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Twenty Cigarettes

2011 Directed by James Benning

Celebrated for his minimal, monumental landscape studies, James Benning turns to the intimacy of the portrait in his latest film, TWENTY CIGARETTES. Referencing Warhol’s screen tests, 1930s Hollywood glamour, and the disappearing cigarette break, the film captures 20 of Benning’s friends (including filmmaker Sharon Lockhart, cultural theorist Dick Hebdige, and book editor Janet Jenkins) satiating their smoke cravings. Each shot’s length is determined by the time it takes each subject to smoke a cigarette, and over the course of the film a dynamic range of personalities emerges out of an array of physical characteristics, distinctive settings, and personal relationships to the camera. (Amy Beste and Jessica Bardsley)

Sompot Chidgasornpongse Francesca Sloane Thom Andersen Stefan Pascher Blake Derrington Norma Turner Fabian Euresti Sharon Lockhart Dick Hebdige Hye Sung Moon Dave Crane Janet Jenkins Tanya Barber Kelman Duran Suzan Pitt

Theatrical

17 Feb 2011

Germany

Germany

17 Feb 2011

Theatrical

99 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by reibureibu ★★★★½ 13

I've slowly made peace with the reality that our brains are highly-illogical organs that manage our actions through highly-imperfect administration of chemicals. Recognizing this and my cognitive biases has been a challenge but what's been most empowering is the realization that I can train myself to, gradually, unlearn what I don't like and learn what I do by consciously regulating (as much as I can) what sets off the "feels good man" chemicals.
Twenty Cigarettes was made by Benning for a class on how to pay attention, and I found it a good test of sorts to gauge my own progression on that front. His films in general have been a formative moment not just in my own film journey…
Review by Kurdt ★★★★½ 1

No dialogue. No characters. Less than a few words. Yet utterly engrossing. James Benning defies logic and makes twenty static shots of random people smoking cigarettes a hugely personal, introspective experience. This is cinema at it's rawest, but it also goes far above cinema, far above art and deep into the core of human existence. We're all damaged, broken people that beg to be put back together but how is unknown to us all. Our solipsist attitudes mean we often forget that everyone else in the world is living a life as vivid and complex as our own and this film helps remind us of the major differences and similarities we have with other people from different realms of the…
Review by Tom Sheridan 2

I was one cigarette in. I was prepared to write something a wee bit jokey - "James Benning tells people not to look at the camera: the next movie to set your local cineplex on fire!" or something of that sort.
But a second cigarette in, and this second woman's eyes fluttered intermittently at the camera, and a different thought came to mind.
I took up smoking to have any connection with people I could. I haven't always been the greatest at it. But at a party, there's always the group outside, standing at the porch. And to this day, at those parties, for five minutes at a time, life seems a little bit easier. And here, those flittering glances…
Review by Lee 💫HEAVEN SURROUNDS US LIKE A HOOD 💫 ★★★ 1

felt my cunt levels have dropped since i quit smoking
Review by Diogo Serafim ★★★★

so much you can tell (at least suppose) simply by the way a person smokes a cigarette. reminding me a bit of coutinho (obviously in absolutely distinct approaches), benning somehow manages to extract stirring lirical potency out of such a simple proposal.
Review by karlokino ★★★★★

Benning's most personal film? A lot simpler than Ruhr, but is able go beyond the depths of his landscapes with constantly changing expressions. The real self (or is it face?) can be revealed on camera, but sometimes it can be so fleeting. Everything has its place here, the sequencing and pace feels just right. Interesting to learn that the film came from Benning teaching a class on how to pay attention. Masterpiece.
Review by amanda :(

only can be described as exhilarating
Review by 🌊Paolo🌊 ★★★

Unironically made me want to smoke
Review by Night Owl ★★★★★ 3

Smoking 20 cigarettes packet in a day,
After watching this, I can literally smoke more.
Review by kat 3

i don’t have the heart to rank these cigarettes, i want one so badly they all seemed equally satisfying to me. that being said,
cigarettes, ranked:
19
16
18
20
12
9
14
4
6
15
17
3
7
5
11
8
2
1
10
13
also i hate rankings, so it's destroying me a little each time i do this bit because i put so much thought into each one. sure hope benning hasn't made any more films with numbers in the title
Review by Josiah Morgan ★★★½

Directors Retrospective Series: James Benning #23
Playing a Benning film with a random selection of music on shuffle is this eclectic mixture of moments of poignancy at its most absolute and hideously unwatchable material. Really eclectic experience that way.
Review by Curtis Alexander

If you stand in the same place and smoke a whole cigarette, then sometimes the smoke gets in your eyes. I'm not a smoker, but I assume that normally you can move around a bit to make sure that doesn't happen. But in this film, you can't really move at all. So, you have to stand there and smoke that cigarette and let the smoke get in your eyes. Also you can't talk. I like these kind of films. I can definitely see this film being shown in an art gallery or museum, where you have to sit on one of those hard, uncomfortable benches beside some stranger in the dark.

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Twenty Cigarettes

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Theatrical

17 Feb 2011

Releases by Country

Germany

17 Feb 2011

Popular reviews

Where to watch

Twenty Cigarettes

Synopsis

Cast

Director Director

Writer Writer

Country

Language

Genre

Theatrical

17 Feb 2011

Germany

17 Feb 2011

Popular reviews

Director

Writer