Bagdad Cafe (1987) User Reviews

Brilliant character drama - a tiny masterpiece even.

[Pedro_H · 8/10 · 17 October 2004]

A overweight German tourist is dumped in the middle of nowhere by her angry husband and puts in motion a set of unlikely comic and touching events.

Here in the Internet age we can do a lot of good work digging up and re-appraising films that deserve to be seen. While this is film might not to be everyone's taste it is a wonderful light drama about people of no particular importance doing very little beyond learning about each other.

Yet it works so well and haunts you for days after seeing it.

For reasons I also can't explain I find the American hinterlands strangely poetic and underused. Films such as Paris, Texas and The Last Picture Show also used these regions effectively.

More than any other film I have seen it cannot really be explained in words. It is about atmosphere and delivery and superb acting for a cast of - mostly - unknowns. It doesn't really have a plot as such and merely lingers in small-town America and observes small town mores and manners with cold detachment.

A little gem.

Bright Colours, Weird Angles, Big Heart.....

[tim-764-291856 · 8/10 · 27 March 2012]

Here's a lovely oddity from little known German director Percy Adlon - his first in English. Set in the Arizona scrub is a scruffy diner, where a motley crew of staff and regulars make their home.

A plump German housewife (a joyous Marianne Sagebrecht) is dumped at the roadside by her husband after they row. She makes it to the diner, cases in tow, where the argument has been all about the broken down coffee machine. "You want a room? HERE!!?" enquires boss Brenda (CCH Pounder). The camera shows odd angles and takes on things, rather like Oliver Stone's might do.

Jack Palance, radiating comic charm is the resident just beyond-middle age hippie and he takes a shine to the Frau Jasmin. His performance is as memorable as his Oscar winning one in City Slickers. Anyways, the bustling restless Jasmin has her ways of thinking and those ways don't always meet that of Brenda. Her first task is to do the much needed vacuuming in a pea-green walled room that she's paid $25 to stay in. It's the sight of Jasmin's unpacked lederhosen that causes Brenda to call out the local sheriff.

In a charming, heart-warming tale, full of human colour, is a film that can be enjoyed time and again (I'm on my third view) and one that is offbeat enough to be interesting but always stays the side of going too far. An unknown and enjoyable gem.

on a desert road from Vegas to nowhere...

[yris2002 · 8/10 · 14 January 2010]

In a world where (some) men just escape and hide, and women go ahead and start everything anew, any place becomes a good place to give new lymph to one's life: change lies in everyone's will to make it happen, and history teaches that women are far better than men in this. The director (a man!) of "Out of Rosenheim" (better known as "Bagdad Cafè") proves this simple truth very clearly and honestly.

In my still in progress search for on the road movies I bumped into this curious piece of cinema, not a road picture properly, since no physical journey happens, but certainly more than an inner journey develops. It involves the lives of some odd characters, especially Jasmin and Brenda whose lives, so distant but so similar, come to meet at the Bagdad Café, located on a "desert road from Vegas to nowhere" (quotation from the wonderful leading song "Calling you"). At the beginning it is a shabby, dirty, anonymous place, where people only pass by, run by a hysterical and melancholic Brenda, whose encounter with the impeccable "deutsche" Jasmin will turn the cafè into an amusing and happy place and will renew both lives radically. They will become friends, besides suspicion and fear, by teaching mutually how to enjoy life again. And it will turn out very difficult, almost impossible, to leave this magic place.

The cast is outstanding, the two female protagonists are perfect in their parts, but also Jack Palance, with his mixture of past glory and present melancholy, leaves the mark.The very good photography (some settings captured at sunset are really effective), together with the deeply involving and enigmatic music contribute to a significant emotional impact on the viewer, and also some very funny moments are to be enjoyed. A truly worth seeing picture.

Amazing!

