Romance And Cigarettes (DVD)

When Nick's wife Kitty finds a love letter in his pocket from his heretofore secret mistress Tula, she is not best pleased. As she and her three daughters lash out at him, he turns to his chauvinistic best friend Angelo for moral support, while she gets her cousin Bo to hunt down Tula. Things are not going to be pleasant…

Writer-director John Turturro apparently penned the script for this film while playing the titular character in ...
...writing; "Romance and Cigarettes" functions solely on curiosity value. It is a strange and disjointed tale of oddball characters that feels like a foul-mouthed soap opera. The breakdown of a marriage is documented from all sides - the faithless husband confides in his best friend, the jilted wife takes comfort in the church and the kids all react in a variety of different ways. The subplots involve the youngest daughter wanting to marry ... more

When Nick's wife Kitty finds a love letter in his pocket from his heretofore secret mistress Tula, she is not best pleased. As she and her three daughters lash out at him, he turns to his chauvinistic best friend Angelo for moral support, while she gets her cousin Bo to hunt down Tula. Things are not going to be pleasant…

Writer-director John Turturro apparently penned the script for this film while playing the titular character in the Coen brothers' "Barton Fink". Clearly that experience influenced his writing; "Romance and Cigarettes" functions solely on curiosity value. It is a strange and disjointed tale of oddball characters that feels like a foul-mouthed soap opera. The breakdown of a marriage is documented from all sides - the faithless husband confides in his best friend, the jilted wife takes comfort in the church and the kids all react in a variety of different ways. The subplots involve the youngest daughter wanting to marry an unsuitable match and the wife's brother tracking his brother-in-law's mistress. Where it diverges from the template is in its prolific use of expletives and sexual content. Then there's the characters' propensity for quoting lyrics and bursting into song at the drop of a hat to illustrate the story. But these devices never feel natural and the choice of songs is overly predictable. Sometimes the subject matter makes it feel as though the movie is only out to shock or bewilder.

The characters rarely feel true to life; their reactions to plot developments are too extreme and the characterisation somewhat facile. Many feel like stereotypes; the femme fatale, the cheating husband, injured wife and local macho man. But they tend to be ramped up to the nth degree so they lose any basis in reality. The dialogue feels spontaneous but never naturalistic, so it's hard to believe in the characters.

Turturro's directorial style is rough and ready. You get the impression he was making it up as he went along. He uses lots of long, static shots that mean the actors are always working inside a frame, much as if they were on stage. The acting style reflects this through exaggerated performances. The backdrops are grimy working class neighbourhoods or dull beige interiors wherein the artifice of musicals jars. But this appears to be intentional, especially during the musical segments. Turturro makes no attempt to disguise the fact his actors are miming to the music, in some cases very badly. One or two of them sing for themselves (Mandy Moore's version of "I Want Candy" isn't bad), but the majority of the sing-alongs feel like walking in on someone singing in the shower. Similarly the dance routines feature ragged choreography that adds immediacy but makes them feel a touch unprofessional. The same can be said of the fight sequence. But the mundanity of the Slaughters' lives is juxtaposed with moments of lyricism in Nick's fantasy sequences. Tula is rendered an old-school femme fatale, so hot she starts fires. My favourite is an underwater scene reminiscent of Esther Williams (but without the chorus line) where she looks like a heart-broken mermaid. These brightly coloured interludes are in stark relief to the otherwise muted palette of the picture. But other than adding colour, they don't make a great deal of sense because there's no reason why they should be there. The magical realism isn't as comfortable a fit with the film as it should be; it feels like it's trying too hard. And when married to other oddities like the Slaughter's teenage offspring being played by women between the ages of twenty and forty, it falls apart.

In general the acting is disappointing because it feels forced and unnatural. James Gandolfini relies on his girth and a pervy moustache to suggest characterisation, while his nasal Brooklyn accent becomes trying very quickly. Susan Sarandon is short-changed by the script that has her as little more than the archetypal wronged woman. She does angry pretty well, but there is no hint of the subtlety the actress is famed for. She never captures the essence of the hard-working white trash mother and doesn't look comfortable with the profanities that litter her speech. And her inner steel means she never comes across as the type of woman who would take refuge in religion so quickly when jilted. Overall it is a disappointing performance from a woman of such renown.

Kate Winslet is a revelation as flame-haired Lancastrian temptress Tula. Who would have thought the English rose has such range? She's sexy in a very trashy way and clearly delights in playing "one crude broad". Though the character is larger than life, she's still human and the audience can feel for her. Despite the voluptuousness and potty-mouth, she's capable of being hurt.

Steve Buscemi gives typically quirky and reliable support as Nick's chauvinistic best friend and Bobby Cannavale goes a little too far over the top as local lothario Fryburg. He feels like a sight gag as the lecherous be-quiffed fashion catastrophe. Christopher Walken gives one of his most peculiar turns as Kitty's Elvis-obsessed brother Bo. It's hard to know what to make of him as his staccato delivery and snake-hipped dancing feel at odds with each other. Of the three daughters, Mandy Moore is the only one that really convinces. She plays the petulant teen with confidence and commitment, eclipsing Mary Louise Parker and Aida Turturro because she seems so much more at ease. Also look out for Eddie Izzard in a totally unwarranted cameo as the church organist.

The soundtrack comprises some fairly scratchy recordings of crooners, Vegas favourites and old soul tunes. So Tom Jones' "Delilah" sits cheek by jowl with "Lonely is a Man Without Love" and "(Take Another) Little Piece if my Heart". But however populist the music, it feels predictable because Turturro takes things too literally. This is particularly the case when it comes to tracks like "Prisoner of Love", "I Want Candy" and "Red-Headed Woman". It feels like there's no room for originality with even the incidental music feeling familiar.

Though "Romance and Cigarettes" is a bold experiment from an actor-turned-director, it didn't excite me as a film. It's plotting relies too heavily on soap opera storylines, the acting is patchy and the direction too unpolished for my tastes. The characters feel wilfully weird rather than endearingly odd and it's difficult to empathise with them. If I go to see a film musical, I expect higher production values and some respect for the traditions of the genre. I also expect the players to sing everything for themselves or at least do a reasonable facsimile of singing. The frustrating thing is being able to see the potential of the movie but knowing the director has failed to grasp it.
 

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