SUMMARY OF FILM: Smoke (1995) dir:
Wayne Wang
Written by:
Paul Auster
Auggie Wren: Harvey Keitel
Paul Benjamin: William Hurt
Rashid Cole: Harold Perrineau, Jr.
Cyrus Cole: Forrest Whitaker
Ruby McNutt: Stockard Channing
1. Auggie
Wren’s story of how destiny paid Paul Benjamin a visit.
Elevated
subway train against the Manhattan skyline. Interior of Auggie Wren’s tobacco
store in Brooklyn. Several local characters, who love to hang out in the store,
are bantering about local events and other gossip. (Summer 1990) After a young
man comes in to buy cigars (for celebrating the birth of a baby) in comes a
regular customer, Paul Benjamin, early 40s. He buys some cigars, joins in the
banter, and tells a story of Sir Walter Raleigh’s bet that he could "weigh
smoke." Then he leaves. Auggie tells the other regulars that Paul is a
novelist whose ideas have dried up after the death of his wife.
Remember that holdup on Seventh
Avenue a few years back? Four people got killed. One of them was Paul’s wife.
The poor lug, he hasn’t been the same since. The funny thing was, she stopped
in here just before it happened. To stock up on cigars for him. She was a nice
lady, Ellen. Four or five months pregnant at the time. . . .
Camera
moves in slightly.
I sometimes think that if she hadn’t
given me exact change that day, or if the store had been a little more crowded,
it would have taken her a few more seconds to get out of here, and then maybe
she wouldn’t have steeped in front of that bullet. She’d still be alive, the
baby would have been born, and . . .
Auggie
chases a shoplifter out of the store.
2. Paul.
Destiny makes another visit.
We see Paul
walking on the street. He is absentminded, and he steps right into the traffic
and is saved from a collision by a young black man, Rashid Cole.
Title up: 1. Paul. Afterwards, Paul
insists on doing him a favor--so he buys him some lemonade at a Greek diner. We
see the two at the diner. Paul tries to probe him to find out if he is in
trouble, but the young man keeps Paul at a distance. Paul even offers him a
place to stay (at his apartment), but the young man refuses the offer. Paul
gives him his address.
3.
"You’ll never get it if you don’t slow down."
Scene in the
cigar shop. The owner, Vinnie, chats with Auggie. Vinnie asks about the deal on
the Cuban cigars. "You sure you don’t want to go in with me?" Auggie
asks. Vinnie declines the offer. "Don’t get caught," he says. Selling
Cuban cigars is illegal.
Later, Paul Benjamin arrives at
closing time, and Auggie lets him in. Paul notices a 35mm camera on the
counter. Auggie tells him about his hobby of photography. This sharing leads to
a later scene where the two are enjoying a drink and a smoke in the back room.
Auggie is showing Paul his photography albums.
Every
photograph is of an identical scene: the corner of the street where the tobacco
shop is located. Every photo was taken at 8:00 a.m., when Auggie opened the
store. Auggie explains:
That’s right. More than four
thousand pictures of the same place. Four thousand straight days in all kinds
of weather. That’s why I can never take a vacation. I’ve got to be in my spot
every morning. Every morning in the same spot at the same time. . . It’s my
project. What you’d call my life’s work.
Paul scans
each page quickly and turns the next page, again scanning those pictures
quickly. He doesn’t seem to comprehend the individuality of each photograph.
Finally Auggie interrupts him:
You’ll never get it if you don’t
slow down, my friend. . . . You’re hardly even looking at the pictures. [Paul says,
But they’re all the same.] They’re all the same, but each one is different from
every other one.
As
he continues, we see pictures, one after the other, each different. Music up.
You’ve got your bright mornings and
your dark mornings. You’ve got your summer light and your autumn light. You’ve
got your weekdays and your weekends. You’ve got your people in overcoats and
galoshes, and you’ve got your people in shorts and T-shirts. Sometimes the same
people, sometimes different ones. And sometimes the different ones become the
same, and the same ones disappear. The earth revolves around the sun, and every
day the light from the sun hits the earth at a different angle.