[lottatitles · 9/10 · 25 December 2002]

I watched this because C.C.H. Pounder is one of my favorites. 1 minute in I thought...'why am I watching this?' Three minutes in I was so hooked I watched it twice. One of my favorite Jack Palance performances. Pounder is unbelievably good, and Marianne Sagebrecht is a marvel. The haunting score alone is worth the movie. Do yourself a big favor and ignore the FEW negative comments here and watch this movie. Try to forget big efx, car chase, alien films for a couple of hours and you won't be disappointed.

A movie that works without being able to explain why

[gusdawg78-1 · 10/10 · 27 May 2004]

Years ago while living in another state, I was bored and went to the local "mom and pop" video store to find something to pass the time. The proprietor asked me what type of movie I preferred. I responded that I like movies that are good stories about people, relationships, friendships, etc.

He recommended "Bagdad Cafe".

A few years later, the video store was driven out of business by the larger chains. It is too bad really, because I doubt that I would ever have stumbled upon this little gem of a movie at one of the huge mega video marts that are popping up all over the planet like unwanted zits, but I digress.

I owe that person a huge "Thank you!" for introducing me to what has become one of my all time favorite movies.

I was strangely pulled into the movie right from the beginning. For me, it was like a great book that you just can't put down, and that you want to read over, and over again to see if you missed anything, or merely to recapture the warm feeling you got the first time through.

What is also unusual is that after more than 10 years have passed, I recently was able to talk my 25-year-old son into watching it with me. His comment about midway through was, "I am strangely drawn to this movie." At the end, he said it was "Great!" and asked me if it had won any awards. I found this perspective amazing coming from someone who regularly feeds on a diet of movies such as "Lord of the Rings", "Matrix", and "Kill Bill." Go figure.

From my limited observation of those who appreciate this movie (like me), I have come to the conclusion that this is a movie that works without being able to explain why. When asked to describe in one word what this movie is about, the best response I can come up with is "friendship." However, that is such a lame description, because there is so much more to the movie than just that.

Yet, on the surface, one could get the mistaken impression that there is not really much going on "Bagdad Cafe". There are no car chases, love scenes, murders, suicides, explosions, deaths, births, weddings, or funerals. The movie just, "is."

It is a slice of mid-life for two women, Jasmine & Brenda, when their paths cross. These two are women who are trying to cope with their respective lots in life, which from external appearances seem to be quite diverse. However, at the heart they are really the same. Both are in ruts, looking for change, for something better in the middle of nowhere, when they find each other. Once the rock-hard exterior melts away and they reach a common ground, their blossoming friendship transforms both.

The character of Jasmine is the glue that brings the story together. In "Bagdad Cafe", she gives new meaning to the old saying, "making lemonade out of lemons" and in the process, she also brings magic and new energy into the life of Brenda and her family. The subtlety of the revelation of Jasmine's real character is one of the best examples of a human metamorphosis ever captured on the screen.

If you are looking for a movie with special effects of epic proportions, or new adventures in creative violence, this movie might not be for you. However, if you are looking for a story about humanity, love and friendship done with a "light" touch, then pop the popcorn and put on "Bagdad Cafe" and enjoy.

Oh, and to the owner of the little video store who recommended this movie to me, where ever you are, thank you for bringing the magic of "Bagdad Cafe" into my life.

Long Overdue Comments

[GregCnAZ-1 · 16 February 2003]

Bagdad Cafe has been one of my favorite films since I first saw it back in the late '80s. Like so many others who have commented on this film before me, as the film began, I too wondered how long I was going to last while I watched its very strange opening sequence. But, I stayed with it and by the end, was so taken by the characters and locale of this film that I immediately added it to my library and have watched it at least once a year ever since. Watching it is now like visiting old friends once again. One person commented below that they wished Bagdad Cafe really existed. While the characters in Bagdad Cafe may be fictional, the cafe really does exist. It is located in Newberry Springs, CA, about 20 miles east of the desert town of Barstow. Though it was originally called The Sidewinder Cafe, due to the following of this film, it is now called Badgad Cafe. I have had lunch there several times and each visit is a completely surreal experience. The cafe looks much the same as it did in the film and you can sit at the table right by the door where Jasmine used to sit and have her coffee. If you're ever passing by on Interstate 40, don't forget to visit. In the meantime, check out this special film. The memorable performances will keep you involved, even if the first 30 minutes have you wondering what and why you are watching, but hang in there. You won't be disappointed.

