Coffee and Cigarettes
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
- comedy
- drama
The story
An anthology of eleven vignettes featuring star-studded casts of extremely unique individuals who all share the common activities of conversing while drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
What it’s like
Black-and-white static shots held in flat, even light, with the camera parked across a café table so the two people in frame sit like chess pieces in a symmetrical, unhurried composition. The vignettes are shot in cramped diners and kitchens and the grain of dim interiors, with the hiss of espresso machines, clinking cups and the soft click of a lighter doing most of the sound work, and occasional jukebox or radio music drifting in from elsewhere. Its vibe is dry, deadpan and warmly absurd, the kind of low-key hangout that stays in the rhythm of small talk, with long pauses that let awkwardness and odd tenderness settle. Pacing is loose and episodic, each short scene ending before it tips into anything bigger. The emotional register is wry and mildly melancholy; its people are strangers, relatives and old acquaintances circling one another, and the arcs are small social thaws rather than dramatic turns. Intensity is very low: no violence or gore, a little tension and no sex, though the smoking is constant. It suits a late-night coffee-shop mood, a slow rainy afternoon, or background company while doing something quiet. Made for people who enjoy dialogue-driven, observational films with eccentric characters and a gentle sense of humour.
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