Back to the
wide shot of the two. "Slow down, huh?" Paul muses. Then he resumes
viewing, slowly. We see from his pov five more photographs. Piano music
continues in the background. Back to the wide shot again. Auggie looks at Paul
intently. Suddenly Paul stops. "Oh, Jesus." Camera in slightly.
"Look, it’s Ellen." "Yes," Auggie says. "She’s in
quite a few from that year." Paul concentrates on the photograph album.
"Look at my sweet darling." Cut to close shot of the
photograph--camera in slightly. Black and white photograph of his wife,
carrying an umbrella. Back to wide shot. Paul begins to sob. He lowers his
head. Auggie comforts him.
The next day
Auggie stands outside at 8:00 and snaps his next picture.
4.
Rashid’s next move.
Interior of
Paul’s apartment. He is beginning to write again. Suddenly he hears his buzzer.
The young black man, Rashid, is at the door. Rashid is here to stay
overnight--to take Paul up on his earlier offer. He settles down, and Paul
returns to his work.
The next day Paul wakes Rashid up,
offers him breakfast, but insists that he has to return to writing. Later,
Rashid hides a paper bag high up in the bookshelves in Paul’s room. Later, Paul
explains that Rashid’s time is up (he has stayed there three nights). Rashid
leaves. Paul seems frustrated with his decision. Title up: 2. Rashid.
In the next scene a black woman in
her 40’s barges into Paul’s apartment and accuses him of evil deeds relating to
her nephew, Thomas (Rashid!). Eventually Paul explains to her what happened.
She tells him Thomas has lived with her husband and her since he was a baby.
His mother is dead, and he hasn’t seen his father in twelve years. Note how
long the first shot in the scene lasts--a wide shot that allows the two to
interact, as if on stage.
The woman finally sits down and
talks to Paul. She tells him Thomas’ father lives north of New York City. She
told the young man where his father lives, north of New York City, and he
answered, "I don’t have a father. As far as I’m concerned the
son-of-a-bitch is dead."
5. Rashid.
The prodigal son.
Rashid on a
rural highway. He stands across from a run-down garage, where a middle-aged
black man is working. Time passes. The man notices that Rashid is watching him.
Finally the man crosses the road and confronts Rashid. "It gives a man the
creeps to be stared at all morning." Cyrus, Rashid’s father, insinuates
that he is aware the young man is planning to rob him. But Rashid maintains his
innocence. The frame is set up as Rashid’s pov shot--this shot runs a long
time. Rashid has been sketching the garage. It is a picturesque setting. Then
the two banter about the sketch. The more Rashid spins a tale, the more Cyrus
becomes angrier. Then Rashid says, "If I’m getting on your nerves, you might
want to think about hiring me." Cyrus explodes. Note how the reverse angle
is used here. "Are those eyes in your head? How many people you see drive
in for that gas pump? Not a one!" I bought this piece of shit place about
three weeks ago. So what the fuck do I want to be hiring somebody for?"
6. Ruby.
The prodigal wife.
Ruby,
Auggie’s former wife, shows up in the tobacco store. She is an attractive
woman, blonde hair, svelte figure, wearing a black eye patch. She refers to the
eighteen years that have passed since they last saw each other. Auggie is cold
toward her, but she insists they talk.
The scene is cut using medium shots,
reverse angle pov shots. Suddenly Ruby introduces a topic of "their
daughter." Auggie denies the young woman, Felicity, is his daughter. Ruby
elaborates: She ran away a year ago. She’s living here in Brooklyn with some
guy called Chico in some shit hole. She’s strung out on crack, and she’s four
months pregnant. Our grandchild." Auggie is defiant. "You’ve suckered
me before. Why should I believe it?" She insists she is serious about this
issue. But Auggie argues,
That’s what you told
me when I shoplifted that necklace for you. The judge gave me a choice: either
go to the can or enlist. So I wind up in the Navy for four years instead of
going to college. I watch men lose their arms and legs. I nearly get my head
blown off, and you, sweet Ruby McNutt, you run off and marry that asshole,
Bill.
