Blue in the Face (1995)

Brooklyn, New York has changed over the last 18 years since this film first premiered. The location near Prospect Park is now one of the most desirable locales to live and reside in the borough and even in New York City. Brooklyn's transformation from a working class borough has changed in some parts. Brooklyn has become hip for the trend setters. It also gentrified in areas especially near the Prospect Park, Brooklyn's Central Park. Still, the film reminds me of another time when Brooklyn wasn't so hip or trendy but real. The people of Brooklyn and New York City like Harvey Keitel, Lou Reed, and others recall their likes and dislikes as well. They spend their time smoking at the Brooklyn Cigar Shop where Augie played by Keitel is the manager but not the owner. The cast includes top notch performers like Lily Tomlin, Lou Reed, Roseanne, Mira Sorvino, etc. A lot of the film's script seems improvised but it makes the film more authentic to documenting the life in a day.

Fmovies: The monologues by Lou Reed, as well as the scene with Harvey Keitel and Jim Jarmusch (preparing to smoke his last cigarette) would be a perfect addition to a "special edition" video release of the terrific "Smoke." Otherwise, this is nothing but a curiosity piece of interest only to the most avid admirers of the earlier film (like me).

I saw this film twice. As a cinema lover, I perfectly know what Paul Auster and, most of all, the actors, wanted to show in this movie. It's just a global view of Brooklyn: what's good or funny or bad up there. The story is alright. But that's not what disappointed me when I saw it. What really bugged me was the way some characters were depicted. The female characters,for example, ( Violeta !!) are really dire. They are a summation of all "female" defaults: yelling, crying, spoiled, selfish, and so on. What a pity...Though there are some funny scenes, I must admit (especially the shots featuring Lou Reed). There are also pretty great shots showing John Lurie (one of the best actors ever) playing with his jazz band.

Blue in the Face fmovies. A companion piece to Smoke rather than a sequel, and as such it works well enough, but the fact that it's made mostly of outtakes and improvisations is easily detectable, and it feels far too disjointed, while still trying rather feebly for a coherent storyline, especially in the epilogue. However, the acting is good enough that many scenes shine through, some of the cameos feel forced but most of them are spot-on (brilliant appearances from Madonna, Roseanne and Jim Jarmusch especially) and it's enjoyable for fans of the original Smoke as well as Jarmusch fans, although all too often it feels like a Jarmusch carbon copy that doesn't have Jim's unique spark and vision.

Possibly the worst film ever made, "Blue in the Face" is the worst incidence of actor over-indulgence and N.Y. self-congratulation ever captured on celluloid. A downright queasily embarrassing exercise in forced, flailing improv, the terribleness of the film is made all the more baffling by a)its pedigreed cast, including Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Jim Jarmusch, and dozens more; and b)the fact that its source material (for characters and settings, anyway) is the lyrical and engaging 1995 film "Smoke" (my vote for the 2nd best film of that year, after "Crumb"). "Blue in the Face" is one of the few films that could actually be described (with pinpoint accuracy!) as unwatchable.

Actors can improvise when a script is provided to build from, but this movie started only with characters and then allowed bad actors, and horrible writers, to deliver off the cuff lines. This is the movie actors do when they want to "really experience their craft". Unfortunately, one learns, without writers, these actors have no craft. The movie is most unfortunate because it followed a very nice movie, "Smoke", and came from a very good write, "Auster". Someone, Auster and Wang most off all, should have finished the movie but then recognize it for what it is, a behind the scenes ego-trip for everyone involved, and just included it as an interesting bit on the Smoke DVD.