New York, I Love You (2008)

Several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York City.

Directors:

Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal

Writers:

Hu Hong (segment), Yao Meng (segment) (as Meng Yao)

Stars:

Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Bradley Cooper

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hayden Christensen	...	Ben (segment "Jiang Wen")
Andy Garcia	...	Garry (segment "Jiang Wen")
Rachel Bilson	...	Molly (segment "Jiang Wen")
Natalie Portman	...	Rifka (segment "Mira Nair)
Irrfan Khan	...	Mansukhbhai (segment "Mira Nair")
Orlando Bloom	...	David (segment "Shunji Iwai")
Christina Ricci	...	Camille (segment "Shunji Iwai")
Maggie Q	...	Call Girl (segment "Yvan Attal")
Ethan Hawke	...	Writer (segment "Yvan Attal")
Chris Cooper	...	Alex (segment "Yvan Attal")
Robin Wright	...	Anna (segment "Yvan Attal") (as Robin Wright Penn)
Anton Yelchin	...	Boy (segment "Brett Ratner")
James Caan	...	Mr. Riccoli (segment "Brett Ratner")
Olivia Thirlby	...	Actress (segment "Brett Ratner")
Blake Lively	...	Ex-Girlfriend (segment "Brett Ratner")

Storyline

Eleven vignettes, all homages to New York City life, are presented. I. Ben, a pickpocket, is attracted to Molly on first sight, and gets into an interesting "pissing match" with Molly's married lover, NYU professor Garry. II. Mansuhkhbai, an orthodox Jain diamond wholesaler, and Rifka, an orthodox Jewish diamond retailer who is getting married tomorrow, learn that they have more in common than just diamonds. III. David, a musician and music editor for a video being directed by Abarra, is having problems meeting Abarra's demands while he slowly falls for Abarra's assistant, Camille, who he's never met but has only talked to on the telephone solely about work. IV. A young man believes he's made a powerful connection to a stranger, a young woman, in the simple act of lighting her cigarette, and proceeds to convince her of the same and as such that there is a future for them from that point on, and not at some unspecified time down the road. V. A high school senior, who has been dumped by...

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Plot Keywords:

central park | chrysler building | empire state building | grand central station | lincoln center for the performing arts | 

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Taglines:

every moment another story begins

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Cantonese Gujarati Yiddish

Release Date:

16 October 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

New York, je t'aime

Filming Locations:

Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$380,776, 18 October 2009, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,585,859, 20 December 2009

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vivendi Entertainment,Ever So Close,Visitor Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen appeared in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).

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Goofs

Natalie Portman's character, while discussing the rules of kosher, states she cannot eat "nothing that's not blessed by a rabbi." This is a common error - the production of kosher food is overseen by a rabbi, but the final products are not blessed.

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Quotes

Anna: Have you ever made love to a perfect stranger?
Alex: Now you're teasing me.
Anna: I believe I am.
Alex: Well, I mean... No, not exactly a perfect stranger, if you mean someone I wouldn't know at all.
Anna: It's sad.
Alex: It's sad? Why?
Anna: Because there's almost nothing more exciting than fucking somebody you don't know. Right? You don't know their name, barely saw their face.
Alex: Don't... Don't tell me your name.

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Alternate Versions

When the title was shown at Toronto Film Festival it included two additional segments and , these were removed for the wide release but are included in the DVD extras.

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Connections

Followed by Rio, I Love You (2014)

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Soundtracks

I'm In the Mood for Love
(1935)
Music by Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Published by Sony ATV Music Publishing
OBO Famous Music LLC

User Reviews

New York, Where Is The Love?

An American take on Paris, je t'aime, in which several shorts tell the tales of lovers within New York City.

My interest in this film was mild, it boasted a large cast and several directors, but I was more interested in Paris, je t'aime. New York, I Love You comes off as a poor attempt at trying to show talent and style. The film is good, but not as good as it should, or wants to be. I found it to be very uneven with each short and I truly liked only one of them.

Instead of going into each short, beat by beat, I'll highlight the ones I care enough to talk about, for better or worse. We start off with Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha, each getting into a cab and having a small argument over which street to take. This is our introduction to this film, it's interesting and mildly funny, but offers us no insight into either character or their situation. We go on through other shorts, involving a bald Natalie Portman and lazy boy Orlando Bloom. I found that a lot of the shorts had characters that I just didn't have interest in. For a short, one of the main objectives is to grab the viewer's attention with either a character or situation, many of these shorts fail to do this.

The one short that I absolutely loved, is also the most basic one. Two people who are in love walk down the street together. Cloris Leachman and Eli Wallach are perfect and in their old age outshine everyone else in this piece. Their short is soft and heartfelt. The only true love story in this whole piece. While other pieces were interesting and entertaining (Maggie Q and Ethan Hawke) none had the presence of Leachman and Wallach.

As mentioned before, some shorts are uneven and try to pull small twists here and there. Most of them are obvious (Ratner's piece & Cooper/Wright Penn) but I give them credit for trying. Everyone does a decent job in their roles, as I mentioned, this is a pretty big cast. Shia LaBeouf stars in the oddest segment of them all, along with the beautiful Julie Christie. It'll have some people scratching their heads, as it seems to be the odd one out of the group.

One big problem is that the film doesn't showcase New York enough, it should almost be a third character, but instead it's simply the backdrop. The film suffers from the lack of ethnicity that should be present. This is New York after all, but instead we get the beautiful cast, it doesn't feel real.

The film is pretty much hit or miss and nothing jumps out at you as a wow moment. Each segment is directed well, but nothing memorable. I read each segment was given a short amount of time to film everything, that has its pros and cons. Why not take more time to craft everything?