One Terrific Little Film.

[travelinggirl · 7/10 · 25 January 2013]

Loving a small touch of surrealism in your movies, I would have to say that this film would be a perfect fit for you. The way the film was photographed (often off-kilter), the desert colors (looking air- brushed), the people are very much off the edge (the result of heatstroke maybe?), and even the inanimate objects all seem to have a life of their own in this film.

It was wonderful that the actor Jack Palance left behind his typical "slightly mean" persona to play a character that is bemused and a big lovestruck artist. CCH Pounder is an actor that can scold and holler better than anyone. She is so very commanding. It is great that the characters of the long-suffering men in her life eventually get to appreciate the story unfolding before them. The overweight German woman who turns a disgusting dirty, "down on its luck" café/motel into a special place, where magical things happen on so many different levels, is just wonderful. The last scene kind of disappointed me, but overall it doesn't undermine this goofball quality of this one terrific little film.

Magic in the desert and music by Bach

[jotix100 · 10/10 · 3 January 2006]

"Out of Rosenheim" is a film about how the kind Jasmin touches the lives of other people that at first disdain her. In fact, Jasmin is an angel that happens to come to the help of the poor people at the seedy motel and cafe because she perceives beauty where there is ugliness, hope where there was despair and turns everyone around to appreciate her for what she contributes to enhance their lives.

Percy Adlon, who is an original filmmaker, scored a big success with this simple film that, judging by some negative responses to this forum, can either make the viewer love it for its subtle charm, or just be perplexed because there is no action. Yet, Mr. Adlon, writing with his wife, Eleonor and Christopher Doherty, created a film that will stay in the viewer's mind for some time to come.

As the film opens, we watch Jasmin and her husband taking a break in their journey through the desert. As they quarrel, Jasmin decides to leave him and gets her suitcase out of the trunk to walk along the solitary highway to find a place where to rest. Before that, we have seen a strange sort of mirage in the desert horizon where two surreal lights are seen through some mist. Those lights seem to guide Jasmin as to what route to take in order to continue her journey, or maybe she is just an angel with a mission, as the film continues.

As Jasmin arrives at the seedy cafe that is next to the motel, she encounters a hostile Brenda, a black woman who is struggling to make the cafe and motel work with little success. Jasmin is given a room, but being suspicious, Brenda calls the local sheriff to investigate what is she doing at her place, but since there is nothing wrong, Brenda can't do anything.

Jasmin upon discovering the cleaning tools in her room gets an inspiration to continue to straighten the rest of the place. She goes and cleans Brenda's office, which is in a state of chaos. When Brenda gets back, she is horrified watching the confusion she left behind has been turned into a neater place where to conduct business. She can't concede the fact to Jasmin, who she still considers an unwelcome guest that has overstayed and has committed the ultimate sin of making Brenda aware of the messy state of her place and her life.

When Jasmin discovers in her husband's suitcase a kit about learning magic, she begins to practice the different tricks that she shows the others in the cafe. Rudi Cox, the strange man living in a trailer in the property, is a painter; he decides he wants to paint Jasmin and little by little he discovers the beauty of his subject who seems to radiate it from inside her soul.

The film owes a great deal of gratitude to Marianne Sagebrecht, one of the most accomplished actresses from Germany who is an asset to anything where she is cast. Ms. Sagebrecht steals the film because of the luminosity she projects; she seems to cast an aura that others see and are instantly won over by her kindness and her generosity.

CCH Pounder, makes a good contribution to the film. Her Brenda is at the beginning harsh, curt and just plain nasty because the way life has treated her. Jack Palance doesn't have much of a role to play, but his chemistry with Ms. Sagebrecht makes a sweet distraction for the movie.

