Customer Reviews

Smoke & Blue in Face

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I bought this title as a long time fan of Auster and also of the two films. It is the first and only screenplay book I have bought as I find them generally redundant, always inferior to the film, and usually not very readable. Firstly, the screenplay, written by Auster is very readable as the film is mostly dialogue and as such flows nicely, even as a script, not bogged down with description of actions, or camera angles. If you are a fan of the film, there is little new here, though there are a few lines of dialogue that weren't in the final cut. The transcript of Blue in the Face is exactly what you see on screen as this film was mostly improvised. Auster also includes his lengthy notes to the actors about their scenes and this is enlightening as it shows which ideas made the film and which ones didn't, and of those that made it, which ones worked or not. There is also an in-depth interview with Auster about the two films which is very good indeed and is both informative and witty. Finally, there is the original short story "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story" which was the original inspiration for "Smoke" If you've seen the film, you'll know the tale but it is great to see the original version in print, and interesting to see how it made the tarnsition to the screen. All in all a very worthwhile and highly readable collection.