Rio, Eu Te Amo

Rio, Eu Te Amo (Rio, I Love You) is an anthology film collecting a series of short films by several of the world’s finest filmmakers about stories of love in the city of Rio de Janeiro. With four segments directed by Brazilian filmmakers Carlos Saldanha, Fernando Meirelles, Jose Padilha, and Andrucha Waddington plus six segments helmed by Guillermo Arriaga, Stephan Elliott, Im Sang-soo, Nadine Labaki, Paolo Sorrentino, and John Turturro as well as transitions directed by Vicente Amorim. The film follows the idea of love through many different people in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The result is a lively and enchanting film all set in the wondrous city of Rio de Janeiro.

In Dona Fulana (directed by Andrucha Waddington and written by Waddington and Mauricio Zacharias), an old homeless woman (Fernanda Montenegro) is roaming around the streets of Rio living her life as she is followed by a young man (Eduardo Sterblitch) as he tries to help her. La Fortuna (written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino) follows a couple (Basil Hoffman and Emily Mortimer) vacationing in Rio where the husband is paralyzed with a stroke while dealing with his spoiled wife who refuses to give him the vices in life that could kill him. In A Musa (directed by Fernando Meirelles and written by Antonio Prata and Chico Mattoso), an artist (Vincent Cassel) makes a sand sculpture as he notices a woman (Debora Nascimento) where he tries to win her love by making a sculpture.

Acho que Estou Apaixonado (written and directed by Stephan Elliott), a popular movie star (Ryan Kwanten) is struck by the wonders of the Sugarloaf Mountain where he and his Brazilian assistant (Marcelo Serrado) climb the mountain as the latter tells him about the legend of the mountain where they meet a beautiful spirit (Bebel Gilberto). In Quando nao ha Mais Amor (written and directed by John Turturro), a couple (John Turturro and Vanessa Paradis) breaks up as they cope with what they had and what got lost. Texas (written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga) is about a one-armed boxer (Land Viera) who is given a chance to help his model wife (Laura Neiva) walk again following an accident where he is offered a proposal by a man (Jason Isaacs) that comes with dire consequences.

In O Vampiro do Rio (written and directed by Im Sang-soo), an old vampire (Tonico Pereira meets a prostitute (Roberta Rodrigues) as he hopes to make her part of a small group of people who live in the city as vampires. Pas de Deux (directed by Carlos Saldanha and written by Elena Soarez) revolves around a ballet couple (Rodrigo Santoro and Bruna Linzmeyer) who perform behind a silhouette curtain for a performance as they quietly bicker about some life-changing decisions. Inutil Paisagem (directed by Jose Paldiha and written by Octavio Leonido) follows a man (Wagner Moura) who flies on a glider over Rio as curses the statue of Christ the Redeemer over his own failed relationship with his ex-wife (Cleo Pires). The final segment in O Milagre (directed by Nadine Labaki and written by Labaki, Rodney El Haddad, and Khaled Mouzanar) has an actor (Harvey Keitel) and an actress (Nadine Labaki) meet a boy (Caua Antunes) at a train station who is waiting from a phone call from Jesus Christ where the actor and actress do something to make that call happen.

The film follows a series of stories about love through ten different segments plus transitional scenes involving characters from those stories as well as a cab driver (Michel Melamed) and his former flame (Claudia Abreu) which is written by Fellipe Barbosa and directed by Vicente Amorim. It all plays into the ideas of love in many ways as it’s all set in the city of Rio de Janeiro where it is a character in the film and many of its landmarks add to its beauty. Though the filmmakers in the film don’t really do anything new to explore more of the city including its slums. It’s more about the city and how it inspires love in many different ways through the eyes of its filmmakers and their own takes on love. Filmmakers such as Stephan Elliott, Andrucha Waddington, Fernando Meirelles, and Nadine Labaki tell stories that are very unconventional as it doesn’t exactly follow the formula of love. Instead, they go for something different in their own definition of love as their segments are the ones that really standout as it also uses the locations and situations to really do something wondrous.

Another segment that is very unconventional is from Im Sang-soo whose idea of vampires living around Rio as they wear sunglasses to protect themselves from the sun is actually a very crafty and fun idea. Especially as they would spend the night dancing around as if it was Carnival where it has something a bit dark but also fun. Jose Paldiha’s segment is the most simple of them all but it’s also kind of controversial considering that its protagonist would make a very obscene gesture towards Christ the Redeemer but it does have a beauty for the fact that it’s shot largely from a glider’s perspective. The rest of the film does kind of play by the rules as far as the conventional ideas of love yet all manage to create stories that are at least engaging. Paolo Sorrentino’s segment is mainly comical while the segments by Guillermo Arriaga and John Turturro are the most dramatic. The segment by Carlos Saldanha is definitely the most beautiful in terms of its presentation as it’s more focused on ballet and music with some rumblings of what is happening behind the scenes between the two dancers.