They argue
some more. "You’re conning me, sweetheart. I’m not responsible for the
baby." Ruby is emotional, near tears. Auggie doesn’t relent. Nice try, old
girl. I’d like to help you out, you know, for old time’s sake. But all my spare
cash is tied up in a business venture, and I haven’t collected my profits yet.
Too bad. You caught me at the wrong time. Ruby complains, "You’re a
cold-hearted bastard." She walks out.
7. Rashid
in his Father’s House.
Rashid is
sitting on a car across the road from the garage. Finally Cyrus strides across
the road and sits next to Rashid. He has relented. He offers Rashid a job
cleaning out a room in the upstairs of the house. As usual, Rashid dresses up
the offer with a subtle wit and imagination. But he takes the job. Cyrus
introduces himself. Rashid introduces himself as "Paul Benjamin."
Cut to scene of the real Paul
Benjamin at work in his apartment. Then to the garage scene. Rashid is taking
out the trash. He is working fast, almost relentless. Cyrus tells him to take a
break. He hands the young man a coke--using the hook on his artificial hand to
hand it to him. Rashid asks him about the arm.
"An
ugly piece of hardware isn’t it? Twelve years ago, God looked down on me and
said, "Cyrus, you’re a bad, stupid, selfish man. First, I’m going to fill
your body with spirits, and then I’m going to put you behind the wheel of a
car, and then I’m going to make you crash that car and kill the women who loves
you. But you, Cyrus, I’m going to let you live, because living is a lot worse
than dying. And just so you don’t forget wheat you did to that poor girl, I’m
going to rip off your arm and replace it with a hook. Now he could have ripped
off both my arms and both my legs, but I’m going to be merciful and just rip
off a left arm. Every time I look at this hook, I remember what a bad, stupid,
selfish man I am. Let that be a lesson to you, Cyrus, a lesson so you can mend
your ways, a warning.
Later, Cyrus’
wife arrives to pick him up. With her is their small child, a daughter. They
leave. Rashid sits at the top of the exterior stairs and soaks up the scene.
Later, he slips his drawing of the garage under the door.
8.
Rashid’s reunion with Paul Benjamin.
Rashid shows
up on Paul’s doorstep again. He bears a gift--a television set for Paul.
Finally Paul commands him to come in and sit down. He tells Rashid about Aunt
Em’s visit. Then Rashid tells him the story of how he came to be in trouble:
There’s this guy, Charlie Clemm, the
creeper. I crossed paths with him. That’s why I’m trying to stay clear of my
neighborhood to make sure I don’t run into him again. I just happened to be walking
by. All of a sudden, the Creeper and this other guy came running out of this
check-cashing place with masks on their faces and guns in their hands. They
just about ran smack into me. The Creeper recognizes me. And I knew he knew I
recognize him. If the guy from the check-cashing place hadn’t rushed out then
screaming bloody murder, he would have shot me. I’m telling you, the Creeper
would have shot me right there eon the sidewalk. But the noise distracted him,
and when he turned around to see what was happening, I took off. One more
second and I would have been dead.
Paul suggests
that Rashid call the police--but Rashid debunks that idea quickly. Even though
Rashid lives only a mile away from this neighborhood, he explains, "Black
is white and white is white, and never the twain shall meet." Paul says,
"It looks like they’ve met in this apartment." Rashid’s retort:
"Let’s not get too idealistic." Paul tells him to call his Aunt Em.
Cut to a scene of the two, Paul and
Rashid, watching the baseball game on the television set.
9. Auggie
and Ruby visit their prodigal daughter.
Title up: 3.
Ruby. Auggie leaves the store and is picked up by Ruby. Interior of the car,
their pov, and Ruby talks nonstop about how much Felicity looks like Auggie.
She says she told the young woman her father is visiting her.
They arrive at a bad section of
town. Interior of a bombed-out building. The young woman, wearing a dirty
nightgown and robe, verbally accosts her mother as soon as she turns around.
"You said you wanted to see him. Well, here he is," Ruby says. Ruby
steps toward her and tries to touch her--but the young woman pushes her away.
"I’ve got a man, which is more than you can say for yourself,
Hawkeye." Felicity looks rough--no makeup on her face, smoking a cigarette,
her hair dirty, the apartment a filthy mess. Ruby brings up the baby.
