Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508220008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If a man steals a camera and takes beautiful photographs, is the theft of the camera slightly less immoral? And what if the camera was "hot" anyway - stolen in the first place to be sold for profit?
And what if one of the photographs that the man takes happens to capture the image of a beautiful, pregnant woman - who was killed in a shooting not long after the picture was taken - and the photograph is seen by her grieving husband? He stares lovingly at the photograph and remembers his "beautiful sweetheart," collapses in tears, and the photographer, who is not normally a sensitive person, draws the crying man close to comfort him.
Wayne Wang's terrific new film, "Smoke," is a colorful exposition of the right-thing-for the wrong-reason (and its converse) debate, a "literary" movie that once again demonstrates Wang's appreciation for the written - and spoken - word.
The words are award-winning author Paul Auster's, and although he has not written much for the screen, that doesn't show in "Smoke," which is based on one of his short stories. The people in this movie talk the way people talk, with the exception of the Auster-based character: He talks the way some writers talk.
The film's activity is centered in a Brooklyn smoke shop owned by Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel). A few "characters" hang out in the shop, but it is Wren's relationship with the writer Paul Benjamin (William Hurt) and Benjamin's relationship with a young man who calls himself Rashid that propels the action forward.
Wren is the amateur photographer. He has been photographing the same corner at exactly 8 a.m. for years, and it is in one of his photographs that Benjamin spies his dead wife.
Benjamin has been somewhat out of touch with reality since her death. He is walking into the path of a truck when Rashid (Harold Perrineau) saves him.
Benjamin insists on doing something for Rashid, so eventually, the young man comes to stay in Benjamin's tiny apartment. Things don't work out terribly well, and Rashid agrees to leave. A small paper bag that he has hidden in Benjamin's book shelves is left behind, and it is that bag that becomes the source of the plot twists in the film's last half.
In spite of all of this, "Smoke" is really a character-driven movie, and they are fascinating characters. Keitel's Auggie Wren is a complex "tip-of-the-iceberg" personality. When Auggie decides to perform an act of atypical generosity, it's Keitel's twisted little mouth and shrugging good-humor that makes it seem possible. He knows that we just don't know that much about what makes Auggie tick.
Hurt's Benjamin is perhaps more of a "type" - the absent-minded, deep-thinking, tortured writer - but the performance gives the character specificity. If only Hurt had decided to just dispense with the Brooklyn accent, which he pretty much just gives up on about halfway through the film.
Stockard Channing is a jewel (as always) as Ruby, who pays an unwelcome visit on Auggie, and Ashley Judd is remarkable as the crack addicted Felicity.
"Smoke" is very fine, very fleeting, like those moments in life that seduce us with their complexity and keep us enthralled with just being.
*** and a half, "Smoke" is rated R for profanity and adult situations, a Miramax release, showing at the Grandin Theatre, 1 hour and 52 minutes.
Smoke ***1/2
A Miramax Films release, showing at The Grandin Theatre. Rated R for profanity and adult situations. 112 minutes.
by CNB