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COFFEE & CIGARETTES ***1/2 out of *****
 Genres
2003
Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch Cast Roberto Benigni .... Roberto Steven Wright .... Steven Steve Buscemi .... Waiter Iggy Pop .... Iggy Tom Waits .... Tom Cate Blanchett .... Cate/Shelly Jack White .... Jack Meg White .... Meg Alfred Molina .... Alfred Steve Coogan .... Steve GZA .... GZA RZA .... RZA Bill Murray .... Bill Murray
Independence, this is something many filmmakers fight for, even when they are working with the studios. The money men want profit and the filmmaker wants to create their art, to have final cut over the edit, to make the film they want to make. But to truly be independent you cannot rely on a studio too much. Some say that George Lucas is the ultimate poster boy for independent filmmaking but ironically he has become the very thing he fought as a young filmmaker. When I think about a true independent filmmaker only one name comes to mind; Jim Jarmusch.
 Taking a look at his filmography will only solidify this. Jarmusch once said that "I have no desire to make films for any kind of specific audience, What I want to do is make films that . . . tell stories, but somehow in an new way, not in a predictable form, not in the usual manipulative way that films seem to on their audiences." (Current Biography Yearbook 1990). To pursue this credo Jarmusch sought to remain free from studio restraints. This path led to some of American cinema’s finest works that include the award winning Stranger than Paradise (1983), Down by Law (1986) and Dead Man(1995), among others.
In 1986 Jarmusch started what would become a continuing project. Coffee and Cigarettes was a short film starring Roberto Benigni and comedian Steven Wright, about a strange meeting of two funny men as they sip coffee and smoke cigarettes. The short was popular at festival circuits and in the years to come Jarmusch would continue filming quirky segments in what would become a series of vignettes.
 In 1989 the second Coffee and Cigarettes - Memphis Version was completed featuring Steve Buscemi as the waiter and Cinqué Lee and Joie Lee as the twins. 1993 saw rocker Iggy Pop paired up with Tom Waits in Coffee and Cigarettes - Somewhere in California which won the Golden Palm at that year’s Cannes Film Festival for best short film. Since then many more segments have been filmed with the likes of Cate Blanchett, Jack White and Meg White of the band the White Stripes, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, and Bill Murray, among many others.
 This film is not like any other, it does not follow a traditional narrative, it does not follow the same characters throughout. What we have here are 11 short films with two or more characters conversing over a cup of coffee and cigarettes (or in Molina and Coogan’s clip some tea as good English chaps should). The conversations are often funny and sometimes totally hilarious, not only that, but it feels like the viewer is spying on something they shouldn’t be. Coffee and Cigarettes is a series of shared experiences that Jarmusch is trying to present to people. Each segment is unique and different but all share obvious fundamental similarities. The cast is superb, especially Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, their segment is a pure delight to watch.
Photographed in splendid black and white by four different cinematographers, the look manages to retain a simplistic beauty. It’s possibly not for everyone, but this piece is a must for Jarmusch fans and cinephiles alike.
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