Smoke (1995) - Globules of wisdom and pain in Wang's New York-set masterpiece

♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

A blue-keyed still from the film centers this elegant poster for Wayne Wang's Smoke

New-Yorker fates cross: Paul, who lost his wife and his energy as a professional writer. Thomas, who saves Paul's life and gets him into trouble, when he destroys Cuban cigars worth 5k $ at Auggie's Brooklyn cigar store. And more.

 

Smoke is written by Paul Auster (Lulu on the Bridge (1998)) and directed by Hong Kong-born American master filmmaker Wayne Wang (A Man, a Woman, and a Killer (1975)). It is Wang's 8th feature.

Harvey Keitel (Little Nicky (2000)), Stockard Channing (The Venice Project (1999)), William Hurt (Nearest to Heaven (2002)), Forest Whitaker (Mary (2005)) and more in the ensemble give eminent performances in this gem of a film. Smoke is ripe with beautiful images, (cinematography by Adam Holender (Simon (1980))), and globules of wisdom and pain. It is a masterpiece and also a true Christmas movie.

 

Related post:

 

Wayne Wang: Chinese Box (1997) or, Death in Hong Kong

 

 

Auster talks for 24 minutes about the film here in a BFI interview

 

Cost: 7 mil. $

Box office: 38 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.42 times its cost)

[Smoke premiered 10 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 1994 in New York. The film opened #15 to a 70k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it grossed 8.3 mil. $ (21.8 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for a César award, won 1/2 David di Donatello awards, won 1/2 Independent Spirit awards and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Auster, Wang, Keitel and a few others from Smoke returned with the (kind of) sequel Blue in the Face (1995), which was Wang's and Keitel's film return. Hurt returned in Secrets Shared with a Stranger (1995); Whitaker in Species (1995); Channing in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995). Smoke is fresh at 90 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Smoke?