COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (2003) (Blu-ray Review)

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (2003) 

Label: Olive Films
Region Code: A
Duration: 97 Minutes 
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Bill Murray, Roberto Benigni, Isaach De Bankolé, Jack White, Meg White, Taylor Mead, Steve Buscemi, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, Cate Blanchett, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits,  Joie Lee

Synopsis: Comprised of eleven vignettes whose topics range from the theories of Nikola Tesla and caffeine popsicles to the possibility that Elvis had an evil twin, Coffee and Cigarettes is a cinematic celebration of life and its addictions featuring an eclectic cast of performers including Bill Murray (Broken Flowers), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful), Iggy Pop (Cry-Baby), Tom Waits (Ironweed), Joie Lee (Do The Right Thing), Steve Buscemi (Fargo), Alfred Molina (Prick up Your Ears) and Steve Coogan (Philomena).

Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes is an anthology that is thematically a series of eleven black and white vignettes of various people partaking in coffee and cigarettes at various locations, engaging in small talk and conversational chit chat, it's just that simple. The addictive titular substances seems to be the only cohesive elements binding the stories, that and the black and white cinematography.

We begin with Strange to Meet You which was shot back in 1986, this is the first in the series, starring comedians Steven Wright and Roberto Benigni, playing themselves, slurping coffee with Benigni offering to attend Wright's dental appointment at the end. The two contrast each other nicely, Wright is his usual low-energy self and Benigni is a jittery caffeine-nut, good stuff. 

Twins stars Spike Lee siblings Joie and Cinqué Lee at a diner in memphis, arguing the way twins can do, while being waited on by Steve Buscemi, who proves to be the most interesting part of the short with a tale of Elvis Presley's evil twin. 

Somewhere in California, shot in 1993, is a meet-up with rocker Iggy Pop and singer/songwriter Tom Waits in a dive bar under a disco ball light, somewhere in California, obviously. These two have the perfect craggy faces for black and white, Waits speaks about delivering a baby on the side of the road earlier in the day while the two discuss having given up smoking years earlier, only to light 'em up just two prove they don't need to. This one is weird, the two are awkward together, as if they are only just then meeting for the first time, which it could have been for all I know. 

Those Things'll Kill Ya features actors Joseph Rigano and Vinny Vella meeting for breakfast, with one berating the other for not eating, warning him about the dangers of cigarettes. One of their sons arrives, in a wordless role, asking for money from his pops, promising a hug which never comes.  

Renée stars the hauntingly attractive actress Renée French having coffee alone at a diner, reading a book and enjoying a smoke, when the smitten waiter comes by hoping to make small talk, only to end up spoiling her perfect cup of coffee which she had at just the right color and temperature when he carelessly tops off her cup without asking. I do not know French from anything, but she has a face that looks just about perfect in black and white, eschewing cool without trying, this one stuck with me just because of the haunting noir-ish beauty of the star. 

No Problem is a low point for me, Alex Descas and Isaach De Bankolé meet for coffee, one asks the other if he has any problem he would like to talk about, to which he replies again and again and again that he does not. There's a punchline of sorts at the end, but this is still a low point for me, though I will say that I have been part of similar conversations where someone pestered me about "what;s wrong", so annoying, maybe that's why I didn't like it. 

Cousins starring actress Cate Blanchett in a dual role is one of my favorites here, playing a version of herself as well as a distant cousin who has a lot of resentment for her famous relative.  The two meet up in the lobby of a hotel while Blanchett is doing a press junket, it's a weird, that is quietly catty encounter which I enjoyed quite a bit, Blanchett herself seems to feign interest in her cousin, while her cousin cannot help but throw out a few small digs whenever she can.

Rockers Jack and Meg white of the now defunct rock duo The white Stripes appear in Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil, which is just that, the two having coffee and cigs, while off to the side of Jack is a homemade Tesla Coil sitting in a kids wagon, which he offers to demonstrate for her, which he does to a degree of success before it goes kaput, all the while espousing the genius of Nikola Tesla. Worth noting, while I haven't made any mention of the music of the movie yet, each segment features a backing music track, this one features proto-punkers The Stooges burning through "Down on the Street" from the seminal Funhouse album. 