"Out of Rosenheim" is a film in which nothing seems to happen, yet it is packed with a powerful message that comes across as one watches it. Percy Adlon and his star, Marianne Sagebrecht, made a timeless film that will survive the passage of time.

A Bit Odd

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 15 January 2016]

A lonely German woman (Marianne Sägebrecht) ends up in the most desolate motel on Earth and decides to make it brighter.

Whether or not this is a good film is really hard for me to say. I suppose it is, but really it is more of an oddity than anything else. A German film that takes place in America where Germans (who speak poor English) are tourists? Okay. That is different.

Those who want to see a young CCH Pounder in action will appreciate this film, but it is Jack Palance that steals the show. He seems just as out of place as the Germans, and watching him interact with everyone seems so strange. Pounder claims that Palance had to act off-camera in the romantic scenes because he found Sagebrecht unattractive. I can believe it, because everything Palance does seems so distant.

Mesmerizing Cafe, Mesmerizing Movie

[calm · 10/10 · 9 April 2003]

When this film first started, my first thoughts were to turn to something else because Bagdad Cafe was not what I thought it would be. The movie guide said it was about a large women who brings change to another women's business.

For some reason, I stuck with the movie and was pleasantly surprised. I found myself laughing, crying, cheering, standing, sitting, jumping and even talking to myself. All of this equates to happiness, I felt happy by the time the movie ended and of course, I didn't want Bagdad Cafe to end.

An unlikely German woman named Jasmin (played by Marianne Sägebrecht) appears at this cafe/motel out of no where. She has a suitcase of men's clothes and no car. Her appearance raises the eyebrows of the owner, whose husband just left her, as well as some of the permanent residents of the Cafe. Jack Palance, for one, is a painter who finds Jasmin mesmerizing and wants desperately to paint her. The owner (Brenda) has a son who plays classic piano that no one cares to hear until this woman, who later performs magic, comes along.

By the end of the movie, things are jumping, attitudes have disappeared, and the camaraderie among the cafe staff is unbelievable. This is truly a feel good movie that picks up long after it's slow beginning. It took me to a place, in my heart, that was filled with emotion, song and dance. Bob Telson won an Oscar for best song (Calling You) for this movie in 1989. The song was also mesmerizing and would win again in 2003 if it were up for an award. The owner, played by CCH Pounder, played the role of a lifetime. She should have gotten an award for her performance as well. There's a lot to be learned at the Bagdad Cafe.

Very strange...also very lovely

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 4 June 2014]

Surreal, mercurial drama from West Germany has troubled-yet-complacent Marianne Sägebrecht leaving a bad marriage and coming across an eccentric café in the California desert. Oddball picture gets off on the wrong foot, with confusing hysteria and shouting from the residents, but those who stick with it will be rewarded by what follows. The sneaky film captures viewers unawares with its sideways message of love and friendship, eventually becoming a rather touching, lovely fantasy about human bonds. The unusual cast, including CCH Pounder, Christine Kaufman and (surprise!) Jack Palance, does strong work, though it is Sägebrecht's beautiful performance which holds the movie together. Followed by a far-inferior television sitcom. *** from ****

This movie is a gem.

[dhoffman · 10/10 · 23 February 2001]

Bagdad Café is an atypical feel-good film with a great deal to say about human relationships and the impact one person can have on others. The offbeat characters who have virtually no past history-and none is needed-interact naturally and wonderfully. The viewer finds out all he needs to know when it's time for him to know it. The temptation to present these individuals as misfits has been avoided; instead, this odd group is portrayed as a microcosm of society as a whole. Their ultimate transformation is effected smoothly and believably, except for a jarring `musical' sequence near the end, which appears as an attempt to tie up loose ends. Symbols abound-the magic kit functioning as a metaphor for the changes effected by Jasmin, the unlikely protagonist of this story. The boomerang suggests that what one puts forth emotionally comes back to them. Many visual clues serve to connect the `incidents'-the coffee maker, the painting in the motel room, the box of magic tricks, a finger tracing dirt on the desk in Brenda's `office'. This is a film that is better on the second and the third viewing, when the directorial skills of Percy Adlon become more evident. He achieves a remarkable non-judgmental attitude in a nearly plotless story. Marianne Sägebrecht is superb as Jasmin; Jack Palance gives a wonderful performance as a retired Hollywood set-painter whose lust for Sägebrecht constantly boils humorously below the surface. CCH Pounder, as Brenda, holds back just enough in her performance to make her transformation unquestioned and acceptable. This is not a film of sex or violence; it is, instead, a film about people we might have encountered, the nature of being human, and the pleasures of being alive.