Visually, the film does follow similar visual palettes in its cinematography though they’re able to give each segment something of its own with Saldanha’s shot largely at night and Meirelles’ segment starting off at night and then into the day where he would have the most technically inventive with its editing both visually and in its sound. Much of the film’s music soundtrack features an array of music from Brazil including the samba and bossa nova with much of its contribution from Gilberto Gil providing the film’s theme music. The film’s phenomenal cast all do some fantastic work with Fernanda Montenegro being the big standout in the titular role of Dona Fulana while Harvey Keitel provides a very kind and sensitive performance as an actor who would help a kid in getting a message from Jesus Christ in the O Milagre segment where Keitel would speak Portuguese for part of the film.

Rio, Eu Te Amo is a marvelous anthology film that features some incredible segments from Fernando Meirelles, Im Sang-soo, Carlos Saldanha, and several others. Along with a great cast, amazing music, and gorgeous images, it’s a film that portrays Rio not just as a place of paradise but also something that is wild and intoxicating from the perspective of its locals to the tourists visiting the city. In the end, Rio, Eu Te Amo is a sensational film that explores all the joys and frustrations of love in Rio de Janeiro.

Related: Paris, Je T'aime - New York, I Love You - (Tbilisi, I Love You)

© thevoid99 2017

Body Bags

Directed and starring John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper and written by Dan Angel and Billy Brown, Body Bags is an anthology film where a coroner and two morgue attendees tell three different stories relating to the bodies they’re analyzing. The first entitled The Gas Station is about a serial killer stalking a gas station attendee while the second entitled The Hair is about a botched hair transplant involving an alien parasite as both segments are directed by John Carpenter. The third entitled Eye is about a baseball player who receives an eye transplant unaware that it belonged to a killer that is trying to possess him as it is helmed by Tobe Hooper. Also starring Robert Carradine, Stacy Keach, David Warner, Twiggy, Sheena Easton, Mark Hamill, Tom Arnold, and Debbie Harry. Body Bags is a riveting and enjoyable film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.

The film is essentially a trilogy of tales told by a coroner (John Carpenter) as it play to the bodies he is examining in one scary night. The first entitled The Gas Station is about a college student who works on her very first night as a gas station attendee as she deals with strange customers as well as the presence of a serial killer on the loose. The second story entitled The Hair is about a middle-aged man dealing with baldness as he goes to a mysterious doctor about a hair transplant where everything seems to go well until he discover alien parasites in his hair. The third and final story entitled Eye is about a baseball player who loses his right eye in a car accident where he goes into surgery to get a new one as he starts to see strange things involving dead bodies and such. All of it is told in different styles where screenwriters Dan Angel and Billy Brown play up some of the suspense where The Gas Station is about an unusual first day at work while Hair is about insecurities and vanities that eventually catches up to a man. Eye is about a man desperate to go back to baseball unaware of the horror he is seeing with his new eye.

Since the first two segments and inserts are directed by John Carpenter and Eye is helmed by Tobe Hooper with Larry Sulkin providing additional work on the insert scenes. Each segment is given a different feel as both Carpenter and Hooper both provide their own idea to their segments while the inserts where Carpenter plays the coroner are presented in a comedic manner. For The Gas Station, Carpenter creates something that is more of a suspense film as it is about a college student’s first day as a gas station attendant where there are bits of humor but also moments where Carpenter plays with the suspense. Much of his compositions in that segment and The Hair are quite simple where the latter is a bit more playful as Carpenter goes for something straightforward rather than make it a big-time horror piece. The scariest segment is definitely Eye where Hooper creates something that is more conventional in terms of the horror genre but prefers to play it out slowly as it also has some more stylistic compositions including surreal moments that play into the terror. Overall, Carpenter and Hooper create a fun and thrilling anthology film about terror.

Cinematographer Gary Kibbe does excellent work with the cinematography from the colorful look of the interiors at the morgue as well as the nighttime exterior scenes for The Gas Station and Eye. Editor Edward A. Warschilka does nice work with the editing as it is stylish with its rhythmic cuts to play into the suspense for all of the segments. Production designer Daniel A. Lomino and set decorator Cloudia Rebar do fantastic work with the look of the morgue as well as the gas station interiors for The Gas Station as well as the more straightforward look of the other segments.

