SMOKE (1995)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
Great films come in all shapes and sizes. The most intriguing of all
great films are those where the greatness is anything but obvious.
Such films don't feature iconic casts, don't show much of a budget,
don't break new grounds of cinema technology, don't deal with
important subjects and are far from showing some heart-wrenching
dramas. But somehow they manage to defy their seemingly
inevitable descent into oblivion and are remembered as little great
films. One of those is SMOKE, 1995 drama directed by Wayne Wang.
The script for the film was written by Paul Auster and based on his
story, commissioned for 1990 Christmas edition of New York Times.
The plot starts in Summer of 1990 and revolves around Brooklyn
cigar shop managed by Auggie Wren (played by Harvey Keitel).
Auggie's clientele consists of all kinds of people and one of regular
customers is Paul Benjamin (played by William Hurt), Auggie's good
friend and professional writer who is suffering from creative crisis
after his wife has died in a random shooting few years ago. One day
Paul's own life is saved by Rashid (played by Harold Perrineau Jr.),
black teenager with mysterious agenda. Paul is grateful and allows
Rashid to stay at his apartment for couple of days, not knowing that
this would get him in trouble afterwards, In the meantime, Rashid
gets part-time job at the petrol station owned by Cyrus Cole (played
by Forest Whitaker), crippled man with troubled past. Auggie's own
past comes in the form of Ruby McNutt (played by Stockard
Channing), who demands that Auggie take care of her crack-addicted
and pregnant daughter Felicity (played by Ashley Judd).
SMOKE succeeds because it is one of those rare "art" films that don't
try to enthusiastically advertise as such to the audience. The film
doesn't have a standard plot - it is made of few stories that easily
work without each other - but the audience probably wouldn't care
after being won over by Auster's script, dialogue and characters.
Wang directs film almost invisibly - the shots are long and plot is
carried by dialogue and acting. Rachel Portman's music uses the
same low key approach and is hardly noticeable. Same goes for
Brooklyn setting with its colourful mix of various races, cultures and
ethnicities - it is in the background, but it never overwhelms the
movie and allows the audience to concentrate on the important
elements of the film.
The significant thing about SMOKE is the way in which film's
directing technique corresponds with its theme. In one of the scenes
the film even implicitly suggests what it tries to do - showing that life
can be truly appreciated only through slow careful examination of
seemingly insignificant details. Again, nothing of cosmic importance
happens in the film, characters don't have their lives changed in any
earth-shattering manner but through the course of the story the
audience gradually learns to like them, probably recognising little
bits of universal reality in their stories. Auster and Wang win the
audience over by not shying away from having less than perfect
protagonists. The characters in this film are all flawed in one way or
another. Two men become best friends because they share nasty,
lethal and often very annoying addiction (and SMOKE is probably
among the last Hollywood's films to portray it as socially acceptable
activity); some characters are involved in illegal activity; some are
manipulative; some have ruined other people's lives. Yet they show
enough humanity to be forgiven by the audience.
Harvey Keitel, one of the most recognisable character actors of
contemporary American cinema, uses SMOKE as the rare
opportunity to show his abilities in the something close to a leading
role. He portrays Auggie as both ordinary and extraordinary man,
someone who all of us can remember meeting on the street and
whose simple wisdom looks and sounds superior to all the world's
philosophies. Keitel chews the scenery, using both Auster's
wonderful script and Wang's directing technique - with the long
uninterrupted shots and camera revealing almost every pore of his
face, the actor simply must display all of his abilities. He does it in
such manner than all the other actors are in his shadow despite
having memorable performances - Whitaker who makes audience
forget about his deformity, Perrineau as enigmatic teenager and Judd
in one of the most dislikeable roles of her career.
The best thing about SMOKE comes at the very end. Wayne Wang
brings not one but two pleasant surprises to the audience. First is the
original Auster's Christmas story, presented in the simplest but the
most effective manner possible in a memorable scene. Another is that
same story being immediately retold during closing credits. The
viewers won't mind, though, because the smile would remain on
their faces a little bit longer. This achievement, so rare in Hollywood
these days, is the main reason why SMOKE remains as one of those
little great films.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
Review written on April 6th 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Films Critics Society
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