Monday, September 8th, 2003

Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil

My one movie at the Toronto International Film Festival this year was the North American premiere of Jim Jarmusch’s new one, Coffee And Cigarettes. Less a proper film than a series of related shorts compiled together, Coffee And Cigarettes is a series of vignettes depicting people having conversations about whatever over coffee and cigarettes. There are some recurring themes and motifs, but much of the dialogue was improv.

Featuring an impressive collective ensemble cast, some shorts are more entertaining than others, and they range from the strange and curious to outright absurd. Standouts are the pieces between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, Jack and Meg White, Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, Cate Blanchett and Cate Blanchett, and Bill Murray with GZA and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan. Jarmusch made the films over the course of the past 17 years, starting with the peculiar “Strange To Meet You”, starring Roberto Begnini and Steven Wright.

The screening took place in the soon-to-be-closed Uptown Theatre, which is a damn shame because it’s really a wonderful cinema. But if it has to go, the TIFF is a fine swan song. It was a completely packed house and the celebrity quotient was pretty high, with Jarmusch in attendance along with Cate Blanchett, Meg White and Iggy Pop. Neat-o.

On a related note – Jarmusch interviewed the White Stripes on the release of Elephant.

See the artwork from Belle & Sebastian’s Dear Catastrophe Waitress. Out October 7.

It is my first day back at work after a week off. I have no idea what it is I am supposed to be doing here.

np – Pavement / Brighten The Corners

By : Frank Yang at 9:35 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. 9/8/03 9:06 pm

     Paul says:

    Frank, what do you think about today’s Strong Bad email? Might be one of the funniest ever, methinks.

  2. 9/8/03 10:25 pm

     Frank says:

    It was fan-tastic. I hadn’t noticed the ‘my book’ easter egg my first time through this morning. Man oh man. Funnier than a laama running over a pack of nuns.

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