Maybe it was the fact I went for a few pints before seeing the film, but I did find my attention wandering at points. Some of the conversations just seemed too long - you wanted them to just be over, or the punchline was glaringly obvious before we got to it. The themes that Jarmusch comes back to again and again were I think better explored elsewhere (esp Night on Earth, a wonderful film). The contrasts of black and white were neatly handled however, and Cate's section really came alive. And then there was the final sequence - elegiac and haunting, it cast a different light over the whole film, and made me want to watch it again, thinking about how death is so close and all we have is these absurd moments really...Yes, don't watch this film if these kind of thoughts are not your thing! (And incidentally I went to see it in the same 'university cinema' as Bungle-9 and can report some audience laughter, but does not seem a crime to either a)study film or b)enjoy it).
Review of Coffee and Cigarettes
