‘Smoke’ + ‘Blue in the Face’

◊  «Smoke»  ↓   Wayne Wang + Paul Auster  1995

 

Read SCRIPT...→http://www.pwf.cz/archivy/texts/articles/paul-auster-smoke_699.html←

•→  SMOKE & ILLUSIONS: AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL AUSTER ← [read]

♦ ◊  ‘Blue in the Face‘, a sequel to ‘Smoke‘ ↓ highlights

Auggie (Harvey Keitel) runs a tobacconist’s in Brooklyn, while Jim Jarmusch comes into the premises: he’s decided to quit smoking and he wants to have his last cigarette with his life-long provider. They both remember how they got into smoking, and the change of attitude towards smoking over the last few years. . .

-Pack of Luckys?

-You know what? No.

-I’ll tell you what. I’ve got one cigarette left… and I decided I was gonna come here, I’m gonna quit. But I wanted to smoke this with you.

So I thought, you know, «Last cigarette, smoke it with Auggie.»

In fact… Hey, Jimmy.

– You’re kidding me? I’m touched.

-Would you take a picture of me and Auggie with my last cigarette?

– You just push this.

– Yeah.

– This is it, man.

– All right.

– Where do you want me to stand?

– I don’t know. Think you could come over here?

All right.

– Yeah. You just push this.

– This one?

-No, this one.

– All right?

– Yeah.

– Bob, you know…

– The last cigarette… with Auggie.

-I’m touched you would want to smoke your last cigarette with me.

-Twelve years I come in here. Luckys.

-Wait, Jimmy. Your finger’s in front.

-All right.

– All right. Thanks, man.

– Good. You got it, Jimmy.

-Good. Okay. You got it.

-Thanks. So this is it. One more cigarette. I remember my first cigarette, man.

These friends of mine, they stole cigarettes from this store, Beeler’s Pharmacy. I still remember. It was like a suburb of Akron, Ohio where I grew up.

So we walked home along the railroad tracks. Opened the pack. I still remember. It was like a pack of Newports.

We smelled ‘em first. You know,that menthol. It smelled like candy. Then we lit ‘em up. We started inhaling, coughing.

A couple minutes later, we’re sick, nauseous, dizzy.

But we felt so cool. You know?

I think one of the reasons I live in New York is ‘cause… I know my way around New York.

I don’t know my way around Paris. I, uh… don’t know my way around Denver.

I don’t know my way around Maui.

I don’t know my way around Toronto, etcetera.

So, it’s almost by default.

I don’t know very many people who live in New York…

who don’t also say, «But I’m leaving.»

And I’ve been thinking of leaving… for, uh, 35 years now.

I’m almost ready . . .

– This is New York! I’m scared in my own apartment.

I’m, I’m… You know. I’m scared 24 hours a day, but not necessarily in New York.

I actually feel pretty comfortable in New York.

I get scared like in Sweden.

You know, it’s kind of empty. They’re all drunk.

Everything works.

If you, you know… If you stop at a stop light and don’t turn your engine off…

people come over and talk to you about it.

You open the medicine cabinet and there’ll be a poster saying…

«In case of suicide, call…»

You turn on the TV, there’s an ear operation.

These things scare me.

New York, no.