| New York, I Love You | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Written by | See below |
| Produced by | Emmanuel Benbihy Marina Grasic |
| Starring | See below |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by |
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| Music by |
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Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Vivendi Entertainment |
Release dates | |
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $9.7 million[2] |
New York, I Love You is a 2008 Americanromanticcomedy-dramaanthology film consisting of elevenshort films, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love and are set among the fiveboroughs ofNew York City. The film is asequel of sorts to the 2006 filmParis, je t'aime, which had the same structure, and is the second installment in theCities of Love franchise, created and produced byEmmanuel Benbihy.
The film stars anensemble cast, among themBradley Cooper,Shia LaBeouf,Natalie Portman,Anton Yelchin,Hayden Christensen,Orlando Bloom,Irrfan Khan,Rachel Bilson,Chris Cooper,Andy García,Christina Ricci,John Hurt,Cloris Leachman,Robin Wright,Julie Christie,Maggie Q,Ethan Hawke,James Caan,Shu Qi, andEli Wallach.
New York, I Love You premiered at the2008 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008, and was released in the United States on October 16, 2009. The film grossed $9.7 million at the box office, and received mixed to unfavorable critical reviews.
UnlikeParis, je t'aime, the shorts ofNew York, I Love You all have a unifying thread, of avideographer who films the other characters.
While the TIFF premiere of the film featured 14 novellas, distributors later decided to cut two of them:Scarlett Johansson's directorial debutThese Vagabond Shoes andAndrei Zvyagintsev's novellaApocrypha. The decision was taken after a focused screening in New York, where these two shorts were met with unfavorable reactions.[3]
| Segment | Director | Writer | Description | Actors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jiang Wen | Hu Hong & Meng Yao Adaptation:Israel Horovitz | Ben, a pickpocket, steals Garry's wallet and follows a stranger, Molly, to a bar inTribeca, charming her into buying him a drink. Garry arrives and is revealed to be having an affair with Molly, and toys with the thief in a game of one-upmanship. Ben departs but is stopped by Molly, and later arranges a pickup basketball game to impress her. | Hayden Christensen as Ben Andy García as Garry Rachel Bilson as Molly |
| 2 | Mira Nair | Suketu Mehta | In theDiamond District, Mansuhkhbai, aJain diamond merchant, completes a friendly deal with Rifka, aHasidic broker. Mansuhkhbai's wife has returned to India to live as a nun, and Rifka removes herwig to reveal her newly shaven head, in preparation for her wedding. They share a tender embrace, and each later imagines being married to the other. | Natalie Portman as Rifka Irrfan Khan as Mansuhkhbai |
| 3 | Shunji Iwai | Adaptation: Israel Horovitz | David, ananime composer working out of his apartment, is tasked by a director to read the works ofFyodor Dostoevsky for inspiration. He bonds with Camille, the director's assistant, over their regular phone conversations, but is daunted by the sheer amount of reading. Camille offers to help, much like Dostoevsky's stenographer-turned-wifeAnna, and she and David finally meet face to face. | Orlando Bloom as David Christina Ricci as Camille |
| 4 | Yvan Attal | Olivier | InSoHo, a writer flirts with a stranger after lighting her cigarette, but is speechless when she reveals she is acall girl, leaving him her business card. A similar encounter unfolds between Anna, who feels unnoticed by her husband, and Alex, a businessman she tempts with the idea of sex with a stranger. Anna's husband is revealed to be Alex himself, and they reignite their relationship. | Maggie Q as Call Girl Ethan Hawke as Writer Chris Cooper as Alex Robin Wright Penn as Anna |
| 5 | Brett Ratner | Jeff Nathanson | At a drugstore on theUpper West Side, a teenage boy reluctantly agrees to take the owner's daughter, who uses a wheelchair, to his prom atTavern on the Green. They return home throughCentral Park, where she uses his belt to suspend herself from a tree to have sex. In the morning, he discovers she is amethod actress and the wheelchair is merely research for a role. He returns to the tree, where many other belts have been left before. | Anton Yelchin as Boy James Caan as Mr. Riccoli Olivia Thirlby as Actress Blake Lively as Ex-Girlfriend |
| 6 | Allen Hughes | Xan Cassavetes & Stephen Winter | After a one-night stand, Gus and Lydia have second thoughts about meeting again for a drink inGreenwich Village. Gus nearly leaves just as Lydia arrives, and they wordlessly share a taxi for another passionate night together. | Bradley Cooper as Gus Drea de Matteo as Lydia |
