Coffee and Cigarettes
Everyone in this film—which consists of eleven standalone scenes—agrees that (too much) coffee and cigarettes are certainly not healthy. But it turns out it’s hard to give up all that unhealthy stuff. Because what could be better than discussing all sorts of things while enjoying a cup of coffee and a cigarette? And there’s plenty to discuss: family ties, the worship of celebrities, the relationship between medical and musical careers, Nikola Tesla’s beliefs, and so on. It is precisely the coffee and cigarette that make it a bit easier to bridge differences of opinion, to make the uncomfortable a little less uncomfortable.
Jim Jarmusch was certainly in no hurry to make this film. He filmed the first scene as early as 1986, when it was also released as a short film; seventeen years later, all the scenes were finished. The cast includes many familiar names, celebrities playing (fictionalized) versions of themselves, including Roberto Benigni, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, and Cate Blanchett. Steve Buscemi and Bill Murray appear as bartenders.
