SMOKE (1995) Where the non-elite meet

Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel) is the proud owner of the Brooklyn Cigar Company, a hole-in-the-wall tobacco shop where friends congregate to puff and palaver and occasionally buy something. Their intertwining stories form the narrative structure of SMOKE, and while each tale has its own charm, the final one, Augie’s, is quite special. As he relates it to one of his regulars, a blocked writer (William Hurt), we see the story unfold about a Thanksgiving he pretended to be the grandson of an elderly blind black woman so that the two of them could enjoy a chicken dinner together. Did he fool her or did he not? Is the tale true or did Augie contrive it to unblock the writer? You'll have to decide for yourself.