Line #21 Film/Smoke


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smoke1_2501.jpg]]
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3	->'''Paul:''' It's 1942, right. [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII He's caught in Leningrad during the siege]]; I'm talking about one of the worst moments in human history. 500,000 people died in that one place. And there's Baktin, holed up in an apartment, expecting to be killed any day. He has plenty of tobacco, but no paper to roll it in. So he takes the pages of a manuscript he's been working on for ten years, and tears them up, so he can roll his cigarettes.
4	->'''Rashid:''' His only copy.
5	->'''Paul:''' His '''only''' copy. ({{Beat}}) I mean, if you think you're gonna die, what's more important, a good book or a good smoke?
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7	''Smoke'' is a 1995 SliceOfLife film directed by Creator/WayneWang, starring Creator/WilliamHurt, Creator/HarveyKeitel, Creator/StockardChanning, Creator/HaroldPerrineau, Creator/AshleyJudd, and Creator/ForestWhitaker.
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9	It centers on Paul Benjamin (Hurt), a writer still mourning the loss of his wife, Rashid (Perrineau), a street kid who saves Paul's life one day, Auggie Wren (Keitel), owner of the cigar store Paul frequents, Ruby (Channing), Auggie's ex-girlfriend, and Cyrus (Whitaker), Rashid's biological father.
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11	Followed later that year by a spin-off movie, ''Blue in the Face''.
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13	----
14	!!''Smoke'' provides examples of:
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16	* AdaptationExpansion: The movie is based on the short story "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story" by Paul Auster. The entire story is filmed in the last 12 minutes of the movie (as well as part of what plays over the closing credits); everything that happens before then was made up by Auster and co-writer/director Wayne Wang.
17	* AuthorAvatar: Paul Benjamin.
18	* BookBurning: A non-political example as shown in the exchange between Paul and Rashid at the top of the page.
19	* ChekhovsGun: The bag of money Rashid took from the Creeper.
20	* CoversAlwaysLie: The poster only features Creator/HarveyKeitel, Stockard Channing, and Creator/AshleyJudd, as if they were the main characters, and they were close. Judd's character hardly figures in the movie; and while Keitel plays one of the major characters, Channing plays more of a supporting role.
21	* DeadpanSnarker: Paul and Rashid.
22	* EverybodySmokes: All the main characters in this movie smoke, and Paul and Auggie are seen smoking throughout. However, near the end, Paul buys only one box of cigarettes rather than two because he's trying to cut down.
23	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Most of the scene of Auggie telling his Christmas story is done in one, unbroken five-minute shot.
24	* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: This is how Ruby gets Auggie to help her confront Felicity, by claiming she's his daughter. Afterwards, Ruby admits she doesn't know for sure.
25	* TheMatchmaker: Rashid asks a bookstore clerk out for Paul.
26	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Auggie to Rashid after Rashid accidentally spills water on the Monte Cristo cigars Auggie was planning on selling, and thereby ruining them.
27	* SelfPlagiarism: The story Paul tells Rashid about the boy who discovered his father frozen in a block of ice is taken from Auster's novel ''The New York Trilogy''.
28	* ShoutOut: "[[Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs So he huffed and he puffed]], and he smoked his book."
29	** When Auggie tells the guys who hang around his store about what happened to Paul's wife (she got caught in the crossfire of a shootout nearby), one of them says, "Film/BadDayAtBlackRock all around, huh, Auggie?"
30	* TemptingFate: Auggie is sure nothing will go wrong with the Monte Cristo cigars he plans to sell.
31	* WaxingLyrical: When Auggie hears Rashid has just turned 17, he starts trying to sing "[[Music/FrankSinatra It was a Very Good Year]]" before giving up.
32	* WhiteMansBurden: Paul helping Rashid to reconcile with his father.

Context Film / Smoke