This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown round #2”. Read more about that here.
Smoke
It was difficult for me to decide what to rate this movie. The film has great intentions. And listening to the commentary, and the story of how it was made, and the approach of the filmmakers made me love it even more.
It has most of the things I would like in for instance Jim Jarmusch film. Simple and dialogue heavy. Focused on little moments. Interesting character but not too quirky that you feel like the word "quirky" is being pushed on you.
I guess some of the dialogue just doesn't feel real, while at the same time it feels like it's trying to be real. This was Paul Auster's first screenplay, so he might not yet have fully understood how to write for the screen (at least according to my taste). And I guess another thing I found lacking was humor. There is a bit, but not of the same flavor that I sometimes get out of films in this genre.
If anything, watch it for the short scene with Ashley Judd in which she is amazing!
Rating: 7/10