Name: Retro Film Review: Blue in the Face (1995)
Item: Blue in the Face
Rating: 50
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

Smoke, 1995 drama directed by Wayne Wang, was apparently more than great film. Legend says that it represented a model example of film production being finished under the budget and ahead of schedule. That left Wang and his scriptwriter Paul Auster with few extra days and nothing to do. They decided to make another film, based on the authors' notes and actors' improvisational sketches. The result was comedy Blue in the Face.

Smoke had rather thin plot, so it isn't surprising that Blue in the Face had its plot even thinner. What goes for plot revolves about main protagonist of Smoke - Auggie Wren (played by Harvey Keitel), manager of Brooklyn cigar shop. His boss Vinnie (played by Victor Argo), concerned over the popularity of health food and lifestyles associated with it, wants to sell the shop. Auggie's attempts to deal with the situation are shown together with the series of vignettes and documentary-style interviews with Brooklyn residents.

Wang and Auster didn't have to invest much of their creative energy into this film. Almost all of the scenes in Blue in the Face were improvised by actors. Wang simply kept the camera rolling and let the actors talk until they were "blue in the face". Many of the documentary-style interviews were made with genuine inhabitants of Brooklyn, while the others were made with celebrities. Many of the actors that haven't appeared in Smoke appear in Blue in the Face as cameos.

This spontaneity of the performances is very refreshing. The fun that actors obviously had while making Blue in the Face can be sensed by the audience in many scenes. On the other hand, this approach to film making often results in varied quality of the material - some scenes are wonderful, some merely work, while some should have been left on cutting room floor. Among the latter are often those that feature big stars who appear as cameos (Lily Tomlin and Roseanne). Yet, despite the lack of narrative or aesthetic cohesion, Blue in the Face works as a comedy and it could entertain even those viewers who don't tend to appreciate semi experimental films.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on April 6th 2004)