The makeup work of Rick Baker and Greg LaCava, with hair stylist Carolyn Elias, do amazing work for the look of the mortician as well as the look of the new eye in Eye as well as the hair in The Hair. The special effects work of Howard Jensen is terrific as it play into the look of the parasites for The Hair. Sound editor Anthony Milch does superb work with the sound as it help create some of the chilling moments of suspense in The Gas Station and Eye. The film’s music by John Carpenter and Jim Lang is wonderful with Carpenter providing some unique electronic-based pieces for The Gas Station while going for kitsch-based jazz in The Hair while Lang provides a more symphonic score for Eye.

The film’s cast is great as it features an array of cameos from horror film icons as well as pop culture icons. For the scenes set in the morgue, John Carpenter is hilarious as the mortician while Tobe Hooper and Tom Arnold are terrific in their brief roles as the morgue attendees. In The Gas Station, the cameo appearances from Wes Craven as a customer, George Buck Flower as a homeless guy, and Sam Raimi as a dead guy are fun yet the short is largely focused on Robert Carradine in a superb role as the gas station attendant who shows the new girl what to do while Alex Datcher is wonderful as the new girl Anne who is stalked by a crazed serial killer. In The Hair, the appearances of model Kim Alexis and special makeup effects creator Gregory Nicotero as people with good hair are fun to watch while Debbie Harry is a hoot as a nurse trying to help the protagonist find the right look.

David Warner is excellent as Dr. Lock as the man who can help the character Richard find new hair while Sheena Easton is fantastic as Richard’s girlfriend Megan who tries to assure him that he looks fine. Stacy Keach is brilliant as Richard as a man who becomes insecure over his bald hair as he is eager to have a new look and feel happy only for things to go wrong. In Eye, the cameo appearances of Charles Napier as a baseball coach, Roger Corman as a doctor, and John Agar as the surgeon are just amazing to watch while Twiggy is terrific as Brent’s wife Cathy who becomes worried about her husband’s troubled behavior. Mark Hamill is marvelous as Brent Matthews as baseball player who loses his eye in a car accident as he gets a new eye but becomes unhinged by what he is seeing as Hamill definitely camps it up for the performance.

Body Bags is a remarkable film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper. It’s a fun anthology film that feature a trilogy of stories created by two masters of horror as it’s a film that is about terror at its most chilling. In the end, Body Bags is an exhilarating and fun film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.

Tobe Hooper Films: (Eggshells) - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - (Eaten Alive) - (Salem’s Lot) - (The Funhouse) - (Poltergeist) - Lifeforce - (Invaders from Mars) - (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) - (Spontaneous Combustion) - (I’m Dangerous Tonight) - (Night Terrors) - (The Mangler) - (The Apartment Complex) - (Crocodile (2000 film)) - (Toolbox Murders) - (Mortuary) - (Djinn)

John Carpenter Films: Dark Star - Assault on Precinct 13 - Someone's Watching Me! - Halloween - Elvis - The Fog - Escape from New York - The Thing - Christine - Starman - Big Trouble in Little China - Prince of Darkness - They Live - Memoirs of an Invisible Man - In the Mouth of Madness - Village of the Damned - Escape from L.A. - Vampires - Ghosts of Mars - The Ward

The Auteurs #60: John Carpenter Part 1 - Part 2

© thevoid99 2016

Spirits of the Dead

Histoires extraordinaire (Spirits of the Dead) is an omnibus film from Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, and Roger Vadim that takes three different stories based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The three segments each explores the world of horror in many different ways as well as individuals who deal with their sins. The result is a truly fascinating and entertaining omnibus film from Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, and Roger Vadim on the works of Edgar Allen Poe.

Metzengerstein

Directed by Roger Vadim. Screenplay by Roger Vadim, Pascal Cousin, and Daniel Boulanger. Starring Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda. Cinematographer Claude Renoir. Editor Helene Plemiannikov. Production designer Jean Andre. Costume designer Jacques Fonteray. Music by Jean Prodromides.

The segment is about a countess who has inherited a renowned estate as she lives a life of debauchery and excess with no consequences. When she is rejected by her baron cousin who lives nearby, she seeks vengeance only to get a mysterious horse that she becomes attached to. It’s a piece that is filled with an array of beautiful imagery through Roger Vadim’s direction as well as sense of style in the way the clothes display that sense of decadence as well as the sense of guilt and melancholia that Countess Frederique Metzengerstein (Jane Fonda) would deal with over what she did to Baron Wilhem Berliftizing (Peter Fonda). Even as the mysterious horse in a tapestry the countess has might play into the fate that she would encounter with the horse she had just received where both Fonda siblings give fantastic performances where Jane speaks perfect French while Peter is more quiet as his lines are dubbed in French.

