Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Al Pacino | ... | ||
Jerry Orbach | ... |
Jake Manheim
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Susan Floyd | ... |
Joanna
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Ellen McElduff | ... |
Mavis
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Michel Moinot | ... |
Maurice
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Judette Jones | ... |
Supermarket cashier
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Paul J.Q. Lee | ... |
Counterman
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Joel Eidelsberg | ... |
Harry's brother
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Maria Gentile | ... |
Sarah /
Bellydancer
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Christopher Evan Welch | ... |
Hamlet actor
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Neal Jones | ... |
Eteocles /
Actor in play
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Laura Esterman | ... |
Actor in play /
Messenger
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Hazelle Goodman | ... |
Cafe Dante waitress
(as Hazel Goodman)
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James Bulleit | ... |
Sgt. Boyle - Undercover cop #1
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Mark Scarola | ... |
Undercover cop #2
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When aging, unsuccessful Greenwich Village writer Harry Levine is fired from his job as restaurant doorman, he calls on friend and mentor Jake, ostensibly to collect a long-standing debt. Harry takes the opportunity to solicits his opinion on his latest manuscript, a work of semi-fiction based on their longtime friendship. Although he initially denies having read it, Jake later attacks it on aesthetic grounds, and deep-seated feelings of betrayal and jealousy surface, resulting in a traumatic confrontation. Written by duke1029@aol.com
This is the only movie I've ever gone to see twice at a film festival. It played in Toronto at the 2000 film festival, and my friend and I talked about it for hours afterwards. It's an invigorating movie, based on the play by Ira Lewis, about two bohemian guys, approaching 50, adrift in the early 80's, yet stuck in the past.
It's a "talkie" movie that could play on a double-bill with "My Dinner With Andre", a two-hander about a book Pacino has written and the first encounter with his friend, played by Jerry Orbach, since the Pacino character has lent it to him. But it's about so much more than that: it's about writing, dreaming, the creative process, relationships, loneliness, poverty, and finally, values. There isn't a moment that we're not involved with these two guys as they negotiate their relationship. The script crackles with life and wit, observation and nuance. Pacino first directed the great documentary "Looking For Richard", about how to approach staging a Shakespeare play. And here in "Chinese Coffee" he proves once again that he has a natural ability to tell a story in a completely fresh and interesting way, free of the constraints and pettiness of a routine plot.
If you're an actor and you haven't seen this movie, than shame on you, this one will have you going for days. And you'll return to it, too. It's a buried treasure in a great career for Pacino. I can't recommend it any higher.