Details
Movie Description
Toward the end of shooting SMOKE, director Wayne Wang, screenwriter Paul Auster, and, seemingly, the entire crew were having such a good time that they approached producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein for more money to continue shooting the mostly improvised BLUE IN THE FACE. Not all the actors could return to Auggie Wren's cigar shop, but they were replaced by some well-known stars making cameo appearances. Lily Tomlin plays a strange man in search of Belgian waffles, Michael J. Fox appears as an equally odd man conducting a bizarre survey, Madonna delivers a singing telegram, and Roseanne does a dramatic scene as the wife of the shop's owner. What plot there is concerns the owner's desire to close the cigar store and rent the space to a vegetarian restaurant. In a documentary style, there are interviews with Brooklyn residents, archival footage of the demolition of Ebbets Field, and other attempts to show the look and feel of life in Brooklyn. In spite of the star appearances, it's the nonactors who provide much of the genuine warmth and easy improvisation as thinly veiled characters. A man with unusual glasses (musician Lou Reed), looking right into the camera, explains why he loves Brooklyn and feels nervous in Stockholm. Bob (filmmaker Jim Jarmusch) comes in to smoke his last cigarette with Auggie; he then demonstrates how one can always tell who the bad guys are in the movies because they invariably hold their cigarettes in a strange manner. As in SMOKE, Harvey Keitel holds the whole ensemble together with his touching portrayal of Auggie, a kind of Brooklyn everyman.
Synopsis
BLUE IN THE FACE is an improvised film that picks up where the movie SMOKE trailed off, with various neighborhood characters, played by well-known actors and musicians, wafting in and out of Auggie Wren's Brooklyn cigar shop.
Film Notes
Theatrical release: October 13, 1995.
The film was shot in only six days.
New York writers Luc Sante and Ian Frazier appear in interviews.
John Lurie, Calvin Weston, and Billy Martin (of Medeski, Martin and Wood) composed the score and also appear in the film.
RuPaul appears as a dancer.
Screenwriter-codirector Paul Auster, author of novels such as THE NEW YORK TRILOGY and LEVIATHAN, went on to direct his own film LULU ON THE BRIDGE, which also features Keitel and other actors from BLUE IN THE FACE and SMOKE.
Industry Reviews
"...[An] air of gentle play and a wistful sense that Brooklyn in some kind of lost Eden..." -- Rating: B+
Burr
"...Lively....Amusing....Lurie's music is bouncy..."
Variety - David Stratton (02/20/1995)
"...A reaffirmation that cinema's beauty and richness really need no stars at all..."
Film Comment - Harlan Kennedy (05/01/1995)
"...[The film] has considerable charm and humor....Adam Holender's fresh, airy camera work and a vibrant electric score also add vitality to an all-talk film..."
Los Angeles Times - Kevin Thomas (10/13/1995)
"...Keitel provides a benevolent and stabilizing presence as characters wander into the shop, light up and interact..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (10/20/1995)
Quotations
"I think one of the reasons I live in New York is because...I know my way around New York. I don't know my way around Paris. I don't know my way around Denver. I don't know my way around Maui....I've been thinking of leaving for...35 years now. I'm almost ready."--Man with unusual glasses (Lou Reed)
"I'm scared in my own apartment. I'm scared 24 hours a day. But not necessarily in New York. I actually feel pretty comfortable in New York. I get scared...in like Sweden. You know, it's kind of empty. They're all drunk. Everything works....These things scare me. New York? No."--Man with unusual glasses
"A pack of Luckies?"--Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel) to Bob (Jim Jarmusch)
"You know what? No. I tell you what...I've got one cigarette left...and I've decided, you know, I was going to come here, I'm going to quit. But I wanted to smoke this with you. So I thought, 'last cigarette,' smoke it with Auggie..."--Bob
"You're kidding. I'm touched."--Auggie
"Why is it in every movie there's a shootout, and when they run out of bullets--click, click--they fling the gun away? Like it's a disposable cigarette lighter or something. What's up with that? Guns cost a lot of money. Can't you reload it? You know what I'm saying? They always--click--throw the gun out."--Bob
"That's a good point."--Auggie
"And another thing in movies I think is real weird...like war movies...Nazis in movies....Why do they always smoke like in some weird way...like this? [Imitates a German villain] Yah, vee haf vays of making you talk, Auggie."--Bob
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