New York, I Love You (2009)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

Fatih Akin
Yvan Attal

Writers:

Emmanuel Benbihy (concept)
Tristan Carné (premise)

Release Date:

16 October 2009 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

every moment another story begins

Plot:

An anthology film joining several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York.

Plot Keywords:

Love | New York | Anthology | Place Name In Title | Omnibus

Awards:

1 nomination

US Showtimes:

Culver Plaza Theatres

12:05pm | 4:10 | 8:10

(personalize)

Cast

Natalie Portman	...	Rifka (segment "Mira Nair")
Shia LaBeouf	...	Jacob (segment "Shekhar Kapur")
Bradley Cooper	...	Gus (segment "Allen Hughes")
Blake Lively	...	Girlfriend (segment "Brett Ratner")
Hayden Christensen	...	Ben (segment "Jiang Wen")
Robin Wright Penn	...	Anna (segment "Yvan Attal")
Christina Ricci	...	Camille (segment "Shunji Iwai")
Orlando Bloom	...	David (segment "Shunji Iwai")
Ethan Hawke	...	Writer (segment "Yvan Attal")
Justin Bartha	...	Sarah's Boyfriend (Transitions)
Rachel Bilson	...	Molly (segment "Jiang Wen")
Anton Yelchin	...	Boy in the Park (segment "Brett Ratner")
Eva Amurri	...	Sarah (Transitions)
John Hurt	...	Waiter (segment "Shekhar Kapur")
Chris Cooper	...	Alex (segment "Yvan Attal")
Maggie Q	...	Call Girl (segment "Yvan Attal")
James Caan	...	Mr. Riccoli (segment "Brett Ratner")
Drea de Matteo	...	Lydia (segment "Allen Hughes")
Olivia Thirlby	...	Actress (segment "Brett Ratner")
Andy Garcia	...	Garry (segment "Jiang Wen")
Cloris Leachman	...	Mitzie (segment "Joshua Marston")
Eli Wallach	...	Abe (segment "Joshua Marston")
Julie Christie	...	Isabelle (segment "Shekhar Kapur")
Jacinda Barrett	...	Maggie
Burt Young	...	Landlord (segment "Fatih Akin")
Irrfan Khan	...	Mansuhkhbai (segment "Mira Nair")
Emilie Ohana	...	Zoe - the Video Artist
Ugur Yücel	...	Painter (segment "Fatih Akin")
Sinsu Co	...	Mystery Bar Girl (segment "Jiang Wen")
Taylor Geare	...	Teya (segment "Natalie Portman")
Ashley Klein	...	Prom girl (segment "Brett Ratner")
Cesar De León	...	Dominican (segment "Natalie Portman")
Eliezer Meyer	...	Grand Rabbi Elli (segment "Mira Nair")
Richard Chang	...	Mr. Su (Transitions)
Jordann Beal	...	Prom girl (segment "Brett Ratner")
Gary Cherkassky	...	Skater Punk (segment "Joshua Marston")
Amy Raudenbush	...	Mom #1 (segment "Natalie Portman")
Carlos Acosta	...	Dante (segment "Natalie Portman")
Gurdeep Singh	...	Badal (Transitions)
Juri Henley-Cohn	...	Ali (Transitions)
Eddie D'vir	...	Rabbi (segment "Mira Nair")
Jeff Chena	...	Bartender (segment "Jiang Wen")
Vedant Gokhale	...	Cab Driver (Transitions)
Loukas Papas	...	Pizza Patron - Transitions
Robert d Scott	...	Du-Rag (Transitions)
Adam Moreno	...	DJ Blue (segment "Brett Ratner")
Andy Karl	...	Evan (Transitions)
Simon Dasher	...	Guitarist (Transitions)
Duane Nakia Cooper	...	Haitian Cab Driver - Transitions
Adam S. Phillips	...	Jogger - Transitions
Aron Charach	...	Young Hasid (segment "Mira Nair")
Himad Beg	...	Indian Man (Transitions)
Brad Naprixas	...	Hassid in Wedding (segment "Mira Nair")

Also Known As:

New York, je t'aime (France) (literal title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexual content.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English | Russian | Yiddish

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45093) | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Vivendi Entertainment

Trivia:

Two actresses who have played love interests of Hayden Christensen (who also appears in this film) are in this film: Natalie Portman and Rachel Bilson.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2009-10-17)" (2009)

definition of a tune-in-tune-out movie

New York, I Love You, or rather should-be-titled Manhattan, I Love Looking At Your People In Sometimes Love, is a precise example of the difference between telling a story and telling a situation. Case in point, look at two of the segments in the film, one where Ethan Hawke lights a cigarette for a woman on a street and proceeds to chat her up with obnoxious sexy-talk, and another with Orlando Bloom trying to score a movie with an incredulous demand from his director to read two Dostoyevsky books. While the latter isn't a great story by any stretch, it's at least something that has a beginning, middle and end, as the composer tries to score, gets Dostoyevky dumped in his lap, and in the end gets some help (and maybe something more) from a girl he's been talking to as a liaison between him and the director. The Ethan Hawke scene, however, is like nothing, and feels like it, like a fluke added in or directed by a filmmaker phoning it in (or, for that matter, Hawke with a combo of Before Sunrise and Reality Bites).

What's irksome about the film overall is seeing the few stories that do work really well go up against the one or two possible 'stories' and then the rest of the situations that unfold that are made to connect or overlap with one another (i.e. bits involving Bradley Cooper, Drea DeMatteo, Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia, James Caan, Natalie Portman, etc). It's not even so much that the film- set practically always in *Manhattan* and not the New York of Queens or Staten Island or the Bronx (not even, say, Harlem or Washington Heights)- lacks a good deal of diversity, since there is some. It's the lack of imagination that one found in spades, for better or worse, in Paris J'taime. It's mostly got little to do with New York, except for passing references, and at its worst (the Julie Christie/Shia LaBeouf segment) it's incomprehensible on a level that is appalling.

So, basically, wait for TV, and do your best to dip in and out of the film - in, that is, for three scenes: the aforementioned Bloom/Christina Ricci segment which is charming; the Brett Ratner directed segment (yes, X-Men 3 Brett Ratner) with a very funny story of a teen taking a girl in a wheelchair to the prom only to come upon a great big twist; and Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman as an adorable quite old couple walking along in Brooklyn on their 67th wedding anniversary. Everything else can be missed, even Natalie Portman's directorial debut, and the return of a Hughes brother (only one, Allan) to the screen. A mixed bag is putting it lightly: it's like having to search through a bag of mixed nuts full of crappy peanuts to find the few almonds left.