Genres

Visitors Review

Neil Smith 2013-04-08 05:53:36

In truth, alas, it's the film itself that's short of ideas.

kkkathryn1019 2013-04-07 12:10:20

An all-star cast and arty directors can't save this clumsy, pretentious, mess

Appealing to audiences with a "Love Actually"-style format ofintersecting love stories, a range of movie stars, a glitzymetropolitan backdrop, and a handful of award-winning writer-directors,"New York, I Love You" fails on all of these accounts. Films withinterlocking stories and characters are all the rage now (see "Babel","Crash", "Valentine's Day", "He's Just Not That Into You", theaforementioned "Love Actually") but "New York I Love You" does a poorjob of threading together its stories. Characters wander in and out ofmultiple stories pointlessly, without meaning or consequence.The stories are not so much about love as they are about the filmmakerstrying desperately to project an air of edgy sexuality, and having thecharacters spout pretentious drivel about the nature of love, life, andmissed connections. As for the setting, many other reviewers havedecried the lack of cultural/racial/ethnic/sexual orientationdiversity, the use of stereotypes (Natalie Portman and Shia LaBeauf'saccents are particularly overdrawn), and the representation of "NewYork" as middle/upper class white residents of Lower Manhattan. The movie is crammed with too many stories in too short of a time frame(just 93 mins.) to truly grab the viewer. I also despaired to find aconnecting theme. As the film opened, cab occupants Justin Bartha andBradley Cooper argue over how to get to the Lower East Side. Later,Justin Bartha takes his long-suffering girlfriend Eva Amurri onvacation. As for Bradley Cooper, we learn through a painful innermonologue that he is traveling to the Lower East Side for a second datewith a torrid one night stand (Drea de Matteo). Drea de Matteo buysbirth control from nosy, meddling drugstore owner James Caan, who setsup his Method actress daughter Olivia Thirlby ("Juno") with high schoolsenior Anton Yelchin ("Charlie Bartlett", "Star Trek"). Professionalpickpocket Andy Garcia outwits Hayden Christensen but Christensen endsup getting the girl (Rachel Bilson, "The O.C."). Ethan Hawke makescreepy overtures to Maggie Q, Robin Wright Penn and Chris Cooper makeflirtatiously cryptic conversation. Natalie Portman and Ifran Khandiscuss their cultures; TV show composer Orlando Bloom gets someDostoyevsky inspiration from his boss's assistant Christina Ricci; ShiaLaBeauf dons an inexplicable Eastern European accent to portray operasinger Julia Christie's bellhop. Charming old couple Eli Wallach andCloris Leachman take a stroll to Coney Island on their 67th weddinganniversary ("Don't walk so fast, you'll make me call an ambulance.")Professional moment capturer/video stalker Emilie Ohana captures it allon tape, and that's it. The assemblage of credibly talented writer/directors (AnthonyMinghella, "The Talented Mr. Ripley", Mira Nair, "Monsoon Wedding",Shekhar Kapur, "Elizabeth") are obviously trying to be arty andprofound with their 10 min. snapshots of these characters' lives, butthe stories run the gamut from confusing, pretentious, and boring toborderline offensive. The characters are shallow types without depth,and the acting is painfully bad.

Lee-107 2013-03-29 08:53:41

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

I saw 'New York: I Love You' today and loved it! I was really lookingforward to seeing this after watching 'Paris je t'aime' and overall Ithink I liked this one much better... Perhaps I need to watch 'Paris jet'aime' again I don't know... I read few of the reviews here aboutNY:ILY and yes, the movie is not without its faults. When you're payingtribute to a city like New York - it can get rather overwhelming andnothing seems fair enough to do the city due justice... so withoutelaborating on any of the film's shortcomings, I'll just write aboutwhat I liked.Unlike 'Paris je t'aime' in which each director's short film wasproperly segmented and titled, NY:ILY isn't and many reviewers overhere have found the seamlessness of stories and overlapping ofcharacters here annoying and even confusing. I thought otherwise. Iloved how the stories just flowed one after the other and I especiallyliked the overlapping of characters - it might be gimmicky because it'sdone so often in films now. But I still liked it because I didn't findit forced. And the idea that we're all connected in the end has awistful, even whimsical quality to it - which some might find corny butI find beautiful.I liked all the films but the one that touched me the most was the oneby Yvan Attal with Robin Wright Penn and Chris Cooper. It was sowell-acted and scripted that the reveal in the end - again not unusedin the past - brought me to tears and I was crying throughout thesegment that followed. I always liked Wright Penn and now I'm also afan of Chris Cooper. Those precious initial few seconds when he'sstanding alone outside the restaurant, just before he gets the call -speak volumes about Cooper's ability to convey a character by justbeing there without saying anything.Most of the stories in this film involve characters who are eithermeeting each for the first time or have met each other just recentlywith the exception of 4-5 stories in which the characters have knowneach other for a long time. It seemed to me (and I might be wrong) thatthe stories were different but they were all trying to drive home thepoint, the need even, to just step back and view in a new light thepeople and the things we've known in our lives for a long time; to seethe people and the things around you with the eyes of a stranger andappreciate them just as you did when you met them and saw them for thefirst time.The other films that I liked were the ones by Shunji Iwai with OrlandoBloom and Christina Ricci, by Natalie Portman with Carlos Acosta andTaylor Geare, by Brett Ratner with Anton Yelchin and Olivia Thirlby, byShekhar Kapur with Julie Christie, Shia LaBeouf and John Hurt and onceagain the one by Yvan Attal with Ethan Hawke and Emilie Ohana whenthey're in the café. I really need to see more work by Yvan Attal as Iseem to like him a lot! Overall, watch this movie with an open mind. Don't read the reviewsbefore watching it! It might not live up to your expectations of what amovie on and about love in New York should be and I doubt any moviewill really live up to that conception. Just watch this movie for somegood music, beautiful landscape cinematography, some slice-of-lifecomfort and a story or two that might just tug at your heartstrings.

