..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Romance
& Cigarettes

Directed by John Turturro
United Artists (for now)

Romance & Cigarettes was a breath of fresh air at this year's Toronto Film Festival... and a bit of cigarette breath as well.

You have to give it to John Turturro. He is one audacious guy. There is no beating around the bush here. He takes a simple story of suburban New York life - a family, a first affair, and the results - and breaks out in pop songs with a mix of the actors' singing, the original recordings and a mixture of significant and insignificant choreography. Interestingly, the more simple he stays, the more effective the film.

There is great novelty in seeing James Gandolfini singing. And Kate Winslet is a surprise, the one performer - other than professional singer Mandy Moore - to really try to dominate the original music tracks underneath the actors' performances. But while many of the big numbers work, the arrival of actors singing has diminishing returns.

Turturro is a very meticulous director. He's still relatively inexperienced, but you can feel his hand in very specific details in each scene. Sometimes, his grasp is simply greater than his reach. For instance, he has a habit of cutting between scenes within songs, even when there is little dramatic call for it. A scene between Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon might well be punctuated with back-up singing by the daughters (Mary Louise Parker, Mandy Moore and Aida Tarantino) and even though the girls add energy, their involvement is without much dramatic logic.

There also seem to be some missing scenes. Where is the Steve "The Pal" Buscemi number, the Eddie "The Reverend" Izzard number and the Mary Louise "The Middle Daughter" Parker numbers? Perhaps they came and went. Perhaps not. I don't know. But when you have that talent on set, you would expect someone as clever as Turturro to take advantage of it.

Still, our intrepid writer/director sticks to his guns, keeping the film squarely in the world of the lower middle class without ever condescending. A little more baffling, but still a committed choice, R&C is one of the raunchiest films of the festival, mostly in the person of Kate Winslet's character, Tula, whose pornographic descriptions of activities of choice are as jaw-dropping as they are funny.

Cameoing to great effect are Chris Walken and Elaine Stritch, both turning up as expected. Walken, unfortunately, doesn't get to rise to the level of either Pennies From Heaven or his Spike Jonze's video for Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice. Also doing a nice turn as a pair in love are Bobby Canavale & Mandy Moore.

Gandolfini is excellent in the lead. Susan Sarandon fills her role with skill and wit. And as the third member of the triangle, Kate Winslet steals the show, whether it is spewing filth, dancing and offering up her breasts as virtual third and fourth feet, or doing her best Bjork in an underwater sequence. You only wish she had slightly better material to work with because she brings it and she brings it without flinching.

There is little question, you could drive a truck through this movie. But there is a lot of great stuff here that is incredibly enjoyable. I don't know if anyone can find a bigger-than-small-arthouse audience for this film. There were enough buyers in the screening here at Toronto to make rumors that Sony is still looking to sell the film off (as well as Art School Confidential, which wasn't up to a screening here) for another distributor to handle. And it is a tough order. But I know that I'll be looking forward to seeing it again.

- David Poland