August 31, 2007
Romance and Cigarettes Finally Lights Up
Hear about that movie Romance and Cigarettes that premiered last night? You know, the one directed by John Turturro, starring Chris Walken, James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi, Kate Winslet, Mary Louise-Parker, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Elaine Stritch and Amy Sedaris? Well, don’t feel bad if you didn't – that fact that two years since it wrapped the film’s been released all over the world except the town where it was shot speaks volumes about the Hollywood distribution system.
So it was understandable that Turturro began his pre-screening speech by declaring that he felt like Odysseus; having traveled the globe for years to promote his labor of love, the Brooklyn/Queens native was clearly elated to finally bring it all back home. He went on to share a story about being recognized by an airport employee in Naples as “the guy who made the wonderful Romance and Cigarettes!” The man’s co-worker, on the other hand, was quick to chime in something to the effect of, “But I heard that was having trouble in America!”
The reasons for this are not nearly as interesting as the movie itself, which is as wildly imaginative as it is gutsy. Gandolfini plays a Bensonhurst construction worker who gets caught cheating on his wife (Sarandon) with a red-headed tart (Winslet) who works down at Agent Provocateur, the lingerie store. But this simple tale of outer-borough adultery isn’t what makes Romance and Cigarettes so marvelous, it’s Turturro’s inspired choice to let his dream cast cut loose in a hit parade of hysterical chorus numbers, culled from the best tunes from the fifties and sixties. If you want more of the Chris Walken you loved in that Fatboy Slim video, you’ve got it. But just wait until you see James Gandolfini singing his heart out during an adult circumcision, or Kate Winslet dirty dancing in a burning building – with Buscemi’s firehose powerless to cool her down. And that’s just the tip of the cigarette!
Starting at Film Forum next week, Romance and Cigarettes blows through this summer’s coda with an infectious joie de vivre, made all the more poignant by Turturro’s melancholy, anti-Hollywood ending. It’s a unique film that’s startlingly visionary – not in the Herzog ‘drag a boat over a mountain’ sense (though Turturro might feel that way about the distribution mess) – but in the way he creates his very own distinctive world and trusts his actors to inhabit it to the fullest. More photos from the premiere after the jump.
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i could see how this film's situation could speak volumes about the hollywood distribution system if it were a masterpiece, but a film the Hollywood Reporter calls "A karaoke nightmare" not being released domestically isn't all that surprising. Musicals simply don't do well in America, especially critically-panned ones. I don't blame UA (Tom Cruise?) for sitting on this.
I saw the film over two years ago at a preview screening. and hate to say, despite the impressive cast, this was one of the worst movies i've ever seen. nothing, save for a couple of inspired moments from kate winslet and christopher walken, works.
HA HA, The World even hates NY centric actors!
You know who's not funny? Amy Sedaris.
Yeah, I really don't get the tepid reviews at all - the movie is just stuffed with out-of-left field virtuoso magic. Gandolfini chained to a swing set in Roman garb with his eyes burned out while his daughters jab at him with spears? Winslet singing underwater while Gandolfini kicks her to the bottom of the lake? Cannavale's crazed turn as the lothario-next-door? Every scene with Walken? The chorus numbers??? The surprisingly touching ending? I just don't get what's not to love. If not now, this film's sure to become a cult classic over time, along the lines of The Big Lebowski.
Middle America hates NY actors, unless you're a hipster. Especially Liberal NY actors.
thank God The Sopranos are over and done with.
The Big Lebowski is another crappy movie.
i hate to be a pest, but the phrase is "joie de vivre," not "joy de vivre," which sounds like something my aunt from Wisconsin would say. if one wants to sound cosmopolitan, one should google one's foreign phrases.
I saw this movie last year and it really sucked. The best part was seeing the beautiful Mandy Moore in it even though she wasn't much in the movie to begin with.
joy die vivre is a cologne one buys in wisconsin.
all the hipsters in the world can't make this a hit.
Thanks pest; sometimes mistakes are made when one is trying to finish something late at night. And to Nick S, I still say that if the distribution was done right, this could grow into a sleeper hit. Last time I checked, a little musical-remake called Hairspray was one of this summer's hits.
You're right, I overlooked both Hairspray and High School Musical 2 as two big hit musicals this summer. But still, there is a difference. But if you look at the general recent trend of musicals, only the most white-bread, by-the-book ones have been successful in America (Moulin Rouge being the most obvious exception).
Have we forgotten about One From The Heart (Coppola)(Must we forget the failure of the re-release of it too?) ? New York New York (Scorcese)? Everyone Says I Love You (Allen)? All three were ambitious musicals. All three were monumental failues. And those were by three of America's best directors.
If the experimental musical ever had a chance of catching on, it was with those movies. And with your description of this, it sounds even less accessible.
You can't honestly believe that the same crowd that went to see Amanda Bynes and Zach Efron in Hairspray would be interested in seeing "Gandolfini chained to a swing set in Roman garb with his eyes burned out while his daughters jab at him with spears."
nick, you've forgotten to add Chicago to the list of white bread musicals.
amanda bynes was in Hairspray and it was a HIT?
Hate to say this but unless Gandolfini is whacking someone, no one is going to see him in anything. that's just the way Middle america thinks.
Yeah, pretty easy to list. Chicago, Dreamgirls (even though calling it "white bread" seems kind of silly), Rent...
As a matter of fact, it seems the only succesful recent musicals are adaptation of already mega-succesful stage musicals. I'm interested to see how Across The Universe will do. I hate to say it, but I'm predicting a bomb.
The film is really brilliant. It is worth seeing for Walken alone!
I've never seen anything like it. If you're sick of predictable hollywood sequels, check out this amazing gem of a film.
Across the Universe is also an amazing reinvention of the musical.
I'm not a fan of musicals, but these are my two favorite films of the year!
Rent didn't do that well on the big screen.
same with The Producers, the movie musical.
Some broadway musicals don't translate well on the screen.
I had completely forgotten that they made The Producers into a movie. Just goes to show...
No one hates NY actors. Everyone hates over-opinionated americans, who in the real world don't mean s__t.
if you look on imdb this movie was well liked in the UK and other places - i enjoyed it - i think Americans are in general overtrained to appreciate only Hollywood storytelling - but i defy anyone doubting musicals to go see "Once" - it's brilliant and unpretentious. you get good music and a trip to Dublin. And as many remark, "not one false moment" - I think John Turturro and friends were having a grand time making this movie - was all the red about Scorsese? The underwater scene was amazing. And "El uarto de Tula" - I can't wait till our protectionist system allows a better representation of world cinema on our screens - it will make American audiences more visually/cinematically literate and give them a much broader sense of humor, more imagination to stretch.