Romance and Cigarettes

After buying the rights in 2005, Sony Pictures apparently didn’t know what to do with this blue-collar musical, and left the film to rot on its shelves for the last two years. Two years later, director John Turturro wrestled back the rights from the studio and is distributing it on his own dime. Romance and Cigarettes is the story of a construction worker whose years of casual infidelity finally come to a head when he falls for a vixen, inflaming the wrath of his wife. Described by Turturro as a “savage musical,” the film evokes the work of the great British screenwriter Dennis Potter, whose flawed heroes would stop what they’re doing to lip-sync sunny melodies and dance away their troubles. Romance looks funny and exciting, as well as depressing and utterly original.

Edina Cinema, 3911 W. 50th St., Edina; 651-649-4416.