New York, I Love You

Billed as a "collective feature film," New York, I Love You is the second in the "Cities of Love" series. As with its predecessor, Paris je t'aime, there are hits and misses. Producer Emmanuel Benbihy decreed that each of the 11 segments be set in a specific neighborhood, but only...

By Michelle Orange

October 15, 2009

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Billed as a "collective feature film," New York, I Love You is the second in the "Cities of Love" series. As with its predecessor, Paris je t'aime, there are hits and misses. Producer Emmanuel Benbihy decreed that each of the 11 segments be set in a specific neighborhood, but only a few manage to capture the spirit of their surroundings. The duds, like Jiang Wen's pickpocket three-way with Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia and Rachel Bilson, and Mira Nair's corny collision between Natalie Portman and Irrfan Khan, have a canned, flattened quality that drags the collective down. Orlando Bloom has some fun with the lonely freelance life, and Ethan Hawke and Maggie Q reimagine the dynamic of the street-corner pick-up. But the most effective entries bring both bitter and sweet to their snapshots of the city's most cherished and elusive quality: intimacy.

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Michelle Orange is a regular film contributor at Voice Media Group and its film partner, the Village Voice. VMG publications include LA Weekly, Denver Westword, Phoenix New Times, Miami New Times, Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Houston Press and Dallas Observer.