2013-03-28 09:56:54

New York I Love You!

This review is from: New York, I Love You (DVD) I really enjoyed this movie.It was really funny.It has a great cast.There is something and someone for everybody in this movie.I would definatley suggest this movie to anybody who likes romantic comedies.

stensson 2013-03-25 07:29:38

Certainly not the first time we've heard that

If you ask any crowd how many good episode movies they've seen,certainly most of them will answer: About ten. If you ask the worldpopulation if they love New York, certainly a couple of billions willsay yes, regardless of having been there or not.You can get tired of this genre and you can certainly be tired of thattoo well-known New York City, including the Dakota House, ChryslerBuilding and so on. It has all been filmed to pieces by Woody Allen andothers with its old couples, its wanna-be-writers, its hookers, itspeople from all over the world and its 37-year-old lonely women.Which doesn't mean this isn't entertaining with Eli Wallach making thebest of quite many good performances. The quality of the episodes vary.Maybe they would have been all good without Dakota houses and Chryslerbuildings. It's quite possible.

helvecio-rj 2013-03-25 01:52:53

I love New York, but I loathed this movie

I've never been to Paris, but after seeing "Paris, Je t'aime" I'm crazyto visit this city! I've been to NY several times and I LOVE the cityand its boroughs. I kinda expected to be touched by this film, to feellike jumping into a plane and fly there right away, but, lo and behold,I regret the time and money I spent with it. There are no love storiesbetween people or a person and the city. There's a lot of dysfunctionalmeetings and relations or people who know each other and it justdoesn't work out fine. Maybe this reflects a characteristic of thecity, where it's said to have thousands of people living on their own.Can't you find love in New York?

2013-03-24 08:25:50

amazing

Simple and charming. It would make for an excellent date movie. One of the best films ive seen in a long time.

Tim Grierson 2013-03-23 15:56:09

Predictably, not all of these 11 short films fully connect, but after a few early duds, New York's stronger sequences present themselves, making this an affair to remember if not quite cherish.

Moira MacDonald 2013-03-21 23:07:57

As with any such project, some of the films are better than others, but most of the entries in New York, I Love You are very good indeed.

Richard Roeper 2013-03-21 06:30:09

Not quite as wonderful as "Pari, je t'aime," but still one of my favorite movies of 2009.

2013-03-17 11:58:08

It's an ok movie

This review is from: New York, I Love You [HD] (Amazon Instant Video) The movie is a little out of the ordinary in that it gives snap-shot views of life in NY. A lot of different lifestyles are seen in this movie, which is just like NY. Not very interesting in my opinion.

David Traversa 2013-03-16 21:35:20

Mild entertainment.

I watched this film for the sole purpose of seeing New York, thinkingthat it could revive some old memories of that great city within me. Itdidn't. What was shown was quite horrible and seedy. What a differencein showing this town, the way they did it in "The Devil Wears Prada"!!in that film one "senses" the electricity, the dynamism, the roaringtraffic, the illusions of every person walking those sidewalks...Besides "New York, I love you" is just a mild entertainment, somethingyou'd watch when nothing else is available at that time and you arebored to death while snapping your garters. The segment with JulieChristie had a surrealistic quality completely detached from the restof the stories and the way they were told. Besides, it didn't make anysense whatsoever. Did she take that suite to commit suicide in it? Whythe young man did what he did? what was the idea behind that sketch? Asother writers said it before me, I agree with them that the lastsegment, with Cloris Leachman and Eli Wallach was the best of them all.At least those two where good for some smiles and a touch oftenderness. As Cloris kept saying to Eli: "Lift your feet when youwalk, don't drag them!" I say the same thing to the unaware when itcomes to deciding to watch this movie or not: "Do not drag your feet toget away from it... RUN as fast as you can away from this movie!!!

