Blue in the Face (1995)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Directors:

Paul Auster
Wayne Wang

Writers:

Paul Auster (situations) and
Wayne Wang (situations)

Release Date:

13 October 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Welcome to the planet Brooklyn.

Plot:

Wayne Wang's follow-up movie to Smoke presents a series of improvisational situations strung together...

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Ad Lib | Cigar Shop | Color In Title | Brooklyn New York

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Lou Reed	...	Man with Strange Glasses
Michael J. Fox	...	Pete Maloney
Roseanne	...	Dot
Mel Gorham	...	Violet
Jim Jarmusch	...	Bob
Lily Tomlin	...	Waffle Eater
Jared Harris	...	Jimmy Rose
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Tommy Finelli
Malik Yoba	...	Watch Man
José Zúñiga	...	Jerry (as Jose Zuniga)
Victor Argo	...	Vinnie
Stephen Gevedon	...	Dennis
The John Lurie National Orchestra	...	Street Band
Madonna	...	Singing Telegram
Sharif Rashed	...	Purse Snatcher

Also Known As:

Brooklyn Boogie (UK)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Brazil:14 | USA:R (No. 33629) | Australia:M | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

Filmed in just five days, using the same set and much of the same cast as Smoke (1995). The premise of the film came to directors Wayne Wang and Paul Auster while watching an improvisation session between Harvey Keitel et. al. to help them get into character for filming Smoke (1995). They decided that the improvisations were so funny that they would spend a few days after shooting Smoke just filming film is almost entirely improvised. Auster and Wang claim to have "borrowed" the idea of shooting another movie on the back of an existing one from Roger Corman who often used to shoot movies very quickly on leftover sets from other productions.

Goofs:

Continuity: Dot bolts the store door to talk with Auggie, then leaves without unlocking it.

Quotes:

Man with Strange Glasses: Yes, I am smoking cigarettes and some of my friends have died of them, but I am not downing a quart of Scotch in fifteen minutes. Looked at that way, cigarettes are actually a health tool!

Movie Connections:

References Clerks. (1994)

Soundtrack:

My Little Drum Thing

Two things: Brooklyn and Wang

Two things need to be understood, Brooklyn and Wayne Wang. Can those of you who saw Chang is Missing, really pretend that Wayne Wang's films push the envelope? I mean, it's always a bit beyond the cutting edge with WW. A great film maker, he has a great sense of humor and is smart enough to let actors take their heads sometimes. OK. Now, Brooklyn. Forget this crap about "New York," if you know Brooklyn and especially, the OLD Brooklyn of, say, 1956, that last great year of the Dodgers [I was a young Naval officer there in Brooklyn Naval Shipyard that year], then you know there's a HUGE cultural barrier separating NY from there. Now, you're getting warm. OK, when I saw Smoke, I saw a teaser of a sequel. Now, we all know sequels generally suck but Smoke had that extra something that made me want to risk a buck to see Keitel in action again. Well, waited and waited and then, this is on the shelves. It's a GEM! Don't listen to those chumps who don't know squat about WW or Brooklyn and, hey, let me ask you...did you pay to go see that Star Wars Prequel? Sure you did. So don't gripe. This is the great SMOKE PREQUEL! Go Wayne Wang! Up with Brooklyn, old (definitely not new, i.e ., LA) Dodgers, Belgian waffles, and Sexy Puerto Rican girls dialoguing with themselves in the mirror, saying "Ju lik Epanish gorls?" YES!