Chinese Coffee

Harry Levine (Al Pacino) and Jake Manheim (Jerry Orbach), two unsuccessful writers, spend a cathartic evening arguing about money, aesthetics, their friendship, and Harry's new manuscript.

This film, based on a Broadway play (which had starred Pacino) is well-adapted by director Al Pacino (it helps that there was minimal stuff to direct). The origin as a play is fairly obvious, given how much is talk and how little is action (and I wonder if they had to add or modify scenes to create additional movement and scenery).

While not one of the greatest films ever, and not even one of Pacino's best, it has its moments and it is a great interaction between two people. If you like a lot of dialogue and bickering (think "Clerks" without all the dirty talk) and miss Jerry Orbach, this is the film for you.

Film that was adapted from a play and which shows, with the film delving into the life of Pacino's character along with his friendship with Jake and his life with his lover who has left him. The film is a locked room story, which interspersed with curious editing choices which always elevated the story and kept it interesting. But overall, the film is a great watch for Pacino aficionado's and people interested in the life of writers.

As most of all the movie, is about two friends and what their life amounts to in the end, and all the disappointments and vindications you have about yourself and others.

I just watched this on DVD, and although it offered some interesting moments and insights, the dialog felt forced and the two main actors, both of whom have done great work in other projects, didn't seem to click. On the DVD, there's an epilogue in the "features" section in which Pacino, who also directed, wondered whether there were too many flashbacks. Actually, I thought the flashbacks were enlivening, enabling the story to be more involving than it might otherwise have been. Pacino also mentions that because of Orbach's "Law and Order" shooting schedule, they were forced to film 84 pages of dialog in 21 days, perhaps explaining, at least in part, why the film feels a little undercooked.

Well I just loved the Chinese Coffee for its brilliant acting and direction. It reminded me of the theater of the Absurd in a strange haunting way! With Chinese Coffee Mr. Pacino surpasses his own status of being a stellar performer & a superstar combined and cements his position as one of the greatest artists of all times.

The tone of the movie is intimate and artistic at times a little dark. I loved the stream of Levine's consciousness which makes the audiences look into his past---his hopes & failures. Pacino is brilliant as a middle aged struggling writer who is haunted by his own past, his parents' and his own shortcomings and aspirations.

Kudos to Mr. Pacino for providing us with such a brilliant artistic piece! He truly is a gem of an artist. Love him! God bless!

A Broadway play turned into a film starring Al Pacino and Jerry Orbach. Think of this script as sort of a "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" between two heterosexual men. In the span of two hours (with flashbacks) layer after layer of their relatively short friendship is peeled away to raw feelings and pseudo-honest expressions until a few truths may have been reached. My only problem with it is in the style of the dialog – much of the time feeling the scripts are invisible but right in front of them. The timing is too "ready" and snappy, the comebacks polished, the exchanges sculpted with care. Had it (they) been relaxed, awkward, slow to respond, overly fast to respond, etc., I could've believed it. As it is, I never lost awareness this was a staged play.