blog de cine: Blue in the face

jueves, julio 07, 2011

Blue in the face

USA (1995)
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Youngs and Old men, Chineses, Judes, Arabs, Hispanos, Gringos... we are all together in... ¡Brooklyn! Why Brooklyn? I don't know. Maybe is a special place for the “director” and writer, Paul Auster. Paul must be the kind of person that thinks that his life is the centre of the universe. Then, he joins a group of friends in a Brooklyn shop and they start to speak about the “important” things about the city. With a very peculiar shop assistant, Augie Wren, each character will tell a different story with a common link: The City of Brooklyn. A business man (owner of the shop) that only thinks in money; his crazy wife that only thinks in parties; Jim Jarmusch (like himself) speaking about cigarettes and thinking in a future movie (Coffee and Cigarettes); different supporting actors (like Michael J. Fox or Madonna) that appear by chance and change the plot direction. And around of this, Lou Reed narrating his experiences in the old Brooklyn with his personal point of view.

Paul Auster (successful writer but mediocre director), try filming a personal movie but the final result is a pastiche mix of good sketchs and very boring situations. Luckily, the Auster's friends, are “screen's monsters”. Harvey Keitel or Roseanne are able to up the movie on the most boring moments. In general, the director thinking is to show the different life ways on the cosmopolitan USA city through improvisational stories.
Unquestionably, the best story is Jim Jarmusch's story. A reflection about the tobacco, preview of the next Jim's movie, Coffee and Cigarettes and continuation of the previous Auster's movie, Smoke.
In general is a good cinema exercise, 100% independent film (Clerks Style), brilliant in some passages but inconsistent in many moments.

Mark: 6.1

To Remember: The conversations between Keitel and Jarmusch.
To Forget: Too much personal film. It was a risky bet and, for me, the director lost.