Café (Video 2011)

When tragedy strikes the community surrounding a cafe in West Philadelphia, the cafe's regulars come to realize how intertwined their lives truly are.

Director:

Marc Erlbaum

Writer:

Marc Erlbaum

Stars:

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Daniel Eric Gold, Michaela McManus

Cast

Credited cast:
Jennifer Love Hewitt	...	Claire
Daniel Eric Gold	...	Todd
Michaela McManus	...	Movie Woman
Madeline Carroll	...	Elly
Alexa Vega	...	Sally
Jamie Kennedy	...	Dealer
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maria Armesto	...	Deaf / Mute Woman
Khan Baykal	...	Colin
Gavin Bellour	...	Dave
Brandon Milan Beston	...	Dancer
Cecelia Ann Birt	...	Earth Mother
Chris Bowyer	...	Dancer
Tara Broadway	...	Random Patron #2
Derek Cecil	...	Movie Man
Jessica Czop	...	Student #2

Storyline

A good-hearted musician struggles to find a way to tell his beautiful barista coworker that he loves her, despite the fact that she is in a relationship. Meanwhile, regulars and customers at the café where they work have their own problems and encounters. A police officer keeps his eye on his wayward cousin, who owes money to a charismatic dealer, and a married man contemplates his relationship with a good-looking new acquaintance. However, one customer believes he is in fact the main character in a computer simulation of modern life, set in the microcosm of the café, all designed by a young girl.

---

Plot Keywords:

barista | omniscience | virtual world | free will | one word title

---

Taglines:

What if the world you lived in weren't real?

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Butterfly Café

Filming Locations:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nationlight Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 103 min (Showtime)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place almost exclusively inside a real working West Philadelphia café.

---

Goofs

While Elly is sitting at a table talking to Avatar, the lighted logo on Avatar's MacBook computer goes dim, however, his screen is still lit. On this computer the back light for the screen is what lights the Apple logo. The lighted logo goes on and off during the conversation even though his screen is never turned off when we see it.

---

Quotes

Elly: [explains what she would do if free to do anything] I would create a virtual world, filled with beauty and opportunity. And everyone and everything in that world would ultimately be one. But they just didn't know it.
Avatar: Why would you do that?
Elly: So that through their own effort and striving, every element in that world could overcome the boundaries that divide them. And they could form this incredibly strong and vital bond, that could have never even been conceived of had the pain of it's opposite ...
[...]

User Reviews

Modest, low budget, but fun, and sweet, and eventually effective

Cafe (2011)

A simple seeming story with a couple of otherworldly (computer reality) twists that gradually works on your sympathies and wins.

Except for a brief exterior giving the sense of place (West Philadelphia) and two or three other very minor exceptions, the entire movie is shot in a coffee shop. A surprisingly large cast of characters take on some significance. And the dreamy idealism of exactly those kinds of independent cafés permeates the movie. The ostensible driving force is the appearance now and then of a nasty guy who deals drugs and the reaction against him by others in the place and the police. But really the movie is more about character, and what makes character, and what makes some people good and whether that kind of goodness is real.

After awhile you also realize that one weird subplot--the appearance of a girl on a computer scree--is maybe the most important aspect of all. Because she helps redefine what reality is--not just the so-called reality of people's lives, but reality reality, ontologically. It's obviously too much to swallow, but just go with it, it's fun.

What holds it up most of all might just be the really solid acting from most of the main characters. And the sweetness the seems to permeate the movie through and through. It's low-budget but keeps it confident and well made anyway. It's a good excuse for hanging out with some nice people.