Cousins? stars alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, and features the stars meeting-up for a proper cup of tea and biscuits, Molina is at first rather excited and curious to meet Coogan, but it ends with a mutual disappointment. At one point Molina reveals that through an Italian-connection they are somehow related. The appreciation doesn't' seem to go both ways, it speaks to the nature of being let down when meeting someone, and to the duplicitous nature of people. My favorite part is a brief mention of how seeing palm trees in L.A. annoys Coogan, not sure why  that appealed to me. 

Delirium stars comedy legend and all around cool guy Bill Murray at a diner along with GZA and RZA of rappers the Wu-Tang Clan, and Murray is as expected steals the show as himself in "disguise" as a waiter at the diner, Talking to the rappers about caffeine derived delirium while sipping straight from the coffee pot while the rappers offer a cure for his smoker's cough, the ill-advised gargling n the throat with oven-cleaner. 

The last one is a weird melancholy bit with William Rice and Taylor Mead enjoying coffee in a warehouse while discussing "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" from Mahler's Rückert-Lieder, also featuring a call back to Jack White's discussion of tesla and "acoustical resonance". 

Audio/Video: Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films framed in 1.78:1 widescreen, the image is appropriately grainy and textured - this shot on both 16mm and 35mm - and the Blu-ray does a much nicer job of resolving grain and fine detail than mu old 2005 DVD, as you'd expect. The only audio option on the disc is an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround mix, its very front centric, the dialogue is crisp and clean, and the score includes music from The Stooges, Richard Berry & The Pharaohs and Tom Waits among others, though it is background music and not the focus of the track. The biggest compliment I can give the mix is that you get a feel for the distinct spaces for each segment. 

Extras come by way of a 2-min trailer and an 4-min interview with Taylor Mead who discusses his appreciation for the movie. 

Special Features: 
- Interview with Taylor Mead (4 Min) 
- Trailer (2 Min) HD 

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) is a wildly uneven watch, the mix of intriguing, deadpan and innocuous chit chat doesn't make for the most cohesive viewing experience, but it certainly is an interesting watch. It has been and probably will be for a long time be considered one of Jarmusch's lesser entries, but it has a charm about it that I enjoyed. 3/5  

Blu-ray Review: DEAD MAN (1995)

DEAD MAN (1995)

Label: Echo Bridge Entertainment
Region Code: Region A
Rating: R
Duration: 121 mins
Video: 1080p 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Johhny Depp, Gary Framer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Euegen Byrd, Mili Aviatal, Crispin Glover, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Jared Harris, Gabriel Byrne, Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, Alfred Molina

In Jim Jarmucsh's black and white acid-western DEAD MAN Johnny Depp (THE NINTH GATE) portrays William Blake, a young accountant from Cleveland who packs his bags and embarks on a journey to start life anew in the Western frontier town of Machine where he has been offered a job at the Dickinson Metal Works. On the train ride from to Machine the soft-handed city rube sticks out like a sore thumb among the Western frontier folk and rugged buffalo hunters who shoot buffalo from the train. The ride gets weirder when the trains soot covered coal shoveler (Crispin Glover, RIVER'S EDGE) enters the car and sits across from Blake offering a cryptic foretelling of doom.

Arriving in Machine young Blake walks into the metal works where he is informed by the business manager (John Hurt, ALIEN) that he's a month late and the position is no longer available. Blake demands to talk with the Mr.  Dickinson (Robert Mitchum, CAPE FEAR) who promptly drives him off the property at the business end of a double-barrel shotgun. With no job prospects and dwindling funds Blake wanders the grim streets of Machine until he comes to a saloon where he makes the acquaintance of young prostitute named Thel (Mili Avital) who take him home to her bed where her jealous ex-lover Charlie (Gabriel Byrne, MILLER'S CROSSING) bursts into the room and fires upon Blake but Thel throws herself in front of the bullet which kills her and strikes Blake in the chest. Blake grabs the woman's gun and kills Charlie, wounded and dazed he escapes through a window and leaves town on the back of a stolen pony. As it turns out Charlie was the son of Mr. Dickinson and the wealthy factory owner places a large bounty on the head of Blake for the murder of his son and even lays the death of Thel on him, too. Three cold-blooded killers are hired to hunt down Blake; Conway Twill (Michael Wincott, CURTAINS) and Johnny "The Kid" Pickett (Eugene Byrd, TV's BONES) and a cannibalistic psychopath named Cole Wilson (Lance Henriksen, ALIENS).

