Appreciating Our Separated Togetherness and the Pace of Life

In Smoke, Auggie’s Brooklyn Cigar Company serves as a reflection of the larger world around us and the fragmented flow of time that we are all a part of. Each character’s individual story contributes to the whole image of the world they create together. The picture Auggie takes every day from his corner of the world at 8:30 AM encapsulates different meanings within the film. Auggie sees his shop as “just one little part of the world,” but even the moments from this “little part of the world” that he captures hold so many stories within them. The photos look the same at first glance but are made completely different by the constantly changing people and circumstances in them. When put together, the pictures don’t move continuously like a film but rather function as a collection of vignettes-each a distinct piece of a fragment of our society. This representation of separated togetherness drives the film and is further emphasized by the structure and symbols in the movie as well as the relationships between the characters. In terms of structure, the movie seems to be split into chapters with each one focusing on the perspective of a specific character. The chapters flow into one another and could function as a continuous story without the distinctions; however, these splits illustrate the fragmented togetherness present in all our communities including NYC. They also highlight the characters’ different perspectives and the value in each of these points of view. In addition to structure, the recurring symbols within the film bring out a similar theme. Throughout the film, the $5,000 originally stolen by robbers travels from character to character. Initially, Rashid takes and stores it as his savings. He later gives it to Auggie for accidentally damaging his cigars. Auggie ultimately gives this money to Ruby to help Felicity. Likewise, in Auggie’s Christmas story, Auggie takes back a camera stolen from his shop and, in the process, goes along with the dreams of a grandmother because it “made her happy to pretend.” Both the camera and money reveal how we’re all tied to each other in ways we may never even know about. Our relationships with one another function like time–we are continuously connected even though we’re each like distinct moments. Overall, the characters’ connections through Auggie show how important it is to recognize our separated togetherness and the story we create together. At the beginning of the film, Auggie tells Paul that he needs to slow down to understand the meaning of his pictures. In our fast-paced lives as New Yorkers, perhaps we can do the same and slow down to appreciate the value we each provide to our collective narrative.
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