Review of New York, I Love You (2008) by Jim L — 31 Aug 2010

I really, genuinely, enjoyed this. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. After all, you've got people like Rachel Bilson and Blake Lively casted - how much a good film can come out of it?

Yeah, they ARE some good looking people, but after watching Paris Je t'aime, I thought that any American version of that piece of art would just be such a disaster. However, I was quite surprised by the different clips put together.

I loved each short-film differently - each one evoked a different set of emotions, albeit being love. David and Camille was sweet. The support you get from someone you do not even know - someone you had no intentions of getting involved in, even though David did ask Camille out on a date before. It is when David finally felt like that was the last straw, did Camille decide to give it a go and turns up at his place, offering to help him with his composing.

Hooker and Writer was oh-so-adorable. You HAVE to give credit to Ethan Hawke for portraying such a character so well:

"Writer: That was kind of a powerful, intimate situation.

Hooker: What was intimate?

W: Just now. Just-- We... Sharing the flame. I mean, that was-- that was intimate.

H: If you say so.

W: Oh, come on now. You know what I'm talking about. Our hands almost touched. I looked at you, and you lifted your head up slowly, and our eyes met. It was-- It was-- It was intense, and it was intimate.".

Brett Ratner's scene on the Boy who took the actress on the wheelchair to prom was really touching. You see a lot of emotions in Boy in just that few minutes. The disappointment in not having a date, the excitement upon realisation that he had a date, the disappointment Again, when his date wasn't up to his expectations, the embarrassment when he saw his girlfriend, etc etc. And when he finally got to realise it was just an act, what he said just about sum it all up:

"Central Park covers almost 843 acres.

It is 6% of Manhattan. There are also 127,Method actresses in New York, which is 2% of the population. And on the night of my senior prom, these two elements came together to make one perfect wish come true.

God, I love New York.".

Gus and Lydia are 2 people who are going on a 1st date after their 1st meetup - a supposed one-night-stand. Listening to their thoughts was more than enough to come to some sort of understanding on how intense a feeling they felt. Their complex state of mind adequately depicted the confusion in mind and in their emotions:

"God, that was sexy. It was beyond sexy.

I felt like I was in.

A damn Bertolucci movie.

What is wrong with me?

Why am I so fucking nervous?

This is ridiculous. Let's just get in a cab.

No, you're too early. Shit!

I need a cigarette.".

Shekhar Kapur's clip gave me chills down the spine.

Until now, I had no idea why after Shia LaBeouf committed suicide, an old man came from the window and repeated the scene over again. I loved the violet scene though. And did I mention how well Shia played his part?

Natalie Portman again! This time, not acting, but writing and directing. Her scene was more explicit - a young girl spending time with her father, seeing things that people her age (or even our age) bother to look at. Carlos Acosta, a Cuban ballet dancer, performed a little towards the end of his scene - then we see the excitement the young girl has, finally making it clear that their father-daughter relationship is far more intimate than what it appears to be - definitely NOT a nanny-child relationship:

"Imagine if we were in a huge umbrella. If we were living in a huge umbrella.

That would be so weird. Because then we're going to see a green, or any color all the time.".

Joshua Martson's scene was such an "awww" one. The old couple who has been so used to each other, bickering about the slightest things. The old lady being typical, reminding her old man to "shuffle" his feet:

Woman: Let's go. Come on. Let's go.

Man: I'm coming, I'm coming.

W: Lift your feet.

M: I'm lifting.

W: No, you're shuffling. Lift your feet. Lift.

M: I'm lifting, I'm lifting.

W: All right. Come on.".

Finally, the scene which shows a woman who wants to be noticed by her husband becomes the most heart-wrenching of moments.

(Of a Woman who isn't noticed by her husband).

"F: You know what? As soon as I finish this cigarette, .. I have to walk back into that restaurant .. and sit down again, in front of my husband.

M: And?

F: And he won't look at me... And he won't notice I'm not wearing a bra under my dress.

M: No bra?

F: No panties, either.

M: Oh... No underwear?

F: Not today.

M: I feel sad for this poor, lonely husband.. who can't see his wife's.

Hidden talents.

F: Don't you think he's like every man, though?.. He's typically blind and bored by.

His very own wife, .. ready to fantasize about the first unknown woman he hasn't fucked yet.".

"New York, I Love You is a mild and a guilty pleasure, but it's a pleasure nonetheless. It gets cute on occasion, the portmanteau structure has become overly familiar, and there is a predictable surfeit of the young and decorative (Christie, John Hurt, James Caan and Eli Wallach notwithstanding). But it's full of ideas and very watchable.".