Thursday, December 3, 2009

Romance & Cigarettes (2005)

After the mayhem of 2012, we wanted to watch something funny and, we hoped, smart. We picked this netflix DVD, written and directed by John Turturro, which we thought was awful and wonderful at the same time. I will attempt to explain why (leaving out my usual actors' bios). 

Let's start with the cast and their real ages. James Gandolfini (born 1961)'s character is married to Susan Sarandon (1946), and they have three daughters, Aida Turturro (1962 - played Gandolfini's sister in The Sopranos), Mary-Louise Parker (1964), and Mandy Moore (1984). He is having an affair with Kate Winslet (1975), and Moore's character with Bobby Cannavale (1971). Winslet's character looks and talks very dirty, with a strange accent that I believe is supposed to be from northern Scotland but I can't be sure. One reviewer said that this movie just proves that Winslet is good in everything she does. She, like all the actors in the movie, hams and mugs to the max. Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Eddie Izzard, Elaine Stritch, and Amy Sedaris also have supporting roles. 

Have I mentioned that it's a musical? Huh? The music swells, sounding very familiar, and then the actors sing along with the original (in most cases) vocalists. Oh, and occasionally firemen dance around the street in Queens. John Turturro has a forgettable part in this (Male Dancer & Singer), but does more in the other two movies he directed, Mac (1992), which won the Palme d'or at Cannes, and Illuminata (1998), which was nominated and also featured Sarandon, Walken, and his cousin Aida. 

This one was shot in 2004, and finally released late in 2007 because he put his own money into it. It looked vaguely familiar to me, and I realized after a half hour that I had seen it but remembered only a few things, mainly Winslet's performance. If you borrow or rent it, have a back-up movie planned just in case. But you may be joining the cult following that this crazy project has inspired.

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