Felicity’s answer: "Well, there ain’t no baby in there now. You dig?
There’s nothing in there now." She tells Ruby she had an abortion the day
before yesterday. Her parting words:
You’d better go. Chico will be back
in a minute. And I don’t think your boyfriend wants to mess with him. Chico’s a
real man, not some scuzzy dickhead you pick out of last month’s garbage. You
hear what I’m saying? He’ll chop Mr. Dad here up into little pieces. That’s a
promise. He’ll kick the living shit out of him.
Reaction shot
of Auggie and Ruby. They walk away. Cut back to shot of Felicity. She remains
defiant, but her face begins to waver--she holds back tears.
10. Paul’s
story of a father and son.
Paul tells
Rashid a story he is working on. Camera in slightly from Rashid’s pov. Paul I
dressed only in his robe.
PAUL: About twenty-five years ago a
young man went skiing alone in the Alps. There was an avalanche. The snow
swallowed him up, and his body was never recovered. His son was just a little
boy at the time, but the years passed, and when he grew up, he became a skier,
too. One day last winter, he went out by himself for a run down the mountain.
He gets halfway to the bottom and then stops to eat his lunch next to a big
rock. Just as he’s unwrapping his cheese sandwich, he looks down and sees a
body right there at his feet--frozen in the ice. He bends down to take a closer
look, and suddenly he feels that he’s looking into a mirror, that he’s looking
at himself. there he is--dead--and the body is perfectly intact, like someone
preserved in suspended animation. He gets down on all fours, looks right into
the dead man’s face and realizes that he’s looking at his father. And the
strange thing is that the father is younger than the son is now.
Cut to Rashid
listening. Paul continues: "The boy has become a man, and it turns out
that he’s older than his own father."
Paul asks him what his plans are for
today. Rashid announces that today is his birthday. He is 17. Cut to the two at
a book shop. They stand across from an attractive female clerk. She recognizes
Paul. Her name is April Lee. "I keep waiting for the next novel to come
out." Paul seems dumbstruck by her. Rashid fills in. "It’s coming
along. At the rate he’s going, he’ll have a story finished by the end of the
summer." Then out of the blue Rashid invites April to a party with Paul
and him. She seems to put Rashid off at first. But he improvises. "I have
to keep an eye on Mr. Benjamin wherever he goes. To makes sure he doesn’t get
himself into trouble." She ask, "And what are you, his
chaperone?" Rashid: "Actually, I’m his father." Paul picks up on
the joke. "Most people assume I’m his father. It’s a logical assumption--given
that I’m older than he is and so on. But the fact is, it’s the other way
around,. He’s my father, and I’m his son." April laughs.
11.
Rashid’s birthday party leads to a new job.
There is Paul
dancing with April at a bar. Rashid watches nearby. Suddenly Paul spots Auggie
(with a date) and introduces him to Rashid and April. Auggie and the woman on
Auggie’s arm are both drunk. His date is scantily clad and can’t help striking
provocative poses. Before the two slip away, Paul asks a favor of Auggie--give
Rashid a job. Auggie agrees. "I owe you one," Paul says. Cut to shot
of Rashid and Auggie’s "assistant" sweeping the sidewalk at the front
of the store.
Rashid and
Paul in the latter’s apartment. In mid-conversation:
PAUL: It’s 1942, right? And he’s
caught in Leningrad during the siege. I’m talking about one of the worst
moments in human history. Five hundred thousand people died in that one place,
and there’s Bakhtin, 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 to roll his
cigarettes.
Rashid can’t
believe it. "His only copy." Paul says, "If you think you’re
going to die, what’s more important, a good book or a good smoke? And so he
huffed and he puffed, and little by little he smoked his book." Rashid
still doesn’t believe him. Paul reaches high up in his bookcase to find a book,
and he discovers a brown paper sack. "Is this yours?" He throws it
down toward Rashid--hundreds of bills of currency float down toward Rashid.
Cut to a
later scene. Paul is upbraiding Rashid for his foolish behavior. Rashid has
almost six thousand dollars in the sack. The money belongs to the Creeper.
