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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.]
+ Best Biopic of the Year + Best English Movie of the Year + Best Historical Drama of the Year + Breakthrough Actress of the Year: Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett appears as a woman to be reckoned with on this poster for Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth
1558, England: When Catholic Queen Mary of England during her fatal illness decides against convicting her Protestant sister Elizabeth to death, the country soon have a new queen, who finds herself under pressure to establish herself by marrying.
Cate Blanchett (Hanna (2011)) plays with captivating vigor, impulsiveness and humanity in the title lead and enjoys first-rate backup from John Gielgud (Prospero's Books (1990)), Richard Attenborough (All Night Long (1962)), Joseph Fiennes (Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon (2016, TV movie)), Vincent Cassel (The Crimson Rivers/Les Rivières Pourpres (2000)) and more in the impressive ensemble. Elizabeth is a very exciting and handsomely produced biopic with some extravagantly long music sequences (David Hirschfelder (The Dressmaker (2015)) has composed the fine score). It is a confident and great piece of very vividly rendered historical filmmaking. It is written by Michael Hirst (Vikings (2013-17)) and directed by great Britisth-Indian director Shekhar Kapur (Bandit Queen (1994)).
Cost: 30 mil. $ Box office: 82.1 mil. $ = Box office success [Elizabeth premiered 8 September (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 124 minutes. Shooting took place in England, New Zealand and Australia. Blanchett was a widely unknown Australian actress at the time. Marlon Brando was in consideration to play the pope, which eventually was played by Gielgud. Kapur has related how he suggested, in vain, that the legendary Thespian acquire an Italian accent, which horrified every English actor within earshot. The film opened #17 in 9 theaters to a solid 275k $ in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 624 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 30 mil. $ (36.5 % of the total gross) in its 26 week-long release there. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 15.8 mil. $ (19.2 %) and the UK with 9 mil. $ (11 %). The film won the Oscar for Best Makeup and was nominated for an additional 6: It lost Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love, Actress to Gwyneth Palthrow in Shakespeare in Love, Cinematography to Janusz Kaminski for Saving Private Ryan, Art-Set Direction and Costumes to Shakespeare in Love, and Score to Nicola Piovani for Life Is Beautiful/La Vita è Bella. It was also nominated for a two Golden Globes, winning one for Blanchett, 12 BAFTAS, winning 6, won 2 National Board of Review awards, an award in Venice and more. The film was accused of being anti-Catholic, and it is also fraught with countless historical inaccuracies. It was followed up by Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) about the second part of Elizabeth's reign, again by Kapur and with Blanchett, - but not a hit. Elizabeth is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
