Romance & Cigarettes (2005)

Breaking into song

John Turturro is one of my favorite actors. He can disappear into his roles, or go way over the top. Either way, you never see him acting. He’s always natural.

Remember some of the terrific films in which he’s starred: “Do the Right Thing,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” “Quiz Show,” “13 Conversations About One Thing,” “Rounders,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “Barton Fink.” Witness the variety and high quality of both his roles, and the films he’s appeared in (“Transformers” and Adam Sandler movies notwithstanding; he’s had the good fortune of falling in with Spike Lee and the Coen Brothers, which doesn’t hurt). Coincidence? IMDB lists him as acting in 77 films, not including his appearances in television and film shorts.

As a director, his resume is less prolific, but no less creative. I remember seeing his debut “Mac” (1992) back in college. Honest and funny, it was one of the best films of that year (don’t take my work for it; Martin Scorsese thought so, too!).

2005’s “Romance and Cigarettes” was his 3^rd film as a director (along with Illuminata in 1998; 2010’s Passione would follow). It’s a fantastical, exaggerated, quasi-musical romance, with one of the best casts in recent film history. Starring many actors who either were, or would go on to be Hollywood (or HBO) heavyweights (Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken, the late James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Boardwalk Empire’s Steve Buscemi and Bobby Canavale), this film isn’t easy to describe, but is fascinating to watch.

It's set in a blue-collar New York neighborhood. The brilliant Gandolfini plays ominously-named Nick Murder. He lives in a humble home with his wife Kitty (Sarandon), and three very different daughters Rosebud (Turturro’s cousin Aida Turturro, known primarily as Janice, on “The Sopranos”), the erratically-coiffed Constance (“Weeds’” Mary-Louise Parker) and Baby (Mandy Moore).

Nick’s wife knows he’s cheating but tolerates it, mainly by tormenting him tirelessly when he’s home. After a confrontation in the kitchen, Gandolfini stumbles blindly outside. Wracked with guilt and confict, without warning he starts to…sing? It’s at once hysterical and touching to see Tony Soprano singing (also a credit to Turturro’s vision and courage; he also wrote the script).

The other woman is Kate Winslet’s Tula, a foul-mouthed, Irish, lingerie saleslady. She likes Nick because he’s a real man, who makes her feel alive in her otherwise dreary life. He’s smitten with her because…well…she’s Kate Winslet, talking dirty.

If those last six sentences sound absurd, know that this is the such a confident film (and Gandolfini and Winslet such confident actors) that, ridiculous as that all might sound, Turturro pulls off even something so farfetched as all that. It’s magnificent, comically silly, and surprisingly touching, all at once.

I could describe the logistics of where the plot goes, how all the characters fit together, what the film looks like, and so forth. But I think saying “Tony Soprano sings” and “Kate Winslet plays an obscene trollop” captures “Romance and Cigarettes’” tone perfectly. This movie shoots for its target with reckless abandon, and hits. Produced by the Coen brothers, this movie’s loaded with their particular brand of off-beat-hilarious writing and acting. With Buscemi and Walken, perhaps that’s to be expected. The outlandish thoughts we all indulge in our own heads during times of crisis, this film puts up on the screen. And sets to music!

I can see some not being able to get on board with its heightened theatrics and eccentric style, and so dismissing it as a peculiar oddity. Me? I thought it was one terrific piece of entertainment.