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

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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?

Finding Neverland (2004) - Forster and an inspired cast strike gold with story of Peter Pan's creation

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+ Best London Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Freddie Highmore

A splash of fantastic imagination and two fresh-faced major stars tempt on this poster for Marc Forster's Finding Neverland

Scottish writer James Barrie locates his inner boy again, as he connects with a London family consisting of a widow and her four sons, which enables him to invent and write the adventure of Peter Pan.

Finding Neverland is written by David Magee (Life of Pi (2012)), based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan (1998)) by Allan Knee (Little Women (2005)), which centers on the true story of writer J.M Barrie's creation of the Peter Pan character in the early 20th century. The film is directed by great German filmmaker Marc Forster (Machine Gun Preacher (2011)).
Finding Neverland is a heartbreaker and an extremely soothing watch. It has wonderfully adventurous parts and outstanding performances from Johnny Depp (Dark Shadows (2012)), Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road (2008)), Julie Christie (Don't Look Now (1973)) and the boy actors, particularly Freddie Highmore (I Saw You (2002, TV-series)).
Not all of the visual ideas are resolved completely satisfactorily, but the film is splendid.

Related posts:

Marc Forster: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]  

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
World War Z (2013) - Forster, Pitt and Co.'s preposterous zombie junk   

Machine Gun Preacher (2011) - Butler finds faith and a Sudanese purpose in Forster's incredible true story 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 116.7 mil. $
=  Big hit (returned 4.66 times its cost)
[Finding Neverland premiered 4 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy and Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place in the UK, including London, in and around June 2002. The release was halted for a year due to a rights dispute with Miramax, who were releasing a major Peter Pan (2003) film, (which became a huge flop). The film opened #26 to a 220k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America and peaked at #8 and in 1,411 theaters (different weeks), grossing 51.6 mil. $ (44.2 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 9 mil. $ (7.7 %) and Italy with 8 mil. $ (6.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal to its rating here. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning one, for Best Score (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (Horsemen (2009))). It lost Best Picture to Million Dollar Baby, Actor (Depp) to Jamie Foxx in Ray, Adapted Screenplay to Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor for Sideways, Art Direction, Editing and Costume Design to The Aviator. It was also nominated for 5 Golden Globes, 11 BAFTAs, won 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. The film has since been turned into a successful stage musical. Forster returned with Stay (2005). Depp returned in The Libertine (2004), Winslet in Extras (2005, TV-series) and theatrically in Romance & Cigarettes (2005), Christie in The Secret Life of Words (2005)) and Dustin Hoffman (Marathon Man (1976)) in I Heart Huckabees (2004)). Finding Neverland is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Finding Neverland?

Don't Look Now (1973) or, Grief in Venice

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The exciting, chilling poster for Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now

QUICK REVIEW:

An English couple lose their daughter in a drowning accident. Soon hereafter they venture to Venice, where the woman meets a blind, psychic woman who then disappears.

Based on a short story by Dauphne du Maurier (Jamaica Inn (1936)), Nicholas Roeg's (The Witches (1990)) horror drama Don't Look Now is somewhat similar to Rosemary's Baby (1968)), though substantially less exciting.
It is lovely to be in Venice in the film, and the acting of leads Julie Christie (Troy (2004)) and Donald Sutherland (The Art of War (2000)) is fairly good. But Roeg's visual and editing style is stressful and feels a bit film school-y and tedious and at times involuntarily funny to me, although others find it innovative. Don't Look Now divides people, and I am obviously not among its many fans. I think it could have been a considerably better film.
Allan Scott (Regeneration (1997)) and Chris Bryant (The Awakening (1980)) wrote the screenplay.

Watch the original trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 1.1 - 1.5 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[The film was shot in England and Italy December 1972 - February 1973. It became controversial upon release due to a heated if not very stimulating sex scene between the two leads, which led to the film's X rating in Britain, where the scene was cut for the its later TV premiere on BBC. It has been rumored that the scene featured unsimulated sex, which naturally infuriated Warren Beatty, Christie's boyfriend at the time, but the truth remains obscure. In Britain, the film was released on a double bill with the better film The Wicker Man (1973). The film's B.O. numbers are unfortunately not available online to my knowledge. It was well-received by many critics and won a BAFTA for Best Cinematography, (and was nominated for another 6.) Its star has only grown since then, also with many filmmakers praising it. Don't Look Now is certified fresh at 96 % with a 8.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Don't Look Now?