coffee and cigarettes (++1/2). as someone who'd never before seen a jim jarmusch movie, i was warned that he's sporadically awesome, self-indulgent, and exceedingly slow. no argument here, but as i saw c&c alone in the middle of the night, none of those seem like especially negative things. i'll admit that some of the early vignettes were notable pairings in really terrible scenes (roberto begnini + steven wright, iggy pop + tom waits, the lee siblings + steve buscemi), but others were brilliant (cate blanchett + cate blanchett, alfred molina + steve coogan, william rice + taylor mead) [throwaway side note: "cousins?", the comic alfred and steve piece, was filmed at galapagos on north 6th street, thus marking another appearance of williamsburg as los angeles (cf SEA in garden state)]. though sticking around for meaty recurring phrases and mood echoes tried my patience - cups and butts, shot beautifully or otherwise, can't be expected hold a film together - i'll credit jarmusch with some intriguing set pieces. especially if he promises never to use meg of the white stripes again (there's a reason she never talks - who knew?).
the passion of the christ (1/2). saw this one alone in the middle of the night, which exaggerated my two impressions considerably; 1) rosalinda celentano as satan is some freaky shit and 2) the rest of the film is shockingly, inexcusably boring. attending catholic easter services with my high school boyfriend's family and watching him whip jesus in their onstage passion play, now that left psychic scars. watching mel gibson shell out / rake in millions of dollars for what really did prove to be the world's most elaborate snuff film was a waste of my time. next time i hanker for biblical kitsch, i'm dropping my $2.99 on the ten commandments.
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