| 7 | Shekhar Kapur | Anthony Minghella | At aFifth Avenue hotel, Isabelle, a once-famous opera singer, is assisted by Jacob, a youngbellhop. He finds violets for her room, and they share conversation and a gift of champagne from his father, the hotel manager. Offering to close the window, Jacob appears to fall to his death, but Isabelle is revealed to have been speaking with another bellhop instead. Sharing the same conversation, the older bellhop closes the window. | Julie Christie as Isabelle John Hurt as Bellhop Shia LaBeouf as Jacob |
| 8 | Natalie Portman | Natalie Portman | Dante is a ballet dancer and loving father to his young daughter, Teya. He brings her to theBethesda Terrace and Fountain, where other parents assume he is her nanny, before returning her to his ex-wife, whom he urges to spend more time with their daughter. Later, Teya cheers on her father at a performance. | Taylor Geare as Teya Carlos Acosta as Dante Jacinda Barrett as Maggie |
| 9 | Fatih Akın | Fatih Akın | An artist who never paints eyes is inspired by a herbalist he meets inChinatown, but she declines to let him paint her. Changing her mind, she arrives at his apartment to learn he has died, and takes a sketch he made of her, cutting her own eyes out of a photograph to complete the portrait. | Uğur Yücel as Painter Shu Qi as Chinese Herbalist Burt Young as Landlord |
| 10 | Joshua Marston | Joshua Marston | On their 63rd anniversary, Abe and Mitzie bicker, reminisce, and lean on each other as they make their annual journey to theConey Island boardwalk. | Eli Wallach as Abe Cloris Leachman as Mitzie |
| Transitions | Randy Balsmeyer | Hall Powell, Israel Horovitz & James Strouse | Zoe, a videographer who records people around her, captures the various strangers and lovers who cross paths throughout the film. | Emilie Ohana as Zoe, the Video Artist Eva Amurri as Sarah Justin Bartha as Justin |
The film grossed $1,588,087 in the United States, and $8,136,973 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $9,725,060.[2][4]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 37% approval rating based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Like many anthologies,New York, I Love You has problems of consistency, but it isn't without its moments".[5] OnMetacritic it holds a score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]
Lisa Schwarzbaum ofEntertainment Weekly gave the film a B regarding the film "takes the wrinkle-free, easy-travel concept first executed in the 2007 Gallic compilationParis, je t'aime to a new city and styles itself..."[7]Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars saying in his review, "By its nature, "New York, I Love You" can't add up. It remains the sum of its parts."[8]A. O. Scott ofThe New York Times gave the film a mixed review claiming "Not that the 11 shorts inNew York, I Love You are all that bad. It's a nice-looking city, after all, even if the interstitial skyline and traffic montages assembled by Randy Balsmeyer are about as fresh as the postcards on sale inTimes Square."[9]
Erica Abeel ofThe Hollywood Reporter writes:
New York, I Love You continues theCities of Love series that began withParis, je t'aime far surpassing it... The vignettes are tied together into a single feature through a recurrent character, a videographer who interacts with the other characters. And transitional elements—choreographed by 11th director Randy Balsmeyer—move the viewer from one world to another, uniting all these intimate stories into a single shimmering fabric.[10]
Heidi Patalano ofMetro New York gives the film a 4 grade out of 5.
With younger, less-tested directing talent, the film plays down the delineation between one director's work and another, opting to blend them through loosely interconnected characters here and there. As opposed to its directing roster, however, the cast boasts quite a few big names, all of which lend a surprising amount of authenticity to these funny, imaginative little stories.[11]
Claudia Puig ofUSA Today explains that anthologies are by their very nature an uneven entity and adds:
The multicultural emphasis—both in characters and in the unusual selection and collaboration of filmmakers and artists—is one ofNew York, I Love You's main assets. And there's no question that Manhattan looks ever-vibrant and beautiful.[12]
An episode of theNetflix seriesMaster of None is named and structured afterNew York, I Love You.[13] Like the film, the episode follows the intersecting lives of various New Yorkers, although the stories are not exclusively about romance.
