Paul Auster co-writes as Wayne Wang directs this portmanteau take on
Auster's Brooklyn neighbourhood, centring on Harvey Keitel's
tobacconist. Wang holds back and lets Auster's characters breathe:
figures ebb and flow in the stream-of-celluloid approach adopted by
the quixotic Auster and the sentimental Wang, Forest Whitaker and
William Hurt among them. The stories are expertly interwoven; this is
also the film's greatest failing, often feeling episodic and never
allowing it to move beyond the realm of whimsy. But it's a soft, tender
exploration of the shared nature of humanity and the ironies of the
broader picture.