Blake awakens the next day to the sight of an American Indian calling himself Nobody (Gary Farmer, GHOST DOG) performing surgery on his chest wound but he tells Blake that the bullet is too close to his heart and that death is a certainty. Nobody believes that Blake is the reincarnation of the poet William Blake and that he will accompany him to the Pacific Ocean so that he can return his spirit to it's proper place in the spirit world. The Native American outcast acts as Blake's guide to the cleansing waters of the West. The duo amass quite a bodycount in their wake as they encounter many would-be bounty hunters and scoundrels on their path.

The film is certainly a strange beast and has a surreal disconnect that lends an existential quality to Blake's doomed journey through what I would call  purgatory. The setting is pure authentic Western and evokes the scent of sawdust and woodsmoke. The film boasts a stellar supporting actors that includes screen legend Robert Mitchum in his final performance plus a cast of gristle-faced characters whose craggy features drink up Robby Muller's (TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., REPO MAN)  black and white cinematography. There are also notable appearance from rocker Iggy Pop (HARDWARE) as the deranged bible-thumping transvestite leader of a trio of fur traders that includes a pre-SLING BLADE Billy Bob Thornton, and speaking of craggy faces there's also a came from Gibby Haines of the Butthole Surfers, it's quite a cast of characters we have here.

The film operates on several levels ranging from the existential to referential, particularly the the poems of William Blake in much the same way that the Coen Brother's O, BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? mined Ulysses' The Odyssey but I really just enjoy it as a trippy western that tends to defy expectations at every turn. I tend not to read too much into it I just enjoy it but the subtext is there for those of who looking for something deeper.The film was a major disappointment at the box office in '95 when it was released, returning only a ninth of it's budget, apparently 1995 wasn't a great time for a black and white western revival but this is a film that a lot of folks missed the first time around and I say it's well worth a watch whether you be a fan of Depp, Jarmusch or just really awesome Westerns.   

Blu-ray: Echo Bridge's 16x9 enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen AVC encoded HD transfer does the film proper justice. The black and white imagery looks great in 1080p with a nice retention of the film's natural grain structure without the disservice of DNR scrubbing, it looks pretty great. The transfer offers good contrast, decent black levels and fine detail; facial hair, clothing and other textures are nicely resolved. A definite improvement over the previous DVD edition. The DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 sounds quite good, too. Dialogue is crisp and there are no distortions that I could discern plus Neil Young's amazing score soars throughout the film. I will say that a more atmospheric 5.1 surround mix could have gone a long way but what we have here is very nice. Special features are few but are at least present, the previous Miramax titles from Echo Bridge have been mostly bereft of bonus content and this is a most welcome exception. What we get are a selection of standard definition letterboxed deleted scenes and a Neil Young music video featuring in-studio footage of him performing the song with a montage of clips from the film overlayed with Johnny Depp narrating William Blake's poetry. I believe that the only feature not carried over from the previous Miramax edition is a theatrical trailer.

Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes (15:54)
- Neil Young Music Video (3:31)

Verdict: DEAD MAN is a film just not mentioned enough when discussing the careers of Johnny Depp, Jim Jarmusch or just kick ass Westerns in general. The mid-nineties weren't exactly a golden age of cinema so don't let this one sink into obscurity, if you haven't seen it you are missing out on what I would call a must-see, strange and offbeat western that stands aside GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI as one of my favorite Jim Jarmusch films.