Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: New York, I Love You (2008) - Some wonderful moments elevate uneven anthology

11/12/2021

New York, I Love You (2008) - Some wonderful moments elevate uneven anthology

♥♥♥

A multitde of star names and stills from the film fill out this red-colored poster for anthology movie New York, I Love You

'The city that never sleeps' is rich on all sorts of cultures; and people who cross over every which way in their constant making, maintaining and breaking of relationships with each other.

New York, I Love You is an anthology film of 11 inter-connected shorts written by Yvan Attal (My Wife Is An Actress (2001)), Emmanuel Benbihy (Paris, Je t'Aime (2006)), Jim Strouse (Lonesome Jim (2005)), Hall Powell (Dark Shadows (1991, TV-series)), Joshua Marston (Ray Donovan (2019-20)), Fatih Akin (The Golden Glove (2019)), Natalie Portman (Eve (2008, short)), Anthony Minghella (Truly Madly Deeply (1990)), Stephen Winter (Adventures in America (2018-19)), Xan Cassavetes (Kiss of the Damned (2012)), Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour 2 (2001)), Olivier Lécot (Do Not Disturb (2012)), Shunji Iwai (Last Letter (2020)), Suketu Mehta (8 (2008, segment)), Israel Horovitz (Sunshine (1999)), Yao Meng (My DNA Says I Love You (2007)) and Hu Hong, and directed by Akin, Attal, Iwai, Marston, Portman, Randall Balsmeyer (BlacKkKlansman (2018, visual effects supervisor)), Allen Hughes (From Hell (2001)), Wen Jiang (In the Heat of the Sun (1994)), Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth (1998)), Mira Nair (Vanity Fair (2004)) and Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 3 (2007)). Benbihy is behind the concept, and the film is a followup to Paris, Je t'Aime (2006), another anthology 'love letter' to a city by a host of filmmakers.

It is an uneven film with enough worthwhile episodes to make it worth visiting and (a bit) romantic. The Nair-directed short with Portman and the Rattner-directed one with Anton Yelchin (5 to 7 (2014)) flop for individual reasons, and the Hughes' short with Bradley Cooper (War Dogs (2016)) and Drea de Matteo (Desperate Housewives (2009-10)) is mainly interesting if you have a wish to see those two talents on the screen together. On the other hand, Shia LaBeouf (Eagly Eye (2008)) is very moving across from Julie Christie (Fools of Fortune (1990)) in Kapur's short; Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight (2013)) and Maggie Q (Divergent (2014)) share an erotic short; and then the film ends auspiciously on its probably highest note with Marston's short, a very warm, laugh-inducing and beautiful story with Eli Wallach (Stateline Motel (1973)) and Cloris Leachman (The Ellen Show (2001-02)) as an old, squabbling married couple on a walk. Both are outstanding.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 14 mil. $

Box office: 14.6 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 1.04 times its cost)

[New York, I Love You premiered 6 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 103 minutes. 11 companies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in New York from March - April 2008. Two shorts were taken out of the film after poor audience response: Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut (!) and one by Andrei Zvyagintsev. The film opened #22 to a 380k $ first weekend in 118 theaters in North America, where it only declined from there, grossing 1.5 mil. $ (10.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 1.2 mil. $ (8.2 %) and Spain with 935k $ (6.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Benbihy continued his involvement with city anthologies with Tbilisi, I Love You (2014), Rio, I Love You (2014), Berlin, I Love You (2019) and Shanghai, I Love You (announced). New York, I Love You is rotten at 37 % with a 5.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of New York, I Love You?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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11/12/2021

New York, I Love You (2008) - Some wonderful moments elevate uneven anthology

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