That’s why Rashid has been in hiding. Paul says, "So you robbed the
robbers, and now the robbers are after you." Rashid insists the money
represents "my whole future." Paul says, "With an attitude like
that, you won’t have a future. Seventeen is a hell of an age to die. Is that
what you want?" Rashid doesn’t answer.
Rashid
mopping the interior of the cigar store. Auggie leaves for an hour. Rashid
takes a break, peruses the pictures in Penthouse, and ignores the water
overflowing in the sink in the closet. Under the sink are several cardboard
boxes filled with illegal Cuban cigars. Suddenly Auggie returns--and Rashid
slips the Penthouse under the counter. With Auggie are his two clients--lawyer
types. Auggie goes to the closet, "What’s going on here? Look at this! The
goddamn place is flooded!"
12.
Rashid’s redemption, Paul’s fall.
Interior of a
bar in Brooklyn. Paul finds Auggie at the bar, and he brings him into a room
off to the side. The three sit awkwardly at the table.
AUGGIE: I’m sorry to. It took me
three years to save up those five thousand bucks, and now I’m broke. I can
hardly pay for this beer. Not to speak of having my credibility destroyed. Do
you understand what I’m saying? My credibility. I’m sorry, too. About as sorry
as I’ve ever been in my whole fucking life.
Paul prods
Rashid to make the next move. Rashid hands him the paper sack. Auggie reaches
inside and pulls out a sheath of bills. Rashid says, "That’s five thousand
dollars." Auggie pushes the bag away. "You probably stole it
anyway." Rashid tosses it back to him. Paul and Auggie exchange some
meaningful glances and repartee. Finally Paul says, "Now say something
nice to Rashid to make him feel better." Auggie says, "Fuck you,
kid." Rashid’s reply: "Fuck you too, you white son-of-a-bitch."
Paul smiles. "Good. I’m glad that’s settled."
Interior of
Paul’s apartment late at night. Pounding at the door. When he answers the door,
two black men push inside. They are Charlie Clemm, the Creeper, and his
sidekick, Roger Goodwin. Paul is terrified. He can barely make eye contact.
When he tells them he knows who they are, and mentions the name
"Creeper," Roger Goodwin pulls out a gun and threatens him--he pushes
Paul against his window. Suddenly we cut to Rashid on the street outside. He
looks up at the window and realizes Paul is in trouble. He runs for it.
13. Auggie
returns the favor for Ruby.
Exterior of
the cigar store. Auggie is trying to explain the "facts of life" to
Jimmy Rose, his part-time helper. Suddenly Paul comes by. Auggie says,
"You’re one fucking mess." Paul refers to the police coming just in
the nick of time. "I managed to keep my mouth shut for once in my
life." Paul notes that he hasn’t seen Rashid for a while. He’s worried.
Interior of
Paul’s apartment. He hobbles around the apartment, his left arm still a mess.
He turns on the television, but it won’t work. He looks at a photograph on the
wall--obviously drawn by Rashid. Exterior in a promenade near the Brooklyn
Bridge. Auggie and Ruby are walking slowly. She summarizes her daughter’s
plight. Their interaction is filmed in medium shots.
RUBY: It’s pretty clear she doesn’t
want me around. There’s no baby anymore, and if she wants to throw away her
life, that’s her business. [Auggie tries to be encouraging.] She’ll be luck y
to make it to her nineteenth birthday. [Auggie suggests a rehab program.] I’d
never be able to talk her into it. And even if I could, those things cost
money. And that’s just what I don’t have. I’m flat out dead broke.
Auggie hands
her the paper sack with five thousand dollars in it. Ruby cries. "You’re
an angel." Then he says, "There’ just one thing I want to know.
Felicity. She’s not my daughter, is she?" Ruby says, "Well, I don’t
know. She might be. And then again, she may not. It’s about a fifty-fifty
chance. It’s your call, Auggie."
14.
Reconciliation of Father and Son.
[Title up: 4.
Cyrus.] Phone ringing. Interior of Auggie’s apartment at the cigar store. He is
busy in his own world updating the most recent photo album. Finally he answers
the phone. "Peter Rabbit’s alive," he says.
