Caffè Sospeso

Three locations and messed storylines. Nothing really catches your attention as the documentary jumps here and there without a connection. Making actors saying the word "suspended" won't make it any better.

Wanted to love this but the quality and editing were very poor and distracting for something that is supposed to have passed Netflix quality control. The actual concept of the film has huge potential. Coffee is universal and the characters interviewed had things to say. The handheld camera work was unwatchable at times. The tripod work was robotic. The editing was all over the place. Took a while to understand who was where, as it jumped around without being able to establish any location to the point you could engage with it. If I were the filmmaker I would re-make it with a better script, camera and editing as it has great potential.

I love the idea behind this little film, that coffee and the act of sharing and partaking in it with others can be a positive, transformative, and communal experience amongst family, friends, and strangers. It focuses on parts of Italy where the practice of 'suspended' coffee (I purchase one cup and pay for two so that the next person, or someone yet to come can have a complimentary cup, perhaps someone who cannot afford it) started and continues. We visit cafes and some older patrons who have been participants in the coffee culture for decades and how it has positively effected them. I have to admit that I wasn't sure whose point of view the story was being told. At some points throughout we are following a young woman and her family, at other times random coffee customers, and at other times shop owners. But is wasn't presented as completely observational, so it was a little confusing in that regard. This documentary film was clearly a labor of love that I enjoyed and that is how I am reviewing it.

The makers committed a cardinal sin when making this documentary - they filmed a movie without an idea, allowing you to think it might be about the act and story of the suspended coffee, but no - it's a lackluster collection of stories taped together without any common thread, showing people, drinking coffee, in various parts of the world. And even if that sounds interesting to you, believe me, it isn't.

I love this film, probably because my family is from Italy and I drink a lot of espresso. There's more, I worked in TV production most of my life.

A film maker that I respect and admire told me the secret to having a great film; you've got to have a great story. "Coffee For All" has a great story...in fact it has a number of great stories. The New Yorker that admired and loved her father, the mystery writer in Buenos Aires that writes about the characters that enter his via coffee and the poor kid that gets arrested in Naples for a crime he said he did not commit. It captures the microcosm of life in the shape of a cup.