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Four years ago, “Paris, je t'aime” (Paris, I Love You) made waves with its unique shorts-film technique where various directors and actors shot approximately ten-minute long individual segments, a total of 18 shorts over the duration of the two-hour film.
The premise was simple and well executed; follow the normal lives of normal people over the beautiful city of Paris, France. What really made the film connect with audiences was the vast array of talented contributors, including 21 directors such as Joel and Ethan Coen, Wes Craven and Gus Van Sant. Many famous actors also added their talent including Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood and Willem Dafoe.
“New York, I Love You” takes the same basic fundamental approach, only this time we find ourselves in New York, which automatically changes a good bit of the focus. What really helped “Paris, je t'aime” stand out was the beautiful scenery. After all, it’s known as the city of love! And I completely understand that this is a two-way street, but the location had a lot to do with being a key element in these films and I don’t know if New York was the best place to shoot.
However, I’m honestly not too certain where many of the faults lay. A brand new set of directors were brought on, featuring many unknown to me, other than Natalie Portman. On the contrary, actors Rachel Bilson, Shia LaBeouf, Hayden Christensen, Bradley Cooper and Ethan Hawke were all familiar faces.
This brings me to my next point. Yes, these are stories about love, loving, the loss of love and the mystery of love, but there’s just something missing. In its Paris predecessor, I experienced laughter, joy and heartache while New York just had me missing the point.
Shia LeBeouf’s role lost me on the aspect of love the director was trying convey. And I felt merely apathetic about Natalie Portman’s somewhat expected decision to cut off all her hair again.
The most enjoyable segment came from up-and-comers Olivia Thirlby (“Juno”) and Anton Yelchin (“Charlie Bartlett”). The duo played a unique scene of a boy’s first prom night, with two twists: it was a blind date and the girl was in a wheelchair. Sadly enough, this little bit of creative comedy was about as bold as it got.
Isn’t New York supposed to be full of wild and crazy adventure? Each scene was almost too normal and ordinary. Thankfully, the film ended with possibly its best sequence featuring love in its grandest form; love between senior citizens. Long time film stars Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman have been involved with films since the 1950s, so it comes as no surprise that they would be able to captivate the most emotion.
My final verdict praises the film with its honorable short films for the big screen style, but I can only go as far as to recommend the original to you. “New York, I Love You” will be out on DVD Feb. 2.
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