Strong character puzzle missing a couple of pieces, but still beautiful

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 27 December 2006]

Here's for an American comedy that's... uh... VERY German. At least, it's set in Nevada just outside of Las Vegas, and holds a very strong sense of the Southwest and its colors and energy, but directed by a German in a very Expressionist way.

A German tourist has an argument with her husband and they split up, him taking the car and leaving her out in the hot sunny wasteland. Wandering along the highway she makes her way to Bagdad, a small town... or rather, a café with people who for some reason like to hang out around it all their lives... and befriends the usually angry and very aggravated owner. The two, though very confused with each other at first, eventually spark a friendship of "magic" that attracts many visitors to the small outpost.

It's very funny and pretty quirky. A lot of the strange editing and washed-out cinematography add to a sense of Expressionism, but captures very well the landscape... both its heat and its beauty.

This film is missing a few bits of character development and sometimes feels a bit rushed, but it's a very nice and very loving take on yet another type of culture shock that eventually works magic and brings people together. Some things weren't developed enough (Brenda's husband spends all that time spying and yet never comes back?) but the short time we spend with all these characters paints broad portraits that leave their echoes with us forever. That, indeed, is a very strong ability indeed.

CCH Pounder is brilliant. If you want to see her do brilliantly as a very different character in a very good movie, watch Benny and Joon. The two movies are similar in that they bring very quirky characters together, but otherwise are nearly completely different. Between the two of these movies, I wish CCH Pounder was in a lot more movies than animations and television series.

--PolarisDiB

Awful movie - why was this ever made?

[jgxenakis · 1/10 · 4 July 2011]

I loved Marian Sagebrecht in Sugar Baby. Great actor. I missed Bagdad Cafe when it came out so I jut watched it. AWFUL!

No sense of place or context. No character development or exegesis. Most of the roles seem "pasted" into the script like Colorforms - they are all cartoon characters. CCH Pounder plays Brenda at only two levels - a perpetually angry and unlikable woman, and then as an inexplicable softy - my only wonder about the movie was what took her husband so long to leave her.

The ending was ludicrous - I thought it could have been an SNL skit and I was waiting for Will Farrell to appear as Robert Goulet on trucker tour.

And whoever Jevetta Steele is, who sings the soundtrack, her voice is most irritating.

I will say that the cinematography and editing were very good.

I never wanted to leave...

[simonrosenbaum · 9/10 · 22 August 2003]

I sat down and watched this in a rather distressed state having had a trying day. After a few minutes into the film my mood changed as I became immersed into this strange tale of a harassed owner of a cafe in the middle of nowhere and a tourist from Germany. The owner of the cafe brilliantly played by CCH Pounder is just as bemused as we are why this German tourist delightfully played by Marianne Sagebrecht wants to stay at her cafe. This is a wonderfully unpredictable film never going where most films would go. It's utterly charming and I only got distressed again when I realised it was about to end! (9/10)

Delightfully oddball, sweet film.

[runamokprods · 9/10 · 18 May 2010]

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.

The original 15 minute longer 'director's cut' available on European DVDs does add some nice details, moments and filling out of characters. The film works fine in its shorter US version, and the Italian DVD of the director's cut I got was frustrating in that it had a a weaker visual transfer than the US DVD, and there were Italian subtitles you couldn't turn off, but I was glad to see it, and overall it's an even stronger film with the original material added back in.

