Romance & Cigarettes dazzles at first sight. Featuring an all-star cast, it has the added edge of being produced by the Coen brothers, and a stamp of quality in being directed by John Turturro.

Set in contemporary America, it is a modern-day musical laced with dark humour that tells the story of one man's journey through infidelity and redemption. Nick Murder (James Gandolfini) is an ironworker married to Kitty (Susan Sarandon), a silently strong woman with whom he has three daughters. Driven by blind lust, Nick starts a passion-fuelled affair with the scarlet haired Tula (Kate Winslet). Steve Buscemi turns up as Murder's best friend, Christopher Walken as Kitty's cousin Bo, Eddie Izzard as a church organist... you get the idea. The cast is brilliant, and Turturro uses them well.

While Turturro describes this as a 'savage musical', Romance & Cigarettes attempts to explore the value placed on modern day relationships through life and death. When the characters in conflict can no longer express themselves, their emotion takes over and they burst into song – sometimes lip-synching and sometimes in full voice with the music stored in their subconscious.

Drawing on inspirations as diverse as Charles Bukowski and 'The Honeymooners', this comic musical features songs from James Brown, Janis Joplin, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, and Bruce Springsteen, all of which illuminate the characters' hopes and dreams and highlight the escapism they are craving.

The musical section continues for roughly the first two acts of the film, which is the 'Romance' part of the title. The film then takes on a much more serious tone in the final act, the 'Cigarettes' part, in which Turturro looks at what happens when a very real tragedy strikes the Murder family. After laying on the laughs thick and fast, Turturro wants to make these characters real people as well. While the tonal shift is fairly abrupt, his actors are strong enough to pull it off.

Romance & Cigarettes is not a perfect film and has some problems coming together narratively early on, but it is massively entertaining. Worthy performances from everyone, combined with an exhilarating and intense script, make this compelling viewing with some hilarious moments thrown in for good measure.

Rated 16 (see IFCO website for details)
Romance & Cigarettes is released on 24th March 2006.
Romance & Cigarettes – Official website