Following on from Paris, Je T'aime, this is an anthology of short films. It weaves together several love stories, each set in one of the most loved cities of the world, the Big Apple itself – New York.
Directors include Natalie Portman, Mira Nair, Fatih Akin, Shekhar Kapur and Brett Ratner.
This follow-up to Paris, je t'aime may suffer from the inevitable inconsistency of any anthology movie, but it marks a more textured alternative to the overly slick mainstream romantic comedy Valentine's Day, which recently covered similar ground.
It’s not hard to get excited about the cinematic potential of a series of short stories about romance set in the most famous city in the world, and all the location shooting is a pleasure to behold. But the vignettes themselves veer wildly between light charm and severe pretension.
Natalie Portman radiates in her role as a young Hasidic bride to be who bonds with an Indian diamond merchant (Irrfan Khan – Slumdog Millionaire) in one of the stronger segments, directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). Portman herself writes and directs another segment, which doesn’t sing quite as loudly.
Bradley Cooper from The Hangover and Drea De Matteo from The Sopranos achieve a rough poignancy in their segment, and James Caan is appealing playing a down to earth character for the first time in ages. His segment is the sweetest thing Brett Ratner (the Rush Hour movies) has directed in a while.
An ‘old couple’ segment featuring screen legend Eli Wallach (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly) is overly cute, while Shia LaBeouf and Julie Christie get all ponderous in their near-insufferable vignette.
The stories don’t all gel together as well as they might, but there’s still enough going on here to elicit a smile or two.
By Dominic Corry, Flicks.co.nz
Small stories from another city with lots of different characters and directors made this film funny/heartwarming. There are lots of punchlines in this movie that I had no idea of and that made it very enjoyable
I thoroughly enjoyed going to see this movie but if you only like conventional, formulaic Hollywood movies then stay away. The stories were varied and interesting and everything felt well crafted despite some disjointedness due to all the different directors involved. Not quite as good as Jim Jarmusch’s Night On Earth, which for me remains the ultimate short film mash-up, but definitely still worth a look. Made me want to go on a random long walk and bar crawl around the city!
This film is a delight - it casts a bunch of well-known actors into short films and links them together with the themes of 'New York' and 'love'. Much like the city itself, the outcome is diverse, well-rounded and there is something for everyone. I am the first one to admit that "arty" films sometimes go way over my head. However, the best thing about this film is that if this happens, then you just wait ten minutes and another short film is on it's way! My favourite shorts were the one with a gentleman trying to pick up a lady outside, the lust montage, the high-school prom and the hotel one with the twist ending (which was meant to symbolise a lost loved one). However my favourite scene was the last one with the couple on their 63rd wedding anniversary. This scene was such a delight. There is a facebook fan page of this movie which contains all the pods that were given out as teasers - helps to explain the directors meanings and might help explain some of the scenes that went over viewers' heads in the first instance! Well done.
This is one of those films that takes a while or maybe some re-watches to digest. I haven't seen the first one in the series - Paris, je t’aime so I cannot compare them though I have heard from friends that they preferred the Paris version. My first impression was that it was definitely stylishly shot with some very interesting camera angles used and the colour palette was quite disarmingly charming. The background music seemed a perfect fit for the feel of the movie. As for the shorts themselves - some of them I "got" some of them I didn't. For example the one featuring Julie Christie and Shia LaBeouf. Easily one of my favourites - their acting was amazing and I loved the way it was shot but when it ended my friend and I just looked at each other and were probably thinking "what was that!?". I still don't know...The one starring Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman was easily the darling of the audience we watched this with. We all laughed so much. It was frankly quite a relief, after all the abstract and bizarre shorts we had been treated to, to just enjoy this couple enjoying bickering with each other.
Look at the cast and credits to form an idea of the directors and actors at work here. By its nature, New York, I Love You can't add up. It remains the sum of its parts. If one isn't working for you, wait a few minutes, here comes another one. New Yorkers, I love you.
Most of these linked "shorts" succeed remarkably in nailing the serendipitous flavor of love, New York-style.
Even the more predictable prove pleasurable.
But in spite of some attempts at human and neighborhood variety, the stories have a self-conscious sameness, as if they were classroom assignments in an undergraduate fiction-writing class.
Many pleasures and moments of magic.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 6th May 2010.
Release date: May 6th 2010.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
