BAGDAD CAFE (1987) Directed by Percy Adon - CINEMIN review

This film is not part of the Criterion Collection (at least for now) but I certainly hope that one day it will be. So if you don't know this film, maybe ask why.

There is no lack of reasons in my opinion to fall in love with this film. Starting with the story in which two women who do not know each other and who will both be abandoned by their respective residents in the middle of the Mohave Desert.
A little later, their fate will meet at a place called Bagdad Cafe - a gas station with a small motel in which the owner Brenda (the excellent CCH Pounder) tries to deal with her problems. She is the mother of two adult children plus a gallery of guests at least exotic and certainly the place is not a travel destination.
As a matter of fact, Brenda has no time for herself and certainly the place is also quite abandoned and dirty.
And in this context, Jasmin (Marianne Sagebrecht - the excellent German actress) who was also abandoned by her husband, and who is just on the road in search of somewhere in the middle of the desert to at least spend the night and reorganize her broken life.
And so these two women will meet at Bagdad Cafe - the name of Brenda's establishment.
This film is a German production so it is a foreign film but it has the blood of an independent American film. It has a fantastic cast that includes veteran actor Jack Palance in a very interesting supporting role.
The film is about opposing people little by little getting to know each other and who will eventually become friends but after a lot of suspicion because after all, Brenda’s character has already gone through hard times and has reason to be suspicious when a stranger offers help. It is Jasmin who tries to rise from an abusive life and try a future in a place so different from her world.
And it is Jasmin who always uses the word "MAGIC" in the sense that it deals with the transformations of all characters as well as the place itself, but director Percy Adlon (who also wrote the script) shows us all this in small doses, as well as beautiful images of the desert with a soundtrack that makes contemporary filmmakers envy. The beautiful song "Calling You" that includes the vocals of Jevetta Steele (she sings as if she were an angel - literally) speaks directly to our hearts. For all these reasons Bagdad Cafe is an Oasis in the desert.

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