Bagdad Cafe (Widescreen): Amazon.ca: DVD: DVD

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Jasmin (Marianne Sägebrecht), a German tourist, has just walked off from her husband at the side of the road in the middle of the Mojave Desert; Brenda (CCH Pounder) has just kicked her husband out of the roadside cafe-motel they operate. When Jasmin arrives at the cafe, the two begin developing a prickly but ultimately rewarding friendship. Many other movies have tried to duplicate Bagdad Cafe's mixture of loose storytelling, off-kilter metaphors, and rich emotions, but most often these imitators leave out the random chaos of life and the awkward pain of change that Bagdad Cafe captures with such a gentle touch. Bagdad Cafe earns both its quirkiness and its sentiment by keeping one foot firmly rooted in reality. Director Percy Adlon teamed with star Sägebrecht in two other similarly offbeat movies, Sugarbaby and Rosalie Goes Shopping; his more recent features without her haven't been as successful. Still, he continues to be noted for his odd but lively use of color filters and jagged editing. Bagdad Cafe also features the great Jack Palance (Shane, Requiem for a Heavyweight, City Slickers) playing an easy-going painter; the opportunity to be an ordinary person, rather than his usual wicked fiends, brings out a delightful mischief in Palance. Pounder, who usually gets small supporting parts, deserves another role like this to take advantage of her remarkable range. All in all, an eccentric and wonderful film. --Bret Fetzer

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Customer Reviews

37 Reviews

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite movie of all time, Dec 9 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Bagdad Cafe (VHS Tape)

This movie is just perfect. It deserves all the oscars in the world. After watching this movie, you feel good about life....

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightfully sweet, oddball film, April 8 2011

By

K. Gordon - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Bagdad Cafe (Widescreen) (DVD)

A wonderful, funny, odd, and unique film.

Strong acting all around (Jack Palance is amazing). Inventive use of
distorted colors and changing camera speeds. A few moments get a bit
precious, but generally one of the best uses I've seen of a slightly
surreal style to tell a very touching, human story - an overweight,
depressed Bavarian housewife is left stranded in the southwest desert
by her husband, and slowly finds herself, and a home among the odd
characters who live and work at the Bagdad Cafe.

This is a case where brave film-making enhances rather than distracts
from emotional involvement. The basic theme (we're all weird, and we
all need somewhere to fit in) is nothing new, but the approach here
makes it delightful and fresh.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Few words...., Aug 28 2003

By

Sarah Micol "sarahmicol" (Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bagdad Cafe (Widescreen) (DVD)

I guess when I was about 11 I was asked to learn a song called "Calling you"....A hard job but I did like my voice sounded while I was interpreting that song. I could hardly understand the lyrics but I could feel the whole thing was great. I heard this song was in the O.S.T of a movie called "Bagdad Cafè". I had to see it. I needed to see it. It was hard to find the VHS at the time for in Italy good movies and good music are not really appreciated. Whatever. It moved me. I cried. I learned something about life in general from that movie. Silly me... tonight I watched again this movie...on an unknown tv channel....and i cried again.
I have no many words to say. I don't want to run the risk to be more silly than this. It's quite enough. And, you know what? There's no need to say too many words. You gotta see it to understand why so many people loved it. and still love it.
The best words to describe it are these "A desert road from Vegas to nowhere/ someplace better than where you've been/ a coffee machine that needs some fixing/ in a little cafè just around the bend/ a hot dry wind blows right through me/ the baby's crying and I can't sleep/ but I can feel a change is coming/ coming closer/ sweet release....I am calling you / Can't you hear me / I am calling you"
Love Sarah Micòl

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good movie !
I love the musical theme of that movie and it was pleasant to watch this movie.

Published 19 months ago by minniemouse

4.0 out of 5 stars Different Worlds Harmonize -- Quiet Gem of a Film
When a middle aged Bavarian Tourist lands in a remote, scarcely populated California desert town, she creates not only a stir with the locals, but eventually brightens the spirits... Read more

Published on Oct 19 2003 by Michael Mathena