It’s the summer of 1990 Harvey Keitel plays Auggie who runs a tobacco shop in the Big Apple and some individuals’ lives are about to change they just don’t know it William Hurt, Ashley Judd, Forest Whitaker, and Harold Perrineau are connected by a somewhat 'chain of smoking' events part 1 focuses on Paul, an author whom is still recovering from his wife's murder, he almost gets hit by a car but is saved at the last minute by a teen boy named Rashid part 2 with Rashid sheds more light on his background; his mother is deceased and he's been estranged with his father for 12 years but he manages to track him down finding him a broken soul as well as an injury he sustained long ago part 3 shows more of Auggie's life, his ex Stockard Channing as Ruby comes in showing his daughter, Felicity who's in a bit of a rough patch A great collection of talented actors intersecting in ways that are unique but challenging I actually found Rashid’s story the most fascinating because he wants to know his father even if he has to keep it to himself and it actually is very heartbreaking to watch seeing it unfold The sudden realizations are pretty tough to digest and pretty much anybody who’s been through this can attach to it If you can't share your secrets with your friends then what kind of friend are you?, life just wouldn't be worth living, if you're gonna die what's more important: a good book or a good smoke?, to make a good story you have to know how to push all the right buttons, you can't really weigh how much you smoke it's like trying to weigh your soul Evocative, smoothly paced, well-written, drama filled, and keeps you interested to see where these characters go from their unplanned encounters There’s many people out there who smoke cigarettes and cigars as their way of dealing with certain situations they need to work on or to make life easier A film like this says whatever goes on with us something is bound to go up in smoke either as a sign or a reminder what we can still fix

It's a wonderful film. Subtle, rich character development, brilliant acting. Minor Spoiler alert-There's a scene where Harvey Keitel shows William Hurt a scrapbook of pictures he's taken over the years. Every day, same location. William Hurt flips through the book, impressed by his diligence, but says "I don't get it".Keitel guides him to a picture where he, by chance, captured s photo of Hurt's late wife, sho happened to be walking in the spot Keitel always photographs. Hurt looks at it, and says- "Look at my sweet darling", and starts crying. Keitel hugs him. I'm tearing up as I write about it. It's beautiful. It's that kind of film.

The great cast do just enough to make it work.

Great movie, It's like one of the photos Auggie takes each day.

I wish I could give this a 20. They don't make movies like this anymore. It has everything you could ever want. Don't miss it.

"I'm telling ya, there's gonna be another war. I mean, those flops at the Pentagon gonna be out of a job unless they find a new enemy. And they got this 'Saddam' character now ... I mean, they've gotta hit him with all they've got." Release Date: June 9, 1995 Dialogue-heavy films certainly aren't bad or dull by default; in fact, many of the most emotionally weighty, philosophical, introspective, and beloved films deal with the kind of understated character interactions that Smoke does. However, there is a totally unshakeable literary flavor that just doesn't seem to translate that well here. The closest that I can describe it is if you consider a play that is adapted into a film without major alterations apart from a budget and a camera: the dialogue and narrative structure are there, but it feels like forcing a jigsaw puzzle piece in a place where it doesn't quite fit. A few too many heartstring-tugging subplots to really carry the sensation that the screenplay is built on conveying close-knit, everyday relationships through candid dialogue. Also, Wayne Wang seemed almost unable to decide what gently laughing reaction shot to end this film with, so he just throws four or five in there and ultimately winds up with this strangely awkward note to go out on. Here I was, thinking I might have turned a corner with William Hurt, that perhaps I had just seen a distinct subset of his films that seemed to focus on emotionally shattered guys that now drone through life in a zombie-like stupor with a monotone voice no matter the circumstances. But that doesn't seem to be true, that seems to be a majority of his films - he's got a very distinctive and consistent delivery that seems to have rendered him consistently typecast. (3/5)

It's the summer of 1990; Harvey Keitel plays Auggie who runs a tobacco shop in the Big Apple and some individuals' lives are about to change they just don't know it  William Hurt, Ashley Judd, Forest Whitaker, and Harold Perrineau are connected by a somewhat 'chain of smoking' events part 1 focuses on Paul, an author whom is still recovering from his wife's murder, he almost gets hit by a car but is saved at the last minute by a teen boy named Rashid part 2 with Rashid sheds more light on his background; his mother is deceased and he's been estranged with his father for 12 years but he manages to track him down finding him a broken soul as well as an injury he sustained long ago part 3 shows more of Auggie's life, his ex Stockard Channing as Ruby comes in showing his daughter, Felicity who's in a bit of a rough patch A great collection of talented actors intersecting in ways that are unique but challenging  I actually found Rashid's story the most fascinating because he wants to know his father even if he has to keep it to himself and it actually is very heartbreaking to watch seeing it unfold  The sudden realizations are pretty tough to digest and pretty much anybody who's been through this can attach to it  If you can't share your secrets with your friends then what kind of friend are you?, life just wouldn't be worth living, if you're gonna die what's more important: a good book or a good smoke?, to make a good story you have to know how to push all the right buttons, you can't really weigh how much you smoke it's like trying to weigh your soul evocative, smoothly paced, well-written, drama filled, and keeps you interested to see where these characters go from their unplanned encounters there's many people out there who smoke cigarettes and cigars as their way of dealing with certain situations they need to work on or to make life easier  a film like this says whatever goes on with us something is bound to go up in smoke either as a sign or a reminder what we can still fix

1001 movies to see before you die. Although it started well and the Christmas monologue was good. There were some plot gaps and motivations that were hard to believe. It still was worthy of mention, but not one I plan to see again. Except for maybe the monologue. It was on Pluto.