A desert gem

[DeeDee-10 · 29 April 1999]

This is a love story. And in this film magical love comes to the Bagdad Cafe in the form of Jasmin, who brings meaning and purpose to the lives of the small group of people who surround her: the painter who begins to paint again and falls in love; Brenda, the harried, frustrated owner of the cafe who finds friendship, comfort and support; Brenda's children, who also benefit from Jasmin's caring and compassion. The use of the boomerang was interesting: a metaphor for what you give, you get back, and the joy of giving and receiving. The magic of Love will appear anywhere -even in the middle of the desert- as long as you have an open heart and mind.

Peculiar but charming little slow-starter.

[=G= · 6/10 · 28 July 2001]

"Bagdad Cafe" tells of a stout, laconic female German tourist who abandons her husband in the middle of California's Mohave desert and wanders into a ramshackle truck stop where she proceeds to quietly do a sort of Tony Robbins transformation of its eccentric inhabitants. A plodding slow-starter, this flick requires patience from the audience as it tells its somewhat sweet story and delivers its moral which is loosely something like "attitude is everything". A worthwhile watch for those into quirky one-of-a-kind "feel good" flicks.

A "Shining-Time Station" for Adults

[popshrink · 10/10 · 30 December 2001]

This is, perhaps, the film I'd choose if I were marooned on some island. No - it's not "Kane" or "Potemkin." It's not "important," "profound," "unforgettable or any such Face-the-front!-No-talking!-Shut-up! momentousness. "Bagdad" (not quite a sensible story) is a plausibly implausible film about love, friendship and joy found in an unlikely place among unlikely people - all of whom we can recognize.

There's no Disney-like roll-over-and-lick-your-hand cutesiness. No showdowns, no happy or sad ending. It simply satisfies each moment it's before you. Then it's gone and I felt great. See it again the next year; it's astonishing again. I felt great again. What more can one ask of any film?

Quirky

[kenjha · 7/10 · 7 August 2011]

A lonely German woman decides to spend some time at a roadside inn in a desolate desert town in the U.S. West. The film gets off to a bad start, with a man and a woman apparently having a fight, but it plays like a silent film without titles, so it's not clear what is going on and no explanation is provided. It becomes engaging once Sagebrecht settles down at the café and starts to change the lives of the locals. However, there's no rhyme or reason to the plot. The focus is on quirky characters and situations, and it is charming enough in terms of quirkiness. There are good performances from Sagebrecht, Pounder, and Palance.

Heartwarming tale, beautiful images

[mehdimarechal · 9/10 · 30 March 2007]

This is a rare gem. The first time I saw this film I was attracted by the beautifully shot images, the warm colors and the beautiful song that accompanied them. Then, when learning to know the characters better, the film really unfolds to you it's whole essence! This is a simple, straightforward story about friendship, pain, love and humanity. Every single character is very real and well acted, and the story evolves very naturally. This is a film that makes you love mankind, that makes you love it's characters and that gets deep under your skin. A film that with all it's simplicity and beauty catches you and never leaves you. An unpretentious and heartwarming gem. Brilliant!

I was impressed with the unlimited sky.

[Aoi_kdr · 6/10 · 7 September 2019]

This movie has some magnificent shots! The perfect green room, the orange sunset, the dried ground and pink sky. I would be about to cry when I watch it with tired heart.

I expected this movie was fashionable and smooth by the cover design of Japanese version. But the proprietress of Bagdad Cafe spewed violence remarks a lot in the first half. If I didn't hear the nice reviews of this, maybe I stoped watching till the middle. That's why it made my heart calm down in the last half. Jasmine was one of the customers, but also was an outsider for that place. Her kindness influenced on everyone and gave them relaxed. What a precious existance she was! We cannot take care of myself without thoughtfulness even for the others. I want her to come here!

