I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
Set in the streets of the city of love, Paris, Je T'aime is a film made up of 18 short films by twenty directors (they are, in alphabetical order: Olivier Assayas, Frédéric Auburtin, Emmanuel Benbihy, Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Coen brothers, Isabel Coixet, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Gérard Depardieu, Christopher Doyle, Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali, Alexander Payne, Bruno Podalyd?s, Walter Salles, Oliver Schmitz, Nobuhiro Suwa, Daniela Thomas, Tom Tykwer, Gus Van Sant).
Each short concerns itself with the curiosities of contemporary love, in all its forms. As an anthology of films, of the highest production, we witness that quite astonishing list of directors as they play with that most overlooked artistic medium - the short film.
As a matter of interest it’s worth a look but, as is so often the downfall of such collective ventures (such as New York Stories, Four Rooms), the film as a whole suffers from some shorts being great - others less so.
Standouts include Alexander Payne’s portrait of a middle aged American tourist in search of the romance that Paris implies. A Napoleon Dynamite-esque character traverses the city narrated by her text book, poorly accented French, experiencing the everyday happenings that allows one to fall in love with a city. Typically the Coen brothers and Gus Van Sant produce equally fantastic shorts, showing again their talents manifest in anything they touch.
One failure of the film is an epilogue that tries to tie off to many loose ends. It comes off as too forced. Each short is so stylistically unlike the others that this need not be attempted.
On the whole this is a hard film to get ones teeth into. The five minute stories take a moment to get used to but each one leaves us keen for more. A successful short film should do this, but is ultimately jarring here.
[Reviewed by S.F.]
STRANGE, STRANGE.
This film is very interesting - the short films as themselves are great. Each one very well done, at times gorgeous, and intriguing in themselves. Each is about love - man/woman, man/man, woman/city, mother/child. So it's great to see so many takes on the theme. But to watch a whole lot of vignettes back to back - with no plot line to carry them all through - is always going to be a bit boring.
Anthology films usually work better in theory than execution, but this feature parade of shorts is a blithe, worldly, and enchanting exception...
Paris Je T'Aime has something going for it that not every movie can claim: It always has Paris...
While Paris, Je T'Aime's parts add up to something, it could have been more. You've seen the stellar group of actors and directors all do better...
1/2 There's a chance there might not be meaty enough here for the more demanding cinema-goer to sink their teeth into, but there's a fabulously talented array of film makers and actors and of course its set in one of the most cinematic cities on the planet...
Uneven but quite pleasant as a two-hour experience that acknowledges the idealized Paris people carry in their heads while wisely veering off the beaten track...
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 21st Jun 2007.
Release date: June 21st 2007.
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.
