Coffee and Cigarettes

Coffee and Cigarettes is a 2003 independent film directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread. The film is composed of a comic series of short vignettes shot in black and white built on one another to create a cumulative effect, as the characters discuss things such as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the 1920s, and the use of nicotine as an insecticide — all the while sitting ar... more

Coffee and Cigarettes is a 2003 independent film directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread. The film is composed of a comic series of short vignettes shot in black and white built on one another to create a cumulative effect, as the characters discuss things such as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the 1920s, and the use of nicotine as an insecticide — all the while sitting around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. The theme of the film is absorption in the obsessions, joys, and addictions of life, and there are many common threads between vignettes (such as the Tesla coil, medical knowledge, the suggestion that coffee and cigarettes don't make for a healthy meal (generally lunch), cousins, The Lees (Cinqué, Joie, and a mention of Spike), musicians, industrial music, acknowledged fame, and the idea of drinking coffee before sleeping in order to have fast dreams). In each of the segments of the film, the common... less