Synopsis
Bagdad Cafe (Out of Rosenheim, 1987) is Percy Adlon's offbeat tragicomedy, free to watch online on iFILM. Somewhere on Route 66, between Vegas and nowhere, a Bavarian tourist named Jasmin walks away from a roadside fight with her husband and trudges through the Mojave heat toward a run-down motel and diner.
The place is run by Brenda (CCH Pounder), a frazzled, sharp-tongued owner whose life is coming apart at the seams. At first she eyes the heavyset German stranger in the felt hat like an alien who wandered in off the highway. Then Jasmin (Marianne Sägebrecht) starts quietly tidying up — scrubbing windows, doing card tricks for the truckers — and the dead-end diner slowly comes back to life. Among the regulars is Rudi Cox, an aging painter played by Jack Palance, who can't stop sketching her.
Adlon spins a near-plotless story into a warm fable about female friendship and the way one odd outsider can revive a dying place. Its theme song, "Calling You," earned an Oscar nomination and has been covered countless times since. A gentle film for anyone worn out by loud plots. Stream Bagdad Cafe (1987) online on iFILM.
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