Adam Lippe 2013-03-15 07:52:24

Each short ends with thoroughly telegraphed ironic twists. Sometimes the twist is that a star shows up at the end, as if we would be so shocked as to scream "oh my god, it's Christina Ricci!"

Laura Clifford 2013-03-15 01:21:41

..worth the effort for the four pieces called out - Nair's is deep and playful at the same time, Attal's very well written and acted. Hughes' is perhaps the best example of the theme...while Akin's is the most visually inventive and mysterious

Avi Offer 2013-02-22 03:36:49

Marginally engaging and sporadically clever, but often rather slight, unimaginative and lacking an authentic vibe of New York City.

Phantasma_the_Black 2013-02-21 12:03:15

Beautiful movie about usual people

When I first I heard of this movie, I thought it would be lighthearted"Sunday afternoon entertainment", such as "Valentine's day". Though Ialways had great admiration for some of the participants in thisproject, my expectations weren't high. But I was wrong. And I'm reallyglad I was wrong, because watching it was a very special experience.Some of the segments made me smile, some almost drove me to tears andone even left me with deep feeling of uneasiness. The point is all ofthem evoke emotions in viewer. If you expect some epic drama or a moviewith strong social message, you may get disappointed, but if you wouldlike to watch warm and inspiring little movie about everyday people,their love, hopes, dreams and struggles, you're in the right place. Ipersonally found some characters easier to relate to, than the others,but there's no doubt that each and every one of them was well written(and portrayed as well). You may not know their past or entire story,but aspects of their life presented in a five minutes or so, say a lotabout them.In modern cinematography unfortunately isn't usual to find a movie thatrepresents human soul with all its layers and little details, becausethe most beautiful messages should not be presented through specialeffects, nor received by eyesight only. They should be received byheart itself and this movie succeeded in sending such message.

Joe Williams 2013-01-29 06:20:02

Because so many of the segments are about young lovers, the standouts involve people past their prime.

mah459 2013-01-28 18:26:24

but you're bringing me down

I saw this regurgitated pile of vignettes tonight at a previewscreening and I was straight up blown away by how bad it was. First off, the film practically flaunted its gaping blind spots. Thereare no black or gay New Yorkers in love? Or who, say, know theself-involved white people in love? I know it's not the love Crash ofanvil-tastic inclusiveness but you can't pretend to have a cinematicNew York with out these fairly prevalent members of society. Plus, youknow the people who produced this ish thought Crash deserved thatham-handed Oscar, so where is everyone? Possibly worse than the bizarre and willful socioeconomic ignorancewere the down right offensive chapters (remember when you were in highschool and people were openly disgusted with pretty young women inwheelchairs? Me either). This movie ran the gamut of ways to be theworst. Bad acting, bad writing, bad directing -- all spanning everypossible genre ever to concern wealthy white people who smokecigarettes outside fancy restaurants. But thank god they finally got powerhouses Hayden Christensen andRachel Bilson back together for that Jumper reunion. And, side note,Uma dodged a bullet; Ethan Hawke looks ravaged. This, of course, is onething in terms of his looks, but added an incredibly creepy extra vibeof horribleness to his terrifyingly scripted scene opposite poor,lovely Maggie Q.I had a terrible time choosing my least favorite scene for the end offilm questionnaire, but it has to be the Anton Yelchin/ Olivia Thirlbybit for the sheer lack of taste, which saddens me because I really likethose two actors. I don't consider myself easily offended, but all Icould do was scoff and look around with disgust like someone's 50 yearold aunt. A close second place in this incredibly tight contest of terriblethings is Shia LaBeouf's tone deaf portrayal of what it means for aformer Disney Channel star to act against Julie Christie. I don't meanopposite, I mean against. Against is the only explanation. I realizenow that the early sequence with Orlando Bloom is a relative highlight.HIGHLIGHT. Please keep that in mind when your brain begins to leak outyour ear soon after the opening credits, which seem to be a nod to thefirst New York Real World. This film is embarrassing, strangely dated,inarticulate, ineffective, pretentious and, in the end, completelydivorced from any real idea of New York at all. (The extra star is for the Cloris Leachman/ Eli Wallach sequence, as itis actually quite sweet, but it is only one bright spot in what feelslike hours of pointless, masturbatory torment.)

