Cigarettes & Coffee (1993) User Reviews

Very good short, captured in a mere 24 minute length.

[PadraigWalshFilm · 7/10 · 21 August 2012]

Paul Thomas Anderson's second shot at a short film comes off very well and its result is "Cigarettes and Coffee." Starring Kirk Baltz and Phillip Baker Hall. This short was later adapted and developed into Paul Thomas Anderson's first film "Hard Eight."

The story is very simple, yet very intellectual. The basic storyline is : A few people who are mysteriously connected to each other and through a $20 bill are all at the same diner at the same time. As you watch it, it will become apparent why I said intellectual. And to pull it off on a mere 24 minute length is fantastic. He is a great writer.

It is had to get a hold of a copy of this, but I watched it online on a website called Vimeo, which has the original version. The quality is bad but still watchable. Anyway, you could tell that he had potential from this short film and I'm delighted he's where he is today.

Some impressive if uneven early work,

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 13 December 2012]

Very early work from one of our best filmmakers.

This 23 minute short is in many ways an early sketchpad for 'Hard Eight', Anderson's amazing first feature.

The film is very simple – 3 different conversations at a diner outside Vegas, but shot, written and edited creatively, with good performances by Philip Baker Hall and Miguel Ferrer.

Anderson's trademark dialogue feels a little more arch and stiff here, a little more a young writer doing his riff on David Mamet, but it's good enough to show real talent, and Anderson's ability to create dialogue and characters that are both stylized and believable, bigger than life but still real would go on to become a key to his unique voice.

Philip Baker Hall could be brilliant in a deodorant commercial

[mr_boz · 8/10 · 30 April 2002]

I just saw this film (finally), and it really surprised me in a nice way. I was expecting a real hack, but it comes across as well written, well directed and very nicely edited. The soundtrack is cool too - it reminds me of Brian Eno (could it be?). I thought that I recognized the actor who sits opposite Baker Hall and sure enough, it's the cop from Reservoir Dogs! The guy who had his ear sliced off by Michael Madsen with Steeler's Wheels playing in the background.

I'll admit that I'm already a great admirer of PT Anderson's stuff, but this was a very enjoyable piece of work in it's own right. If only he would re-release it on DVD, maybe as a bonus with the Sydney DVD?

Reading through the other comment on this film, I see what you mean about the Tarantino influence (think of the diner scene where the camera slowly pans around the group of gangsters). However, this is a much more mature writing style, if you ask me.

p.t. Anderson's first is typical of his work so far

[curtis-8 · 26 January 2000]

A major portion of "Cigarettes and Coffee" was later adapted, expanded and basically re-made into p.t. Anderson's first feature film, "Hard Eight". The most interesting part of "Cigarettes" was later used as the first scene for "Hard Eight"--in both Phillip Baker Hall's character interrogates a young drifter in a roadside diner and explains a few things about life and the art of conversation to him. In "Hard Eight" the two then go on to have a father-son type relationship in a fairly straightforward narrative (the most straightforward of any of p.t.'s later films). Here in the seminal "Cigarettes and Coffee", however, Baker Hall's conversation with the young man is only one of three happening simultaneously in the diner. P.T. cuts between the three, and we soon learn that the lives of the three seemingly-unrelated sets of characters do actually intersect in unexpectd ways. In this way, the short film is much more like the director's recent Altman-inspired "Magnolia" than it it either "Hard Eight" or "Boogie Nights." "Cigarettes and Coffee" has played on The Sundance Channel (or was it The Independent Film Channel?) quite frequently.

Classic early 90s stuff

[BigJimNoFool · 6/10 · 9 October 2020]

Nice punchy quasi philosophical dialogue from the young master showing some flair with the camera

Anderson's Stepping-Stone

[lexybab · 6/10 · 30 September 2013]

Cigarettes & Coffee is a short film that takes place in a diner in the middle of the desert. All of the character's lives revolve around a twenty dollar bill. There is gambling, life-changing mistakes, coffee, and cigarettes. This film starts off confusing, but unravels the truth throughout the half and hour it plays.

Cigarettes & Coffee was the short film that helped Paul Thomas Anderson take off. It later inspired his movie, Hard Eight. The film came about after Anderson introduced the script to actor, Philip Baker Hall. The film has elements of gambling, and ironically Anderson paid for the film ($20,000) with money he won gambling. Other forms of the budget came from his college fund, donations, and his girlfriend's credit card. The camera he used was borrowed from Panavision. He rented the diner where the movie takes place. The actors in the film were casted using his connection as a production assistant on a PBS movie. This worked to his advantage since he didn't have to search for talented individuals. It took Anderson 6 weeks to film Cigarettes & Coffee.

Paul Thomas Anderson was known as a kid always on the edge of trouble. He was also very popular with women. Also, not many know about Anderson's childhood. In an Esquire article, John H. Richardson analyzes Anderson's movies and connects them to Paul Thomas Anderson's personal life. In all of his movies, there is a character who would be considered "bad" in society, but he shows them in a different light.

