"Chinese Coffee" DVD Review (4/5) - Jeremiah

I've watched this play-turned-film at least three times since I received it through Netflix. I say this so you realize how much it affected me. Kloiber asked if I was planning on doing the play myself.

This play/screenplay by Ira Lewis takes place in a single night, taking a glaring look at the lives of two friends -- down-and-out, starving artist types in Greenwich Village at the beginning of the Eighties. They don't seem ready to deal with the eighties, but are incapable of doing anything about it.

Harry Levine (Al Pacino) is a twice published author who is falling towards middle age. His first two books weren't exactly huge successes but, at the same time, to a writer being published is an unmeasured success. Harry is coming to a point in his life where he desperately wishes not to be poor. His friend, Jake Manheim (Jerry Orbach), is an insanely literate, highly critical person who happens to be a good photographer. Jake also fancies himself a writer, but hasn't written anything since he was 19. Even then, his two published stories were six pages each.

During this one night these two men examine each other's lives, motivations, loves and losses to the molecular level. The way they talk is a joy to listen to. “I am as dry as a Steinbeck dust bowl.” It 's a little unnerving for me to watch this adaptation by Pacino himself, if only because I used to be, at least in my mind, the Levine role. Now I find myself, I fear, in the Manheim role. That is, I used to stay up nights scribbling out stories, plots, and bits of dialogue. Now I'm well read, well versed in the print and visual media and I tend to cite and relate trivial facts rather than do anything of any actual artistic means.

Bizarre attacks of self-analyzation aside, this movie was a divine surprise: an exploration of friendship and how the reasons two people become friends may not always be what we think. As the night goes on, we discover that Jake may have underestimated Harry's ability as a writer, and now fears he will be more successful than him. The way they rail against the romantic, bohemian dream of being poor for the sake of artistic genius -- these two men who are literally arguing over pennies -- is beautiful.

Pacino and Orbach are a treasure to watch. To see such an established talent such as Pacino alongside one of the most beloved character actors of our times is just... fun! The two performances are some of the greatest these two giants have given us over the years. Pacino does his best to keep the pacing up, and succeeds, while also making the flashbacks actually work -- a rarity in the play-turned-film genre. Usually, such flashbacks are a torture to endure while we await permission to return to the meat of the story; they attempt to “open up” the play, to make the enterprise less claustrophobic. It's something I've never understood: if it's good enough for the stage, why shouldn't it be good enough for the screen? But I digress. Here they do “open up the play” but, as the screenplay and the original play are penned by the same writer, it also adds some subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle background.

Both men are messed up, yet both have kind hearts, as most people do. The more devious one is Orbach's Manheim: a man whose jealousy and frustration of artistic impotency practically demolishes a true and good friendship in one night. Pacino, on the other hand, while playing a raging hypochondriac who happens to be quite self-indulgent, ultimately feels love for his tortured friend. Toward the end, when Levine finally understands why his friend has such a problem with his new book, he tells him, “You don't think I would share with you?”

I queued this movie because I saw a clip of it when Pacino was on “Inside The Actor's Studio.” I saw him and Orbach, and wanted to see it. I figured it would be a nice little romp. I did not expect to see my past, and what I hope is NOT my future, immersed in great writing. Then again, that's why I love movies. You never know when one's going to come along, knock you on your proverbial ass and shake you out of whatever rut your life has settled into.

I loved this movie, and hopefully some of you will too.

4 out of 5

Yours Until Hell Freezes Over,
Jeremiah