Exterior of
Cyrus’ house north of the City. Rashid is painting the porch. He is surprised
to see Cyrus and his wife arrive--for a picnic. They invite him to join them.
Suddenly a red Cadillac pulls up--with Paul and Auggie. Everyone stands
together in the frame--at a wide shot. Cyrus is mystified. Rashid knows these
guys? Cyrus introduces himself to Auggie, then to Paul. Now he really is
mystified. How can the white guy and Rashid have the same name. Rashid spins a
tale--an obvious lie. "You’re full of crap, kid. Why don’t you come clean
and tell the man who you are?" Auggie says. Then Paul refers to him as
"Rashid." "You’re real name!" Auggie demands. Rashid wants
to tell his father "in my own time." But Paul and Auggie don’t
relent. Rashid steps away from them, closer to the camera, and Cyrus moves even
with him.
Then cut to
Cyrus’ pov shot, at medium shot range, and Rashid says, "Thomas Cole. My
name is Thomas Jefferson Cole." Reverse angle reaction shot of his father.
"Are you mockin’ me? I ain’t gonna let no little punk kid come here and
mock me?" Cuts to wider shot we had before, and then his father hits him
hard in the face.
Auggie and Paul to the rescue--but
Cyrus’ wife, Doreen kicks Auggie in the shin, and then Auggie bumps Paul on his
bad arm, and both are out of action. Thomas looks up from the ground and then
attacks his father, and both roll onto the ground. Doreen tries to separate
them. Finally she pulls him up. She screams, "He’s your son! Do you want
to kill your son!" He rages and points at Thomas. "You lyin’! You
lyin’!" Reaction shots of Thomas and Cyrus.
Exterior at Cole’s garage. All are
seated around a picnic table, except for Auggie, who reclines on a chair behind
the table. No one speaks for a moment. Cyrus offers Paul a cigar. Both begin to
smoke. Cut to closer shot of the "Cole" side of the table. Thomas
reaches out and touches the head of his half-brother. Cyrus smokes. Piano music
up. Exterior of Brooklyn. Subway train moving slowly on an elevated platform.
Music theme up.
15.
Auggie’s Christmas Story.
[Title
up: 5. Auggie.] Interior of the cigar store. Some of the regulars are there
gossiping about the impending Gulf War. Paul buys one cigar--not two.
"Someone’s worried about my health," he says, obviously referring to
April Lee. Then Paul announces that he has a contract to write a Christmas
story for the New York Times--but he has to deliver it in four days. Auggie
says, "I’ll tell you what. Buy me lunch, my friend, and I’ll tell you the
best Christmas story you ever heard. How’s that? And I guarantee every word of
it is true." Paul says, "It doesn’t have to be true. It just has to
be good."
Interior,
Jack’s restaurant. Auggie is reading a paper at the table. Just as Paul sits
down, Auggie notices an article about two black men killed in a jewel heist.
Their names--Charlie Clemm and Roger Goodwin. Paul sits down. Auggie begins,
and we see his pov as he sits facing Paul across the small table. Most of the
dialogue is delivered from the reverse angle, Paul’s pov. Notice the man with
the hat sitting behind them.
AUGGIE: Remember how you once asked
me how I started taking pictures? Well, this is the story of how I got my first
camera. As a matter of fact, it’s the only camera I’ve ever had. Are you
following me so far? [Paul says, "Every word."] It was the summer of
seventy-six, back when I first started working for Vinnie The summer of the
bicentennial A kid came in one morning and started stealing things from the
store. He’s standing by the rack of paperbacks near the front window stuffing
skin magazines under his shirt. It was crowded around the counter just then, so
I didn’t see him at first. . . But once I notice what he was up to, I started
to shout He took off like a jackrabbit, and by the time I got out from behind
the counter, he was already tearing down Seventh Avenue. I chased after him for
about a block and a half, and then I gave up. He’d dropped something along the
way, and since I didn’t feel like tuning anymore. I bent down to see what it
was. It turned out to be his wallet. There wasn’t any money inside, but his
drivers’ license was there, along with there of four snapshots. I suppose I
could have called the cops and had him arrested. I had his name and address
from the license, but I felt kind of sorry for him. He was just a measly little
punk, and once I looked at those pictures in his wallet, I couldn’t bring
myself to feel very angry at shim.. . Roger Goodwin. That was his name. In one
of the pictures, I remember, he was standing next to his mother. In another one,
he was holding a trophy he got from school and smiling like he just won the
Irish sweepstakes. I just didn’t have the heart. A poor kid from Brooklyn,
without much going for him, and who cared about a couple of dirty magazines,
anyway? . . .
