Review: Ode to New York

New York I love You
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Ethan Haeke, Maggie Q, Natalie Portman, Irrfan Khan, Hayden Christiansen, Bradley Cooper, Robin Wright Penn. Julie Christie, Eli Wallach
Directors: Brett Ratner, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Nair, Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes, Jiang Wen, Shunji Iwai
Rating: * * *

An all-star cast does the honors for a talented bunch of filmmakers from across the world in this ode to the city of dreams, New York. It’s a collaborative effort from some of the most imaginative filmmakers of today, who create a series of spontaneous human connections beneath the Manhattan skyline, both hauntingly revealing and sweetly engaging.

The Cities of Love franchise conceived by Producer Emmanuel Benbihy, that began with Paris Je t’aime goes on to this second installment in a project driven by a formula of sorts. The 10 filmmakers- each had to shoot a love story set in New York, each segment had to be of 10 minutes duration, the shooting could not last more than two days, editing time was just 1 week and the entire ten shorts had to fit in with the transitions that were shot by another director.

A tough ask for sure and the resultant is quite remarkable therefore- but it doesn’t allow for brilliance of any kind. The tone is middling, hovering between playful and serious, the characters are mostly uninteresting, dialogues lack depth and romantic passion is seriously missing. There is no lack in technique and the styles of each filmmaker are pretty distinct but the overall texture is far too bland to make for either serious art house sophistication or mainstream entertainment.

The shorts that manage to strike a chord are the ones that field the older stalwarts in principal roles. Brett Ratner’s segment has a high schooler( Arton Yelchin) getting suckered into taking a pharmacist(James Caan)’s wheelchair bound daughter(Olivia Thirlby) to the coveted prom. Joshua Marston’s segment has Eli Wallach and Chloris Leachman doing their odd couple routine with great verve and felicity while Shekhar Kapoor’s segment( taken over from Anthony Minghella) has the stunning and graceful Julie Christie playing a fading Opera Singer who checks into an elegant hotel in an effort to end her life only to get intrigued by a handicapped bellboy(Shia LeBeouf) who later on transforms into the Owner(John Hurt).

The most disappointing aspect is the fact that most of the stories fail to drive home the true character of New York.

Benbihy’s second installment is therefore far less exciting than the first!