Steven Wyatt 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.

paul2001sw-1 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.

mehdimarechal 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!

Polaris_DiB 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