Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.
Smoke is a quietly distinctive slice-of-life drama built around conversation, chance encounters, and storytelling rather than conventional plot mechanics. Wayne Wang and Paul Auster craft an episodic, literary ensemble piece rooted in Brooklyn that feels genuinely character-driven. Harvey Keitel is exceptional as Auggie Wren, grounding the film's philosophical musings in lived-in authenticity, and the ensemble including William Hurt and Harold Perrineau performs at a high level throughout. Cinematography is warm but unremarkable — pleasantly textured rather than visually inventive. The film's Novelty is modest: its literary, talky sensibility and interlocking-stories structure are distinctive in feel but not wholly unprecedented. The ending, however, is a genuine standout — Auggie's Christmas story told in black and white over still photographs is one of the most quietly moving and formally inventive closing sequences of 1990s American cinema, earning its place as the film's crowning achievement.