This week's Netflix entry featured a small respite from the AFI Project (to be continued shortly). I have no idea in retrospect why I thought I wanted to watch this movie. To be fair, this is the first Jim Jarmusch film I think I've watched (or consciously watched), and I'm feeling that, perhaps, I shouldn't have started with this one. Perhaps, I was supposed to think this was a quirky, artsy little film that celebrates both the art of conversation and simple pleasures, like a cup of joe and a ciggy. I suppose, on the one hand, it was that, but on the other hand, it was really an uneven collage of vignettes that left me just a bit sleepy.
Coffee and Cigarettes are the ties that bind several vignettes featuring random famous people talking, smoking, and sipping coffee - unless the people are British, and then they prefer tea. Or, unless they're the Wu-Tang Clan, and then they prefer herbal refreshments of all kinds. Some of the vignettes work: I think my favorites were Cate Blanchett, playing herself, talking to her supposed ne'er-do-well cousin, also played by Cate; the scene in which Alfred Molina tries to convince Steve Coogan that they are distant cousins who should hang out; and the scene in which Wu-Tang has a conversation with a delirious Bill Murray. I also liked the scene with Iggy Pop and Tom Waits in a diner where the juke box has none of either artist's music and the scene featuring Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes, only because that appearance was something of a novelty. Still, the other vignettes I didn't mention really didn't work for me or left me slightly on the bored side.
None of the vignettes have any real point, seemingly, other than to remark on the absurd while attempting to remain casually conversational. There are ties that bind, little nuggets common to all of the stories other than the caffeine and nicotine, but those drugs of choice are the main affair. I'd like to say that I thought the whole thing was witty and original and clever. I guess I'd think that if:
a) The movie wasn't so erratic. The movie took a half hour to get engaging because the first few vignettes, featuring the likes of Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, and Steve Buscemi, among others, are awkward, and the early conversations seemed more pointless than the average pointlessness of the other conversations.
b) The movie wasn't so seemingly caught up in itself. I'm sorry, but there were times when I thought the whole thing was too tritely contrived and a little pretentious. I'm all for cerebral and absurd, I'm a Monty Python fan, after all. I just felt that some parts of the movie tried too hard, and while that may actually have been the point, on occasion, this quality actually annoyed me.
c) The whole conversational movie in black and white hadn't been done before, and by a director of less artistic repute. This movie, ironically, reminded me of Clerks: pages and pages of dialogue in a fixed setting or settings, very east coast in feel, absurd situations mined for whatever awkward comedy they can produce, shot in seedy locations for the whole independent vibe of the thing. Sorry, Jim, but Kevin Smith's vehicle actually left me laughing. The only vignettes I laughed at of yours were the ones I listed above as my favorites.
Filmmaking-wise, it was an independent effort, and low budget entertainment was no doubt the aim of the picture in keeping with the apparent themes. Still, nothing spectacular jumped out at me as being particularly wonderful, except I did like the use of the lighting in the White Stripes piece, especially since it related to that Tesla gizmo I can't remember the name of 30 minutes later.
All in all, perhaps I missed the point, but I really just found this film kind of mediocre in every way. In fact, I find it so mediocre, I give it a 5. I wasn't even entertained enough to think it was cute. And hey, I love dialogue driven movies, don't get me wrong. I'm just wondering if the fact that I don't smoke and practically never drink coffee might have something to do with my less-than-amused take on this film. In any event, it fails the test. I couldn't give it another 96 minutes. The film just didn't hold my interest for any length of time, and considering that it was a collage of short films, that's saying something.