Blue In The Face

Wayne Wang/Paul Auster, USA 1995, 89 minutes

Not a sequel in the conventional sense, the idea for Blue in the Face came about when Smoke was being filmed. During the rehearsals everyone liked the characters so much that they decided to make another movie. It would contain some of the ideas that didn't fit into the story of Smoke, but seemed too good to just abandon. It would be shot quickly (and thus cheaply), with a lot of improvisation, and it would be started as soon as Smoke had been finished. Once the producers had given the okay for the film, the word was spread to various agents, and very soon big names were wanting to appear in it, with the chance to do something a bit out of the ordinary.

There is no overall `story' to Blue in the Face - only a series of vignettes. Each was shot in one continuous take, and is ten minutes or less - the length of a reel of film. Starting with a rough scenario, each scene was played out, with simple directions ("get to the point", "boring!", "lighten up", etc.) being given to the actors on cue-cards.

Performaces worth mentioning include Mira Sorvino (here playing another blonde with a squawkey voice), Michael J Fox as a just-slightly-insane man with a questionnaire, and Roseanne as Dot, the loud, brash wife of Vinnie (Victor Argo), the owner of the Brooklyn Cigar Company. Dot has decided that she's not going to take any more crap from her husband, and Roseanne is so forceful in her performance that she manages to persuade Vinnie to go off with her to Las Vegas, completely changing the planned outcome of the scene. Perhaps the funniest turn of all is by Jim Jarmusch (cult director of such films as Down By Law and Mystery Train) who just stops by the Brooklyn Cigar Company to share his last cigarette, and a few words, with Auggie (Keitel).

Everything is joined together with Lou Reed's wonderful monologue on life in general, and life in Brooklyn in particular, and also by various videoed interviews with common Brooklynites.

In many films the lack of a real direction would leave you wondering what the point was, but Blue in the Face feels a bit like a great compilation album - not everything seems to belong at first glance, but it all segues perfectly together.

"A remarkable achievement, more ragged than its richly textured prequel, but ultimately funnier. The cast enjoy themselves immensely... it's hard not to get caught up in the on-screen revelry ****" - Empire

Review by Jonathan Caryl
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97