New York, I Love You is a collection of short films which sometimes interconnect, sometimes not, all centered on love relationships (not necessarily romantic), all set in New York City.
We get a nicely varied series of portraits of the sad, vulgar, weird, horrible, and sweet interactions between lots of different characters. The pacing was decent and the varying emotional tones managed to flow across the diverse segments. Overall it was pretty good.
The only thing that slightly put me off was the smarmy last segment that attempted to suture together all the disparate narratives into one neat package. Why was this necessary? Just so people not used to seeing short films put together in a program, people who would rather go to a straightforward start to finish plot about love, could somehow feel like they got their druthers?
You know what? Here is my unsolicited advice: try out a movie that doesn’t serve you your expectations with a cherry on top once in a while. Go to a program of shorts at your local cinematheque or a random little film festival. Go watch a movie you'd never normally even consider seeing. You might like it!
Sure, you can try short films on for size with big releases like New York, I Love You if you like—I’d argue its better than nothing. But don’t be too afraid to step out of your comfort zone, like this movie was. Be bold! You might find some new favorites.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
People, unite!
ReplyDeleteHehe.
Films like this either present interesting vignettes, or end up being choppy and boring. I wasn't sure whether to invest time in this, but it seems like you enjoyed it, so I'll put in on my list.
Saw this this afternoon. I, like the film makers, love New York, but I liked Paris, je t'aime more. I felt like a lot of these shorts were predictable, with too many attempts to actually give them an ending. One of the things I loved about Paris, je t'aime was the discomfort with not knowing much more than those 3-5 minutes told you.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the ones that were unique and unexpected were excellent [my votes go to Brett Ratner, Yvan Attal (predictable, but charming), Shekar Kapur, and an honorable mention to Natalie Portman].
@Bettina:
ReplyDeleteI agree-- I really liked /Paris, je t'aime/ more. I have that one from netflix already sitting by the TV, so a review should be up soon-ish.