I personally love Paul Thomas Anderson's take on society's bad people. In Cigarettes & Coffee, his characters are in serious trouble and make consequential mistakes; however, they are all calm and act as if everything is fine and dandy. Most of his stories have this feel to their plot. I didn't really have anything to say about the casting. I wasn't familiar with any of the actors, but I kind of liked to see new people on screen. The idea of the twenty dollar bill being the main character is very interesting. All of the characters are established from this one piece of paper. There wasn't a large script, but I like the fact the a little bit is revealed as the story progresses. Each character gives you more information on who the other characters are. The shots were very simple, but the transitions between the scenes are interesting. They usually pan from one booth to the other in the diner. It makes you feel as if you're walking back and forth eavesdropping.

Overall the entire feel of the story is a giant mystery. The calmness of the characters is actually humorous. Even though it's a short film, there is so much story before and during the film. After it's over, you wonder how the whole thing pans out, but on the other hand the story you are given is satisfactory. I didn't need to watch anymore. The short story and the cliffhanger was enough for me.

Explores the power of simple rituals

[whytenic · 10/10 · 17 July 2016]

The movie is raw. The actors aren't caked with makeup, nor is the cinematography something to behold. However the script and nuanced direction is all a movie ever needed for it to have power and meaning. The acting is sufficient as well, with extra credit to Philip Baker Hall for his participation.

This short films is set at a diner where five people come to for coffee and cigarettes. A man and his elder friend arrive to gather their thoughts. As what Las Vegas is notorious for, the man acted impulsive and hired a hit-man for his wife and friend who he suspected were having an affair. Torn by what he had been through and what he had done, he arranged a meeting with his trusted friend for guidance. His friend is calm, aware and understanding. He also stays true to his ritual of having a coffee and lighting his cigarette to then talk, as he says "you light the bonfire first to then tell the stories". A couple has come to the diner after blowing nearing all their money on gambling. And the final character is bill the man's hired hit-man.

The film teaches us, if anything, to savour the moment. Enjoy the little pleasures in life, like a warm brew of coffee or a smooth cigarette, they don't last but I think we are inclined to remember that nothing lasts to an extent. In turbulent times of deception and guilty pleasures people should step back and recollect their thoughts. And what better catalyst for reflection and contemplation than a cozy diner, a nice light and a creamy brew. The film shows similarities to the pious exercise of prayer and meditation. It displays evidence that even in the hedonistic city of Las Vegas it is still possible to find asylum. The film encourages all of us to think of what is taken for granted, ie what is counted on. And to see life as it is, not of what it appears to be in the heat of the moment.

PTA improving, but far from great still

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 16 October 2015]

First of all, do not mix up "Cigarettes & Coffee" with the short films of almost the same name by Jim Jarmusch. This one here is written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the greatest filmmakers of our generation. When he made this one in the early 90s, it was his second work as a filmmaker and he was still in his early 20s. You can certainly see how he improved from his first work, the very rough-looking Dirk Diggler movie. And just like that one, PTA went on to turn this short film "Cigarettes & Coffee" into a feature film as well. Philip Baker Hall is the only actor from the cast that I am familiar with and he reprised his role for said feature movie. The story in this short film here is okay and the acting is solid too, but it's just not really particularly exciting to watch I must say. Quite interesting to see that this came from the director who went on to give us masterpieces like "There Will Be Blood". The talent is not really visible in here and I am fairly certain that this short film would be completely unknown without the big name behind the camera attached to it. Not recommended.

good

[JunoGerm · 17 December 1998]

this was a good short film. I thought it was a little bit of a Tarantino knock-off, but still well composed and flowed nicely. When I first saw the piece, I didn't realize it was directed by the same guy who did "Boogie Nights", but now that I think about it there are some similarities in technique and dialogue. It would be interesting to do further comparison to this film and his later works.

I can write. Like MAMET, like. In, in a FRAGment, I'm saying. In a shard. Are you seeing what I'm saying?

[rupertpupkin-1 · 5 June 2004]

Philip Baker Hall instructs a young man in waiting for The Pouring of the Coffee and the Lighting of the Cigarettes, which is "a latter-day bonfire." A young Paul Thomas Anderson clearly reread David Mamet's WRITING IN RESTAURANTS. A lot. Too much.

Stilted dialogue. Talking heads in a diner. "Intersecting" blah-blah.

PTA would go on to be--aw, let's just go ahead and say it--the best American moviemaker working today. And six years before he made this, he did the brilliant DIRK DIGGLER STORY at the age when you and I were horsing around with a six-pack in a forest preserve. So let's not--you know--hold it against him. Shocking, though, that such a master could make something so quintessentially film-school dumb.

Amazing short film

[jake_82_pta · 11 December 2000]

This an amazing short film from Paul Thomas Anderson, the director and writer of Hard Eight (Sydney), Boogie Nights, and Magnolia. This film is a mix between Sydney and Magnolia. It has three stories. They tie in through the characters in a restaurant, a $20 bill, cigarettes and coffee. Highly recommended. It has excellent camera work, great writing and great acting. After PTA shot this film, the sundance institute gave him the money to fund his first feature, sydney, which is now called Hard Eight. Sydney is a loose remake of Cigs and Coffee.

Great acting and direction

[baywoodarborist · 9 September 2019]

Hall sure has a great screen presence. He holds the entire movie together. There was something about the kidnapping scene that was unbelievable or too abrupt but the rest of the movie was excellent.