This post was submitted by Ben K.

Consider this: New York City is a city of over 8 million people.  More people live in that city than in 39 of the 50 states.  And a city with a storied history like New York is almost mythological in its iconography.  From Sinatra to Jay-Z, singers have been extolling the virtues of making it big in the city that never sleeps.  Just think of the millions of people streaming into New York immigrating to pursue their dreams of a new life.  Those dreams have never stopped, and from bug-eyed visitors to young hopefuls, they keep coming.  The city sometimes feels like it’s going to burst with the energy of its inhabitants.

You can imagine that piecing together a collection of short films about love in New York would be a daunting task.  Think of all those people with their stories.  And to place New York as the main character of it all firmly in the middle presents even more challenges.  This is what New York, I Love You sets out to accomplish.

New York, I Love You is the second film in the “Cities of Love” film franchise. The dream child of producer Emmanuel Benbihy, the franchise seeks to go around the world picking different cities as the centerpiece.  Benbihy woos big name directors to cast even bigger name actors in a short film about love in the city that is the centerpiece of each film.  New York represents the second city in the series, with Paris being the first in the delightful Paris, je t’aime from 2007.  Rio is set to be next with Shanghai and Jerusalem following in short order.

And because I love short films, I love the idea.  It is extremely rare for anthology films to find any success at getting made, and it’s wonderful to see filmmakers showcase their talents within the context of a short film.  Some of the most creative work in filmmaking is going on in short films, and if you ever have the chance to check out a collection of shorts at a local film festival or on cable I highly recommend doing so.  So loving short films and loving New York makes New York, I Love You right up my alley.  But………

While the films in New York, I Love You are individually mostly on the good side, and as a total gave me an enjoyable enough movie going experience, I remain disappointed in the treatment of the city of New York itself.   And that’s a big problem for a movie with “New York” in the title.

The New York of this movie is one that is largely white and completely heterosexual.  Oh and apparently New York is only Manhattan, except for some cute little place called Coney Island in somewhere called Brooklyn.  Sorry Staten Island; sorry Queens; and so sorry to the Bronx- you guys are part of New York City?  And of course the Manhattan of New York, I Love You is concentrated on Midtown and Downtown and has its boundary limits on the Upper East Side.  Apparently the richly ethnic neighborhoods of upper Manhattan like Harlem and Washington Heights fell off the island for the duration of the film.  Maybe the film should have been titled White Straight People of Midtown Manhattan, I Love You.

I understand the difficulty of having each film tell a story about the varied demographics of New York, that’s not what I’m asking.  And New York is understandably a difficult city to peg down in two hours.  But the lack of effort to display a diverse and exciting New York worthy of carrying its name in the title of the film is depressing.  I am also surprised that there wasn’t even an effective use of any of the clichéd tourist spots in New York.  Not that the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, or the Brooklyn Bridge haven’t been overused, but wouldn’t this be the perfect opportunity for a talented filmmaker to pull those images out of their postcards and put on a spin of interest?

And listen, Manhattan is one of the gayest places I’ve ever been, not only is it crawling with LGBT folk, but also the marks of the community’s talents and qualities dot the cavernous landscapes of the island.  Not one LGBT character in the film.  Especially in a year that marks the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, when the modern gay rights movement burst out of Greenwich Village, it is a shame that such a storyline was not included.

When the film moves into some of the more diverse locations, it shines.  A brief interlude in Chinatown from Fatih Akin, about a tortured artist pursuing his muse, provides for one of the better short films.  Joshua Marston‘s trip out to Coney Island with Cloris Leachman and Eli Wallach marks the most enjoyable short of the film.  Leachman and Wallach are in top-notch form as an old couple celebrating their anniversary and deliver the most humorous and touching moments in the film.  Mira Nair brings to the screen an interaction between an Indian diamond broker and Hassidic bride-to-be played by Natalie Portman in the Diamond District.  And while Nair has the right idea at portraying these ethnicities, the short seems to devolve into silliness by the end of the piece.

Portman does double duty by also directing one of the shorts, about the relationship between a father and daughter.  The two have a sweet interaction, but the short remains one of the least memorable along with Jiang Wen‘s opening segment about a pickpocket.  Ugh, and Brett Ratner contributes a would-be comedic segment that seems as incongruent with the rest of the film as possible, about a prom date who is not all what she seems.

The movie hits the Upper East Side with an extremely melancholy, but well-stylized short starring Julie Christie as an aged opera diva from Shekhar Kapur. And the Upper West Side is covered in one of the film’s better segments from Shunji Iwai.  The phone flirtation in this short between Orlando Bloom and Christina Ricci is pure fun.

The fast-paced dialogue of Yvann Attal‘s short, which is split into two segments about smokers outside of restaurants starring Ethan Hawke and Maggie Q in the first, and Robin Wright Penn and Chris Cooper in the second, makes for worthy interactions.

The best in the bunch comes from Allen Hughes.  Starring Drea De Matteo and Bradley Cooper as a couple meeting for a date after a one-night stand, the moody short captures the intensity of the attraction between the two and the anticipation they feel as they are heading to their meeting.

While the shorts on the whole are worthy of a viewing, as a total piece they fail to collectively deliver their intent.  I recall one of my last visits to New York. I think of my travels around the city and the vivaciousness that beats deep within the heart of it.  New York deserves better.

New York, I Love You is playing in select theaters nationwide. Check newyorkiloveyouthemovie.com for further details.

Quite obviously I have to recommend the vastly better Paris, je t’aime as the DVD pick of the week.  This film does a much better job at accomplishing what New York, I Love You lacks and does so without the often misplaced transitions.  Plus, the short films are simply stronger.  It is a delight to watch.

---

First time here? See what we're all about... Get involved... Send us a tip!...

---