“This is what I have always liked about New York. These little moments on the sidewalks, you can watch the buildings, you can feel the air, look at the people, and sometimes meet someone you feel like you can talk to.” Just close your eyes and let that quote repeat itself in your mind a few times…do you feel like killing someone yet?
The much-awaited film from producer Emmanuel Benbihy, “New York, I Love You,” which is a follow-up to 2006’s “Paris, Je T’aime,” has released a teaser trailer in anticipation for its upcoming screening at this years Toronto International Film Festival*. The films consist of a series of short vignettes based in the five boroughs centering around those finding and losing love in the city featured, and shit, if they didn’t do an amazing job of painting a realistic portrait of daily life in the city.
This sentimental and cloying piece features just about every Hollywood actor or director who just can’t wait to show us that they aren’t just a studio pawn continually playing shallow roles in blockblusters, but that they listen to Feist and have an indie side too (then again she was featured on the ‘Je T’aime’ soundtrack, so maybe they’re trying to make a thread). They range from studio hardened drones like Natalie Portman (who was also in ‘Je T’aime’), Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Hayden Christensen, Kevin Bacon to youngsters like Shia Labeouf and Olivia Thirlby (there are so many god damn names in this thing it would take forever to list them all, here is a complete casting list.) The directorial list includes names like Brett Ratner, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson (and no, that is not a typo, someone really let her behind a camera).
The trailer plays like a cheesy film school project and isn’t helped by its ultra cliche and obvious music choices (the same Regina Spektor song from “Definitely Maybe“? The Urban Outfitters-like Feist track?) . Even “Paris, Je T’aime,” an interesting concept didn’t entirely work, so we’re a little dubious about the American version. “New York, I Love You” is only playing as a work-in-progress screening at the Toronto Film Festival, but if the trailer is any indication of the finished project, they might want to go back to the drawing board.