Smoke

Smoke is a 1995 American independent film by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster. The original story was written by Paul Auster, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was produced by Greg Johnson, Peter Newman, Kenzo Horikoshi, and Hisami Kuroiwa. Among others, it features Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Stockard Channing, Harold Perrineau Jr., Giancarlo Esposito, Ashley Judd, and Forest Whitaker. Plot The film follows the lives of multiple characters, all of whom are connected via their patronage of a small Brooklyn tobacconist store managed by Auggie. Brooklyn Cigar Co. was located on the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West. Auggie has been taking photographs of the store from across the street at 8:00am every morning and has been collecting all his photos in albums. A recently-widowed writer Paul Benjamin spends an evening with Auggie, during which Auggie tells Paul of his photographs, which he describes as his "life's work". Auggie asks Paul to look through the photographs, which are collected in a large number of albums. At first, Paul does not take the photographs seriously, saying that "they're all the same". Auggie says that they only look the same superficially, but they are all different, with each photo representing a unique moment in time. Auggie implores Paul to "slow down", which Paul agrees to do. Paul sees his wife in one of the pictures, and breaks down. The next day, Paul is lost in thought as he crosses the road and is saved from being run down by a truck by a young black man named Rashid, whom he invites to stay in his apartment as a form of thanks. Rashid accepts, but irritates Paul by making noise, and breaking dishes, while Paul is writing. Paul asks Rashid to leave, which he does. Paul is visited by Rashid's aunt, who aggressively demands to know why Rashid has been staying with Paul. She reveals that Rashid's name is in fact Thomas, and that he is from an underprivileged background. She also says that Rashid has been estranged from his father since childhood, and that his father had been spotted recently at a gas station outside the city.