Movies

The film consists of eleven separate vignettes. In each, celebrities play semi-fictionalized versions of themselves who meet in a café or diner over coffee, tea, and cigarettes. Beyond the topic currently occupying their conversation, they often speak directly about coffee and cigarettes themselves. They most commonly discuss how coffee and cigarettes—that is, caffeine and nicotine—are unhealthy, especially when they constitute the entirety of one's lunch. Other recurring themes include the Lee family, cousins, celebrity worship, the connection between medical and musical careers, and Nikola Tesla’s belief that the Earth conducts acoustic resonance. In all cases, gathering for coffee—or tea—and smoking acts as a bridge for overcoming disagreements or making uncomfortable situations less awkward.

Throughout his career, Jim Jarmusch has rarely made short films. In fact, almost his entire short-film oeuvre consists of Coffee and Cigarettes (1986), Coffee and Cigarettes II (1989), and Coffee and Cigarettes III (1993). Over the years, Jarmusch continued filming additional episodes for the series, though he did not release them individually. Exactly ten years after the third film in the series, he added eight more stories to the original three and created a feature-length omnibus film, the third in his filmography after Mystery Train and Night on Earth. The film is composed of eleven episodes, all shot in black and white.

Jarmusch once again collaborated with some of his favorite actors, including Roberto Benigni and Steve Buscemi, as well as musicians such as Tom Waits, Jack White and Meg White of The White Stripes, and Iggy Pop. Jarmusch would later make a documentary about Pop's band, The Stooges. He also cast Bill Murray for the first time. Murray would soon become the star of Jarmusch’s most commercially successful film, Broken Flowers. Cate Blanchett was also cast. Critics and audiences alike responded positively to this unusual omnibus, whose unique concept deserves recognition.