Three Films

Three iconic screenplays from the mind of "one of American's most spectacularly inventive writers," Paul Auster. From The New York Trilogy to The Book of Illusions and 4 3 2 1, Paul Auster's novels have earned him a reputation as a literary innovator. Now, published together for the first time, are the screenplays of the three films he made in the 1990s. Smoke (starring Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, and Stockard Channing) tells the story of a novelist, a cigar store manager, and a black teenager whose unexpected paths cross, changing each other's lives indelibly. Set in contemporary Brooklyn, Smoke directly inspired Blue in the Face, a largely improvised comedy shot in just six days. It stars Harvey Keitel, with featured performances by Roseanne, Lily Tomlin, Lou Reed, and Michael J. Fox. Lulu on the Bridge, Auster's solo directorial debut, again stars Harvey Keitel alongside Mira Sorvino, Willem Dafoe, and Vanessa Redgrave. Opening with the accidental shooting of jazz musician Izzy Maurer, it leads him on a journey into the labyrinth of his soul - a thriller and fairy tale about love's redemptive powers.