New York I Love You is a 2009 collection of 11 short romantic films from the producer of Paris, je t’aime, Emmanuel Benbihy, and is the second film in the Cities of Love franchise.
The movie stars Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Anton Yelchin, Hayden Christensen, Orlando Bloom, Irrfan Khan, Rachel Bilson, Chris Cooper, Andy García, Christina Ricci, Uğur Yücel, Robin Wright Penn, Julie Christie, Maggie Q, Ethan Hawke and James Caan.
Plot
New York I Love You is a collection of 11 stories, each of which takes place within one of New York's five boroughs. The films are presented together, interweaving in parts until finally tying into a common theme of finding love in the Big Apple. Aawwwww.
Review
Unfortunately, comparisons with the superior omnibus Paris, je t’aime are unavoidable. Paris had an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities including American, British and French. The collection included eighteen short films set in different quadrants of Paris. The 22 directors include Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel and Ethan Coen, Gerard Depardieu, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, and Gus Van Sant.
Whereas Paris had quite specific, unique and memorable short films, New York’s are all similar and rather forgettable. This may be due to the choice to try and have a narrative through all of the films in an attempt to join them all together (for instance, the transitions between the shorts are directed by the same director; Randy Balsmeyer). This is an unfortunate choice as with a ‘mixed-bag’ as an omnibus should be, there is more of a chance to strike a gem. Ensemble, omnibuses are like a choose your favourite story, however, you have to sit through plenty of other people’s tastes to get to yours.
If it was the aim of the producer to tie all of these short films into a similar narrative however, why not just make a feature? The movie 4 Rooms had four short films from four different directors played out in a hotel, with each short simiarliy linked by a bell-hop character played very off-beat and kooky by Tim Roth. This worked in this construct as each ‘room’ was a different world: different characters, different stories directed by different directors. Once the door to the room was closed, we were again drawn back into the narrative of the bell-hop who kept us grounded throughout the 4 confined stories (I highly recommend watching 4 Rooms if only to watch Quentin Tarantino’s hysterical reimagining of an Alfred Hitchcock Presents short film which was originally written by Roald Dahl). New York confuses this style, introducing characters and then letting them interweave throughout, melding looks and themes together throughout with an attempt to bring everything at films conclusion. The Three Colours Trilogy did this with a fantastic final crescendo. Here, the producer is overreaching. If the product is a feature, keep it to a director and second unit director. If the product is a collection of short films, keep them separate, and let us enjoy the differences.
New York seems to show that Paris caught the eye of commercial stars wanting to prove their ‘Indie’ acting and directing chops. This, of course, comes across as forced and fake: the cinematic equivalent of a halfway crook – you either are or not an independent actor / director.
The sliding scale of subjective quality can be set here, choosing the worst and best short, and then sticking everything else in between. The worst short here would have to be Shia Le Belouf’s turn as a crippled, European bell-hop, acting his little heart out, followed by anything with Hayden Christenson where he is trying to act with a French accent starring again across from his Jumper co-star Rachel Bilson. Where Paris introduced international actors to play foreign characters, New York keeps the talent in-house. I know Hayden Christenson is from Vancouver, but a French actor for a French part would have made the section more authentic. It is also odd to see that, for a collection of short stories set in and around New York, none of the stories included involved black characters, actors and / directors.
The best short would be the flirtatious interplay between Orlando Bloom’s score-writer against an unseen female’s voice. Friendly flirting builds up genuine anticipation to the discovery of who the voice belongs to. Another director may have chosen to cut at this crucial moment, making a point that love is blind, and that it is irrelevant to see the face of the person that you have already fallen for, or, the face is one that is unexpected, playing with themes that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately the reveal is oval faced, wide eyed Christina Rikki. This is akin to Disney studios taking over a Hans Christian Anderson story ( best served in the metaphor that inspired the original Shrek movie- Lord Farquaad sending all the fairy-tale creatures away from his fortress-like-castle), sucking out all the culture, and slapping in populist, standard wide-eyed commercial entertainment.
Of course, like all movies, there is a link to Kevin Bacon here, albeit in a cut short directed by Scarlett Johansson to be found in the DVD extras. Compared to the quality of the other films, I can’t see any reason why this was cut, apart from perhaps the time allowed for the overall film.
Rating
French pretension at least comes off as being quite honest and natural. It seems New Yorkers have to work at it. 2.5 bagels out of 5
Check out the film at IMDB, see what Margaret and David have to say, and check out the trailer.
Luke McWilliams October 2010
