When you think ofAl Pacino, larger-than-life films where characters shout, scheme, and burn with ambition, such as in The Godfather, Scarface, andDog Day Afternoonprobably come to mind. But at the turn of the millennium, in 2000, Al Pacino made Chinese Coffee, a small, personal project in which he stars and also directs. It's a film that captures a wounded conversation between two men grappling with failure, disappointment, and a hope that is second-by-second fading away. An adaptation of Ira Lewis’ one-act play, Chinese Coffee has Al Pacino comfortable in showing us a raw, talky, and startlingly vulnerable side playing Harry Levine, a struggling wannabe novelist who has just been fired from a dead-end job. Al Pacino’s take on the film shows a weariness that’s rare among his typical mythic characters. He is joined by Jerry Orbach, best remembered by many for Law & Order, but also a Broadway legend and a scene-stealer in Dirty Dancing. Orbach is Al Pacino’s onscreen friend Jake Manheim, who is going through the same trepidation as him. The film is largely a midnight conversation between the two “losers,” but one that feels more real than anything you’ve seen before.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·