November 6, 1995 -- ``Smoke,'' a little gem of a film, will be shown Sunday night at 7 at the Wyo Theatre as part of the annual fall film series of avant garde and foreign films.

The film is about six lives that intertwine at a little corner tobacco shop in New York. It is full of wit and charm, clever dialogue and warmth. There is also a nice prologue dedicated to the late Grateful Dead musician Jerry Garcia, who sings ``Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.''

A fine ensemble cast of actors headed by Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Stockard Channing, Forest Whitaker and Harold Perrineau are a pleasure to watch. Keitel is particularly good as Auggie Wren, the owner of the tobacco store.

One of the stories in the film concerns writer Paul Benjamin (Hurt), who is saved from accidental death by Rashid Cole (Perrineau). Benjamin takes the boy in, and, as a result, gets tangled up in the aftermath of a robbery and later gets involved in reuniting the boy's family.

The complex screenplay, by Paul Auster, is all about chance meetings and coincidences, of regrets, reconciliation and simple human decency. It is like a series of character studies loosely woven together. Director Wayne Wang does a good job of holding all these themes together. The dialogue is funny, wistful and wise. The language in the film, however, is often profane, hence the ``R'' rating. There are wonderful stories told during the movie. That too, is something of a lost art.

This is a film that is small in scope, but which reveals more about people than many ``big'' Hollywood films. This film rates an A.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.