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

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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?

Derailed (2005) - Håfström's pointless romance thriller

♥♥

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston look graphically inserted and sorely misplaced in the subway here for Mikael Håfström's Derailed

QUICK REVIEW:

Jennifer Aniston (She's Funny That Way (2014)), playing it oh-so sweet, and Vincent Cassel (Irreversible/Irréversible (2002)), - with Xzibit (8 Mile (2002)) as his wingman, - SPOILER make scam rapes that victimize unknowing, British gentlemen into giving away large sums of money. Clive Owen (Children of Men (2006)) is the boring, Neanderthal-like 'modern man', who will rather waste away his savings to ensure his sick daughter's future than do the obviously right thing SPOILER (until the very end); and simply kill the creep.

Derailed, written by Stuart Beattie (Collateral (2004)), based on the 2003 novel of the same title by James Siegel (Detour (2005)), is directed by Swedish director Mikael Håfström (Escape Plan (2013)). It is a film that truly says nothing at all.
The technical sides are just so-so, generally alright, but the plot is what really kills this; it is predictable and unengaging. - A horrible film.
It was the first film distributed by the Weinstein Company in the US, and it has, to my great dismay, been adapted into both two Indian films (Pachaikli Mutchucharam (2007) and The Train (2007)) and one Ghanaian film (Temptation (2010)).

Related reviews:

Mikael Håfström:  Escape Plan (2013) or, Prison Break for the Elderly (guest review)

1408 (2007) or, The Haunted Hotel Room

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Jennifer Aniston's expression in this still seems to sum up Mikael Håfström's insipid Derailed pretty well

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 22 mil. $
Box office: 57.4 mil. $
= Box office success
[A relatively large number of audiences braved the film's poor reviews: Derailed summed up 36 mil. $ (63 % of the total gross) in the US, giving the Weinstein Company a minor (but probably important) hit as their first released film. - One might add that this relatively low-budgeted, star-headed thriller was a pretty safe first bet for them.]

What do you think of Derailed?