So I held onto the wallet. Every
once in a while I’d get a little urge to send it back to him, but I kept
delaying and never did anything about it. Then Christmas rolls around, and I’m
stuck with nothing to do. Vinnie was going to invite me over, but his mother got
sick, and he and wife had to go down to Miami at the last minute. So I’m
sitting in my apartment that morning, feeling a little sorry for myself, and
then I see Roger Goodwin’s wallet lying on a shelf in the kitchen. I figure
what the hell, why not do something nice for once, and I put on my coat and go
out to return the wallet...
The address was over in Boerum Hill,
somewhere in the projects. It was freezing out that day, and I remember getting
lost a few times trying to find the right building. Everything looks the same
in that place, and you keep going over the same ground thinking you’re
somewhere else. Anyway, I finally get to the apartment I’m looking for and ring
the bell . . .
Nothing happens. I assume no one’s
there, but I ring again just to make sue. I wait a little longer, and just when
I’m about to give up, I hear someone shuffling to the door. An old woman’s
voice asks "Who’s there?" And I say I’m looking for Roger Goodwin.
"Is that you, Roger?" she says, and then she undoes about fifteen locks
and opens the door. . .
She’s got to be at least eighty
maybe ninety years sold, and the first thing I notice about her is she’s blind.
"I knew you’d come, Roger," she says. "I knew you wouldn’t
forget your Granny Ethel on Christmas." Notice how the camera every so
slowly begins to move in toward Auggie.
AUGGIE: And then she opens her arms
as if she’s about to hug me. I didn’t have much time to thin, you understand. I
had to say something real fast, and before I knew what was happening, I could
hear the words coming out of my mouth. "That’ right, Granny Ethel" I
said. "I came back to see you on Christmas." Don’t ask me why I said
it. I don’t have any idea. It just came out that way, and suddenly this old
woman’s hugging me there in front of the door, and I’m hugging her back. It was
as if we both decided to play this game we both decided to play--without having
to discuss the rules. I mean, she knew I wasn’t her grandson. She was
old and dotty, but she wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t tell the difference
between a stranger and her own flesh and blood. But it made her happy to
pretend, and since I had nothing better to do anyway. I was happy to go along
with her. . . .
So we both go into the apartment and
we spend the day together. Every time she asked me how I was doing, I would lie
to her. I told her I’d found a good job in a cigar store. I told her I was
about to get married. I told her a hundred pretty stories, and she made like
she believed every one of them. "That’s fine, Roger," she would say,
nodding her head, and smiling. "I always knew things would turn out for
you . . . "
Notice
how the camera has moved in slightly and continues to close in on Auggie.
AUGGIE: After a while, I started
getting hungry. Since there was no food in the house, so I went out to a store
in the neighborhood and picked up a whole bunch of stuff. A precooked chicken,
vegetable soup, a bucket of potato salad, whole bunch of stuff. Granny Ethel
had a couple of bottles of wine stashed in her bedroom, and so between us we
managed to put together a fairly decent Christmas dinner. We both got a little
tipsy from the wine, I remember, and after the meal was over we went out to sit
in the living room where the chairs were more comfortable . . .
Now
we are at medium close-up range.
AUGGIE:I had to take a pee, so I
excused myself and went to the bathroom down the hall.. That’s where things
took another turn. It was ditsy enough doing my little jig as Granny Ethel’s
grandson, but what I did then was particularly crazy, and I’ve never forgiven
myself for it. I go into the bedroom, and stacked up against the wall next to
the shower, I see a pile of six or seven cameras. Brand-new,
thirty-five-millimeter cameras, still in their boxes. I’ve never taken a
picture in my life, and I’ve certainly never stolen anything, but once I see
those camera sitting in the bathroom, I decide I want one of them for myself.