2013-01-25 14:03:29

Not up to the 'Paris' original; redeemed by Mira Nair's transcendent piece

The producers of the bold, uneven yet ultimately rewarding Paris, Je T'Aime (Paris, I Love You) tried to recreate the magic in New York. Unfortunately, they've fallen short. 'Paris' was 18 short films of about seven minutes apiece. Many worked, some did not. The best thing is that each film was a totally separate piece. For the entries you didn't cotton to, you knew there might be a gem just a couple of minutes down the road.By contrast, the New York film is comprised of 11 longer pieces of approximately 10 minutes apiece. More notably, characters from separate pieces often cross paths...and some pieces are cleaved into parts and reappear later in the film. That means you might see Hayden Christensen or Ethan Hawke later in the film...even when you sag your shoulders when they pop up in the first place.The only piece that will stick with me was submitted by the always wonderful Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding). Her film with Natalie Portman and Irrfan Khan is transcendent. The smiles emitted by Portman and Khan in their duely imagined ceremony (you have to see the film to appreciate what I mean there) makes the entire viewing worthwhile.

2013-01-25 08:30:04

A Moody, All-Star Anthology Serves as a Valentine to a Fictionalized New York

A dozen stories. Ten filmmakers. 103 minutes. If you do the math, you will draw the same conclusion I did - that there isn't much time for a viewer to make an emotional connection with every episode presented in this all-star 2009 omnibus tribute to New York. An eclectic group of global filmmakers, some well-known, others on the verge, had to meet certain requirements to make the final cut - they were given only 24 hours to shoot, a week to edit, and the result had to reflect a strong sense of a particular NYC neighborhood. The cumulative effect makes for a moody portrait of the city through various couplings, but due to the contrivance of its structure, the film falls short in bringing a deeper emotional resonance to the themes the creators want to convey.With a couple of key exceptions, the film appears to be more of a valentine to Lower Manhattan. Consequently, there is a fashionably edgy look to the short stories. Israeli-born French director Yvan Attal epitomizes this feeling in two episodes. The first deals with an aggressively talkative writer (an irritating Ethan Hawke) throwing a barrage of romantic and sexual overtures at a sleek Asian woman who appears to have heard it all (Maggie Q). The other is marginally better, focusing on a chance conversation outside a restaurant between a woman taking a cigarette break (an effortlessly sexy Robin Wright Penn) and a man intrigued by her emotional availability (Chris Cooper). Both have O. Henry-type twist endings that make them ultimately entertaining.A couple of other entries feel more gimmicky by comparison. Brett Ratner's mostly comic entry features Anton Yelchin as a naïve high-school student and Olivia Thirlby as his unexpected prom date with James Caan as her pushy pharmacist father. Mira Nair directed a flat culture-clash encounter between two savvy souls - a Hassid woman about to marry (Natalie Portman) and a Jain diamond dealer (Irrfan Khan) - who become mutually intrigued by their price negotiation meeting. Other episodes feel even more cursory. Portman wrote and directed a brief episode focused on an ebullient toddler (Taylor Geare) and her father (Carlos Acosta) having a play date in Central Park, highlighted by a brief dance performance from Acosta at the end (he is a Cuban-born principal dancer for the Royal Ballet). Chinese director Jiang Wen led Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia and Rachel Bilson on an empty roundelay of deception and humiliation among thieves at a bar.Japanese director Shunji Iwai was at the helm of a slight episode featuring Orlando Bloom as a frantic musician working against deadline, while Turkish director Faith Akin shares a brief story of obsession with Uður Yücel as a solitary artist who wants to paint the face of a local Chinese herbalist (Shu Qi). The entry from Allen Hughes (of the Hughes Brothers) consists mostly of a continuing voiceover of two regretful lovers (Bradley Cooper, Drea de Matteo) hesitant to follow up on their passionate one-night stand. The oddest, most dispiriting entry comes from Shekhar Kapur who directed a script from the late Anthony Minghella (to whom the film is dedicated). It stars Julie Christie as a renowned opera singer returning to a posh Fifth Avenue hotel where she bonds with a palsied, Slovak-accented bellboy played by an overly sensitive Shia LaBeouf. The nature of their relationship is never really divulged, but it ends on a surreal note of little consequence.Directed and written by Joshua Marston, the best episode is perhaps the least ambitious as it features Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman as an aged, bickering couple on their way to the boardwalk in Coney Island for their 63rd anniversary. The reassuring way she places her head on his shoulder is easily the most touching moment in the film. All in all, this stylish hodgepodge will appeal mostly to those who are drawn to the short story format. Benoît Debie's sharp cinematography at least brings a consistent sheen to the film as it tethers the various storylines to a New York that feels mired in a cinematic fantasy. I just think Woody Allen's "Manhattan" executes on the same approach far more effectively. The extras on the 2010 DVD include a handful of additional scenes (though not the two deleted segments directed by Scarlett Johansson and Andrei Zvyagintsev), interviews with five of the directors and the original theatrical trailer.