A good conversation piece

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2004)

Jim Jarmusch, one of the most innovative directors of the late 20th century, brings us "Coffee and Cigarettes", another addition to his long line of minimalist comedies/dramas that include "Dead Man", "Ghost Dog" and "Mystery Train". "Coffee and Cigarettes", a film 17 years in the making, is broken down into 5-7 minute short stories that involve both iconic and eclectic musicians and actors having conversations over cups of coffee while smoking cigarettes. The only static factors throughout these segments are the cigarettes, the coffee (though in a couple of cases, it is tea), and a checkered tablecloth/table top. The conversations in each segment are as random and eccentric as some of the stars having them. In one segment, RZA and GZA are having tea in a diner when their waiter turns up and it's Bill Murray. Only, it's actually Bill Murray, and it is completely unexplained as to why he would be waiting on them. Meg and Jack White appear in another, with Jack showing off his Tesla Coil to Meg, only to be bested by her in scientific knowledge. In my personal favorite segment, Cate Blanchett plays herself while having a conversation with her slightly trashy, certainly envious cousin Shelly (also played by Blanchett).
Filmed in gorgeous black and white, Jarmusch filmed these vignettes over the last 17 years, beginning with the opening scene between Steven Wright and Roberto Benigni in 1987. Some segments work better than others (a couple of them were merely aesthetically interesting as opposed to intellectually compelling) but overall, the film really is quite good. It is probably a hard sell to a mainstream audience because nothing really "happens", but this dialogue-driven film is so intelligent and at times so hilarious that there wasn't an occasion where I was concerned about the pacing. I wish that Jarmusch made films with more frequency than he does, but if the time he spends on the production of a film is a factor, then I'll look forward to films like this sometime in the next ten years. 7/10 --Shelly