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

Sir John Hurt and Shia LaBeouf appeared in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and Charlie Countryman (2013).

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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

Camille: Hey, David, it's Camille. You know, when Dostoevsky was writing The Gambler, he signed a contract with his publisher saying that he would finish it in twenty-six days, and he did it, but he had the help of this young stenographer. This girl, she... she stayed with him and she helped him. And... afterwards they actually got married. Ha, isn't that cool? That's how he met his wife. Anyway I found this story in the preface for Crime and Punishment so I was thinking that... and, this would have to ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

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

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Connections

Edited into Apocrypha (2009)

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Soundtracks

Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
(1916)
(From "The Planets, Op. 32")
Written by Gustav Holst
Arrangement by Shunji Iwai

User Reviews

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 fun together 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 Uğur 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 voice-over 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 guest 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 story lines 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.