Just like that.
We’re
at close-up range now. Camera keeps moving in.
AUGGIE: And without even thinking
about it, I pick up one of the cameras, tuck one of the boxes under my arm, and
go back to the living room. . . . I wasn’t gone for more than three minutes,
but in that time Granny Ethel had fallen asleep. Too much Chianti, I suppose. I
went out the kitchen to wash the dishes, and she slept on through the whole
racket, snoring like a baby. .
Now
the camera moves in to ECU, then farther until all we can see is Auggie’s
mouth.
AUGGIE: There didn’t seem to be any
point in disturbing her, so I decided to leave. I couldn’t even write her a
letter to say good-bye, seeing that she was blind an all, so I just left. I put
her grandson’s wallet on the table, picked up the camera again, and walked out
of the apartment.
Cut to an ECU
of Paul’s eyes as Auggie finishes with, "And that’s the end of the
story." Hold on this shot. Paul says, "Did you ever go back again?
Did you ever go back to see her?
Auggie, in a
medium close-up. Now the shot selection goes to a parallel track between angles
on Auggie and angles on Paul. Auggie answers, "Once, about three or four
months later. I felt so bad about stealing the camera. I hadn’t even used it
yet. I finally made up my mind to return it but Granny Ethel wasn’t there
anymore. Someone else had moved into the apartment, and he couldn’t tell me
where she was.
Cut to Paul:
"She probably died." He lights a cigar. "Which means that she
spent her last Christmas with you.
Cut to
Auggie: "I guess so. In ever thought of it that way." Paul says,
"It was a good deed, Auggie. It was nice thing you did for her." Auggie
says, "I lied to her, and then I stole from her. I don’t see how you can
call that a good deed." Paul says, "You made her happy--"
Cut to Paul:
"The camera was stolen anyway. It’s not as if the person you took it from
really owned it. Auggie says, "Anything for art, eh Paul?" Paul:
"I wouldn’t say that. But at least you’ve put the camera to good use.
Cut to
Auggie: "And now you’ve got your Christmas story, don’t you?"
Cut to Paul:
"Yes, I suppose I do." He takes a long drag on his cigar, then looks
hard at Auggie, then looks away, then puzzles some more, and then looks back at
Auggie. "Bullshit is a real talent, Auggie."
Cut to
Auggie: reaction shot. Paul continues: "To make up a good story you have
to know how to push all the right buttons. I’d say you were up among the
masters." Auggie looks innocent. "What do you mean?"
Cut to Paul:
"I mean--it’s a good story." He looks at Auggie with admiration and
satisfaction.
Cut to
Auggie: "Shit, if you can’t share your secrets with your friends, what
kind of friend are you?" Notice the smoke that drifts down through the
frame. Auggie smiles broadly.
Cut to Paul:
He smiles back. "Exactly. Life just wouldn’t be worth living, would
it?"
Cut to
Auggie: He lights a cigarette. Music up. tom Waits singing "Innocent When
You Dream."
Cut to Paul:
He continues to smile. Cut to Auggie: He smokes and smiles some more. Smoke
drifts up from the cigarette in his hand through the frame.
16. Auggie
Wren’s Christmas.
Cut to ECU of
typewriter. Paul writes the title--Auggie Wren’s Christmas story. In black and
white we see Roger Goodwin steal a book from Auggie’s store, and Auggie chase
him down the street. Credits up. Auggie finds the wallet. Later, he examines
the photographs in the wallet. Then we see Auggie at the high rise. There’s
Granny Ethel at the door. She touches Auggie’s face, and welcomes him as Roger.
We can see she realizes this man isn’t Roger. But she welcomes him inside
anyway. Later, they sit on the sofa and laugh at stories. She holds his hand.
He feeds some chicken. They toast each other with Chianti. Later, while she
sleeps, Auggie returns from the bathroom, leaves Roger’s wallet with her, and
leaves with the stolen camera.
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Summary
written by Robert E. Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota
Reprinted by permission of the author
for educational use only