re:mote voices

Title: Coffee And Cigarettes

Cast: Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Bill Murray, Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Alfred Mollina, Steve Coogan, etc.

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Sometimes covering a collection of short films is like covering a collection of short stories – where you either have to generalise and go for the big picture, or risk a tendency towards absurd details in an attempt to cover each individual piece. Luckily with Coffee And Cigarettes we have a thematic link between each of these short black and white pieces, which director Jim Jarmusch has made over the years. Each of the individual pieces goes for a similar set up – 2-3 people set around a table with coffee and cigarettes and conversation. For the most part each stands alone – a snapshot, an encounter. Though as we progress through the collection we hear one or two repeated lines – even if they are emt with different responses. Another theme that crops up is, to some degree, family – Cate Blanchett plays herself and her cousin, there is Jack and Meg White, Bill Murray meets the Wu Tang cousins RZA and GZA, while Alfred Mollina shares his family tree with Steve Coogan. The films vary from odd little encounters that just kind of happen, to more surreal and amusing scenarios. Jack White’s eagerness to show off his Tesla coil, Bill Murray guzzles coffee while discussing homeopathic remedies with the Wu Tang Clan, Iggy Pop’s edge and uncertainty when meeting Tom Waits, two old men on a coffee break, Steve Buscemi’s attempts to spot the evil twin – all provide the colour to Coffee And Cigarettes.