This film reminds me a lot of Barbershop and one of my favorites--Six Degrees of Separation, which also had Stockard Channing in an eve n more wonderful role (she is one of my favorites). Smoke is the kind of a film not often seen outside of major urban areas or at film festivals, but very appealing and more available today, thanks to premium channels, (even though we pay up the wazoo for them) for those of us who don't want to live in the big cities. The view of New York seen here may be rather a glossed over one, but this is more of a story about people than anything else. People and their various stories of love and family, loss and gain and what we learned from it all--that we have to help each other when we can.

A whole mess of involutional story vignettes tied closely together by one smoke shop.

Smoke is a decent film. It is about a Brooklyn smoke shop that is the center of neighborhood activity. William Hurt and Stockard Channing give good performances. The script is a little slow in places. Wayne Wang did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the humor and drama.

I wanted to visit this corner of Brooklyn after seeing the movie.

poignant art-house movie about melancholic characters with uplifting stories who like nothing better than telling a story and having a smoke. A surprising performance by Harvey Keitel in an unfamiliar role for him, also strong performances by Hurt and the rest of the cast. A film worth seeing for anyone who likes to hear a good story.

a disappointing follow-up to the amazing Joy Luck Club, this tapestry film is poorly woven with bland threads.

Evenly paced, captivating, wonderfully told. Don't miss Ashley Judd's early-career performance.

This 90's film slipped through the radar of many viewers. It's episodic, very moving and free from cliche. William Hurt and Harvey Keitel give honest and humorous performances. The photo album scene is particularly touching. It's a film about storytelling; about the "smoke that gets in our eyes" and the way people lie to each other and tell stories to get through everyday situations. But in the end, this little gem celebrates the beauty and art of telling a good story. As Tom Waits sings, "We're innocent when we dream." And what is cinema but a dream? Criminally under-seen, it's a perfect little film.

A nice, quiet film, light years away from the mainstream cinema--A beautiful depiction of humanity!!

The cover they chose to advertise this film is very misleading. 4 white people. Ashley Judd and Stockard Channing were in the movie probably for a combined 15 minutes. Guess they needed two blondes posing with cigars to appease a white audience. Keitel and Hurt definitely headline the movie with Forest Whitaker and Harold Perrineau making the story meaningful. Harvey Keitel seemed very comfortable in his smoke shop, swearing, screaming, and bossing people around in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY. Cameo's from Stockard Channing and Forest Whitaker were very well acted and powerful. Everyone played their part well and helped the story piece together. This was a well written story adapted well to the screen. My take away from this story is that everyone needs someone to love. This is a character study that follows lives that have been broken, devastated, and heartbroken as they search for hope through companionship with friends, former loved ones, and complete strangers. Each of these characters in an attempt to repair or build a family has lots of work ahead of them. We are left with a heartfelt story told by Keitel as he traced a thief into his blind grandma's project housing. Posing as her grandson, old, white Keitel and the elder black woman had dinner and wine together and laughed and socialized as if they knew each other their whole lives. The human need for love and company was apparent to Keitel and his heart kept him there in high spirits. It made her night and may have eased her pain of loneliness and disappointment. The experience seemed to humble Keitel and usher some form of forgiveness for the thievin' grandson.

Wonderful writing and acting. An excellent, entertaining cast. I recommend this film.

Paul Benjamin: if you're gonna die, what's more important, a good smoke or a good book. So he smoked his book. "Where there's smoke... there's laughter!" Smoke is a very good movie and wasn't quite what I was expecting. I'm not too familiar with Wayne Wang's work, only having seen Anywhere But Here before, but I was thoroughly impressed with this film. What we have here is basically an unstructured story, which was extremely popular in the nineties, centered around a cigar store in Brooklyn. The story follows a variety of characters from the cigar store owner, one of his customers, a young kid, an unknown father, and a woman from the past. It all melts together really well. This isn't a film for anyone. It's a conversational movie that has a lot of long monologues and storytelling, but for fans of these type of movies, it's heaven. I can't really think of better actors for the movie either. The main two, Harvey Keitel and William Hurt give terrific performances as always.  Smoke is a movie for the person who likes quiet movies that stay away from action and bullshit, that remain real and are just telling the story of human beings. That's what this is to me and that's why I like this movie, and movies like it so much. There's nothing flashy about the characters, there's no big twists, no action to speak of; it's just real life. Smoke blends comedy and drama together really well as well. It's too bad that this isn't a more well known film, but in the end it doesn't really matter. A great film is a great film.