Magic Marianne

[nenetrader · 10/10 · 7 November 2013]

I discovered Bagdad Cafe by accident. The film I'd set out to see was sold out so, having schlepped into London, I reluctantly settled for something I'd never heard of showing on another screen. It was Bagdad Cafe. Subsequently I bought the VHS, lent it to someone - "You MUST see this movie!" - and never got it back. I bought the DVD, lent it to someone else, same result. I bought a second DVD and I am NEVER lending it out. Never ever.

This is a spellbinding film, and like many of the reviewers here I can't quite work out what the spell is. It's a simple story: a German tourist finds herself dumped in the Nevada desert by her obnoxious husband and makes her way to an isolated, rundown motel and service station - the eponymous Bagdad Cafe. She makes friends with the people there. That's it.

The isolation of the motel reflects the isolation of the motley collection of characters living there. Life seems to have passed them by just as the trucks on the highway pass them by. They are in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, cast up on the edge of the flow like human flotsam. Each is lost in solitude and quiet desperation, stuck, trying to make the best of things.

Jasmin, Marianne Sagebrecht's character, is also stranded by the abrupt and brutal break-up of her marriage. In a black irony she has grabbed not her own suitcase but her husband's, which contains his clothes and, surreally, a teach-yourself-magic kit.

With a vulnerable, valiant and soul-wrenching dignity Jasmin sets about making the most of her bleak situation, a stranger in a very strange land. She rolls up her sleeves and cleans the place. She makes proper coffee, strong. Alone in her room, she starts teaching herself magic tricks from the kit as mile-long trains trundle by in the night.

One by one, the other characters begin to thaw around her. Jasmin is the catalyst that brings them together. Artist and former Hollywood set-painter Rudi Cox (Jack Palance, in lizard-skin cowboy boots as reptilian as his eyes) falls helplessly in lust, then love, with this voluptuous Teuton who has appeared out of the desert like a perspiring valkyrie. The café owner Brenda (CCH Pounder, a world of helpless pain in her face) slowly lets go of the rage that is tearing her apart. She learns to smile again. Brenda's grown-up children, the Bach-worshipping son and the wayward daughter, are won over. The once-deserted café starts to attract a clientèle. Why? "It's magic," as Jasmin says, blue eyes glinting, prestidigitating eggs, coins and ribbons from the ears of laughing customers.

Magic indeed. The film weaves an indefinable spell under skies cascading with colour, against a soundtrack that includes Bob Telson's Oscar-nominated 'Calling You'. Love, friendship and fellowship bloom in the desert. Hope blossoms in the sand. Director Percy Adlon (the screenplay was written by his wife Eleonore) has created a gentle, haunting, humanist jewel.

And no, you can't borrow my copy.

A long way from Rosenheim

[paul2001sw-1 · 6/10 · 26 August 2010]

An unlikely visitor arrives in an unhappy community, and, after a false start, brings happiness to them and to herself. Such an outline of Percy Adlon's 'Bagdad Cafe' sounds almost conventional; but it wouldn't prepare you for the sheer weirdness of the characters or the setting (this is Bagdad, Nevada) or for the fantastical element that develops as the film progresses; nor for the sudden song and dance routine that breaks out before the movie ends. Even the theme song, which features prominently throughout, is frankly a little odd. The net result is certainly original, and not without charm; it never feels forced, but it is deliberately peculiar, and how much you like it will probably depend on how easy you find it to fall into its world. Adlon himself is Bavarian (as his the lead character); but if this is true Bavarian humour, it's certainly very strange.

Why do people like this movie? Baffling!

[fwmurnau · 2/10 · 7 August 2005]

A fat woman shows up in the life of a black woman who is played by a not-very-good actress. For the next two hours absolutely nothing happens except a theme song, which isn't a bad tune really, is repeated so often you grow to hate it with a passion.

Everything positive people say about this film -- character relationship, bonding between women, sisterhood, whatever -- seems to be stuff they're reading into it because there is truly very little in the way of story or characterization. As Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, "there is no there there."

Staring at a blank screen for two hours would be more enlightening -- and certainly more entertaining.