Chinese Coffee
Chinese Coffee is a 2000 independent film, starring Al Pacino and Jerry Orbach. It premiered at the 2000 Telluride Film Festival,[1] and also showed at the 2000 Tribeca Film Festival.[2] The film was written by Ira Lewis and directed by Pacino, was introduced by Robert De Niro during the opening ceremony.
| Chinese Coffee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Al Pacino |
| Produced by | James Bulleit Anne D'Amato Michael Hadge Larry Meistrich John Mollura Robert Salerno |
| Written by | Ira Lewis |
| Based on | Chinese Coffee by Ira Lewis |
| Starring | Al Pacino Jerry Orbach Susan Floyd Ellen McElduff Gary Marinoff |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Frank Prinzi |
| Edited by | Michael Berenbaum Pasquale Buba Noah Herzog |
| Distributed by | Chal Productions |
Release date |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The film is an adaptation of a one-act play of the same name written by Lewis.[3] The play premiered at the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway in 1992, starring Pacino as struggling writer Harry Levine.[3] Al Pacino was cast as the main character, struggling writer Harry Levine.[3] Both the film and the theater play are chamber plays.
Plot
Harry Levine (Pacino) is a struggling writer barely eking out a living as a doorman—that is, until he is fired. Desperate for money, he pays a visit to his friend Jake Manheim (Orbach), an arts photographer, to collect an old debt. After Jake says he does not have the money, the two engage in an all-night conversation about their respective art, past and present loves, and the directions their lives are heading. The play and film are set in Greenwich Village circa 1982.
Production
Al Pacino directed the 2000 film adaptation of Chinese Coffee, in which he also starred opposite Jerry Orbach.[3] Ira Lewis, who wrote the original play, also penned the screenplay for the film.[3]
The film adaptation was released in New York as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. Shot almost exclusively as a one-to-one conversation between the two main characters, it chronicles friendship, love, loss, and humor of daily life. After years of withholding it, Pacino allowed it to be released on June 19, 2007 as a part of a three-movie boxed set called Pacino: An Actor's Vision.
Howard Shore reportedly originally composed the score to the film, before Elmer Bernstein was hired to replace him.[4]
References
- "DAILY NEWS UPDATE: Pop.com/IFILM Deal is Off, Also Telluride Reveals Pix and the IFP Plans Its Mark". 1 September 2000. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- "Chinese Coffee". 6 September 2000. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- Slotnik, Daniel E. (April 16, 2015). "Ira Lewis, Actor and Playwright, Dies at 82". The New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- "Knowing the Score: The wise man of movie music composition, Elmer Bernstein, celebrates 50 years in Hollywood". Elmer Bernstein Enterprises, Inc. Archived from the original on April 6, 2003. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
External links