or Jack White operating a Tesla coil, or RZA and GZA discussing alternative medicine with Bill Murray? Not to mention Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett...Folks who I would love to see converse with each other (perhaps over some coffee & cigarettes?), without all the meandering bullshit that’s been tossed in. Would I like to hear a conversation between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits? Abso-fucking-lutely. Did I like the scene in which they conversed in Coffee & Cigarettes? Not particularly.
Not much to say this around, or perhaps more appropriately not much I feel like writing. My first non-Horse experience with Jarmusch has become the least enjoyable movie I've done so far, which admittedly isn't saying much at this point. It’s possible that I just don’t ‘get’ the message he was trying to put out here, if there was even a message to get in the first place. It’s also possible that the film sucks, and he would've been better off just making a documentary. Obviously Jim Jarmusch and I have things we need to work out together, with the film and with our relationship.
Perhaps over some hot chocolate and hashish?
Result: Recommended if you like coffee, cigarettes, coffee & cigarettes, people talking about nothing for 90 minutes, or Bill Murray gargling oven cleaner
Not Recommended if you like narratives, action, clean lungs, or Ms. Cate Blanchett
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