Romance and Cigarettes Widescreen (R) James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale |SwapaDVD.com

MPAA Rating: R
Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Profanity, Sexual Situations
Movie Release: 2005
DVD Release: 02/12/2008
Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 46 mins
Studio: Sony Pictures
Members Wishing: 12
Genres: Musical, Romantic Drama, Musical Romance

Actor and filmmaker John Turturro wrote and directed this emotionally resonant blend of music and drama. Nick Murder (James Gandolfini) is an ironworker who has been married for years to Kitty (Susan Sarandon), who works as a seamstress and is the mother of Nick's three daughters. While Nick loves his wife, his head is turned by Tula (Kate Winslet), a sexy salesgirl at a lingerie shop, and soon they're having a passionate affair. When Kitty finds out about Nick's infidelity, she becomes enraged and kicks him out of the house, forcing him to decide what he really wants out of life and what is most important to him. Along the way, many of the characters in the film periodically turn to their favorite songs to explain and amplify their emotions, lip-synching along with the original recordings. Romance & Cigarettes also stars Steve Buscemi, Mandy Moore, Christopher Walken, Eddie Izzard, and Elaine Stritch. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James Gandolfini - Nick Murder
Susan Sarandon - Kitty Kane
Kate Winslet - Tula
Steve Buscemi - Angelo
Bobby Cannavale - Fryburg

Frank E. (realartist) from HENDERSONVLLE, NC wrote on 10/18/2009...

0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Go get some milk and cookies. This will take a while. If the review is this long, the movie that thought provoking, let this be a clue that it is worth sitting through at least once. I say that because I first came across it channel surfing; watched it a while, and moved on in a mild state of disgust. It will have that effect on you. But then...so does "Cops" on Saturday night, no? The sleazy underbelly of society populated by people who don't seem to have ever had a noble thought or action in their abysmal excuse for a life. This movie is a little more literary than "Cops". First of all, it is by executive producers Joel and Ethan Coen-so we know it must have some literary merit-for these two are ALL about the great American novel...which is to mirror real society, so that 500 years from now, historians will see 'what went wrong' with the "former United states of America". Charles Dickens does this for example. There was so much social injustice and squalor in London, we have a 'realistic' look at society then...but then his novels did have some redeeming effect by encouraging reforms.
Okay...to the movie. This was written and directed by one of the actors in the Coen Bros stable...and also with more of their actors cast in the story. so it must be good, right? Keep telling yourself this, for you will want to 'bail' before its done. The reason being, it involves ordinary, lower class, foul mouth, foul behaving working stiffs in a run down old neighborhood of new York..."Brooklyn?" Adding to the overall ugliness...little attempt to pretty this story up with good cinematography...adequate, but certainly not superlative in any way. There is, however a significant amount of internal fantasy played out from within the minds of the characters in the form of a very odd kind of "musical"...choreographed dancing on the part of other low class working stiffs, with only barely tolerable music...much of it from the early 60's-except for the daughters of the male star who have this grunge/hip hop ( awful ) band...further signifying the overall moral malaise/decline of this shabby subculture neighborhood. And oh...did I mention sex? Hoo boy. First of all, it chronicles a typical sad marriage where intimacy has long ago fallen by the wayside between the main couple..wife played by the snarling Susan Sarandon...who does a chilling portrayal of the emasculating, sexually dead spouse. Her husband, played by James Gandolfini, seems to be having endless fantasies about an imagined younger lover. As it turns out, it isn't imagined at all. He's just an ignorant dufus who happened to have found himself drawn into an adulterous affair...with extremely sultry, killer sex object, who offers everything every man ever dreamed about sexually, played by Kate Winslet. It isn't hard to imagine falling into a delicious tempting trap like that.
These are the dynamics that drive the movie, and all the repercussions that result.

I cannot reveal too many of the results. But I do draw attention to one particularly inventive, and beautiful scene-perhaps the only truly artistic film making in the movie...Nick throws his lover into the lake ( in his mind ), and there she languishes 'singing' underwater....hair floating beautifully in the shimmering underwater light, her red hair glistening, her most kissable mouth forming the words of the sad refrain...without any real bubbles emerging. Quite inventive. One of those images that remain with you. Makes the movie worth while watching just for that. But there is another scene worth mentioning. Nick is in the hospital, when his mother drops in to visit. Boy. You thought "kitten" the wronged wife, Susan Sarandon was a bitch..you aint seen nothing. "I'll show you emasculating bitch"...kind of mother.Phew. You'll laugh outloud at her horribleness. Makes us thankful for our own mother, may she rest in peace.

Yes, it is uncomfortable to watch. There are a couple of scenes at the local Catholic church. Thankfully, the church is not portrayed as utterly useless and corrupt, like so many Hollywood drivel movies...it is a place where these poor folks can find a little respite and comfort...and some interesting music there also. But see, the Bible is also uncomfortable to read...it is , after all, the story of the rise and fall of the Hebrew nation. This movie must then also take its place in the pantheon of movies which give us all a clear, though disturbing picture of our own rise...and gradual, ever so gradual decline into total annihilation one day. Is this, then writer/director John Turturro's thrust, gist,motif,and artistic signature?