William Wilson

Directed by Louis Malle. Screenplay by Louis Malle, Clement Biddle Wood, and Daniel Boulanger. Starring Alain Delon and Brigitte Bardot. Cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli. Editors Franco Arcalli and Suzanne Baron. Production/costume designer Ghislain Uhry. Art director/costume designer Carlo Leva. Music by Diego Masson.

Louis Malle’s segment explores the life of a cruel young man (Alain Delon) who shares the same name of a doppelganger who would set the rights of what his counterpart has done. Yet, it has a narrative that is told in a reflective manner as Wilson confesses to a priest (Salvo Radone) about the rivalry he has with his doppelganger dating back to childhood where it would culminate in a game where Wilson tries to cheat a socialite named Giuseppina (Brigitte Bardot). It’s a very complex and eerie film about identity and such that features a brilliant Alain Delon that is complemented by Malle’s very intense and mesmerizing direction as well Bardot’s very charming and cool performance.

Toby Dammit

Directed by Federico Fellini. Screenplay by Federico Fellini and Bernardino Zapponi. Starring Terence Stamp. Cinematographer Giuseppe Rutunno. Editor Ruggero Mastroianni. Production/costume designer Piero Tosi. Art director Fabrizio Clerici. Visual effects by Joseph Nathanson. Music by Nino Rota.

The segment is about a washed-up Shakespearean actor who goes to Rome to accept an award and to star in a Catholic western as he starts to lose his mind following an encounter with a little girl who lost her ball. It’s a film that is filled with many of the visual traits of Federico Fellini as it’s all style where it’s playful but also gorgeous to look at thanks to Giuseppe Rutunno’s cinematography. The film also features a truly delightful score by Nino Rota that also features a truly magnificent sequence of the titular character driving all over Italy on a Ferrari as he’s played with such complexity by Terence Stamp who adds a melancholia and craziness to the character.

The film is about the sins and such of various individuals all told in very different places as the segments by Roger Vadim and Louis Malle are all period pieces that do play with Edgar Allen Poe’s story. In Metzengerstein, Vadim decided to make Poe’s story about a long-standing family feud be more complex as its protagonist would become a woman as she falls for her rival only to be upset by his rejection. In William Wilson, Malle sets his story in the 19th Century Austria where it plays into a man’s identity and the idea of a double where his double is man that is the exact opposite of the other man.

Both Vadim and Malle bring a sense of faithfulness to their respective stories yet it is Federico Fellini who does a whole lot more in his loose-adaptation of Never Bet the Devil Your Head where he sets in modern-day Italy as it’s all full of style to play up the troubled mind of an alcoholic actor as he’s doing interviews and attend a lavish party that has him realize how undeserving he is as he’s being paid a Ferrari to do a film. It’s Fellini’s segment that is the best of the three as well as one of his most outstanding works of his career.

Histoires extraordinaire is a marvelous omnibus film that chronicles the work of Edgar Allen Poe. Featuring some fantastic segments by Roger Vadim and Louis Malle that features excellent performances from Jane and Peter Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, and Alain Delon. The film also features a magnificent segment by Federico Fellini that is one of his great masterworks that includes an incredible performance by Terence Stamp. In the end, Histoires extraordinaire is a remarkable omnibus film from the trio of Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, and Roger Vadim.

Federico Fellini Films: (Variety Lights) - The White Sheik - (L’amore in Citta-Un’agenzia matrimoniale) - I Vitelloni - La Strada - (Il Bidone) - Nights of Cabiria - La Dolce Vita - (Boccaccio ‘70-Le tentazoni del Dottor Antonio) - 8 1/2 - Juliet of the Spirits - (Fellini: A Director’s Notebook) - Fellini Satyricon - (I Clowns) - Roma - Amarcord - Casanova - (Orchestral Rehearsal) - (City of Women) - And the Ship Sails On - Ginger and Fred - (Intervista) - (The Voice of the Moon)

Louis Malle Films: (The Silent World) - (Elevator to the Gallows) - (The Lovers) - (Zazie dans la Metro) - (Vive le Tour) - (A Very Private Affair) - (The Fire Within) - (Viva Maria!) - (The Thief of Paris) - (Calcutta (1969 film)) - (Murmur of the Heart) - (Humain, trop humain) - (Lacombe, Lucien) - (Black Moon) - (Pretty Baby) - (Atlantic City (1980 film)) - (My Dinner with Andre) - (Crackers) - (Alamo Bay) - (God’s Country) - (And the Pursuit of Happiness) - (Au Revoir Le Enfants) - (May Fools) - (Damage) - (Vanya on 42nd Street)

Roger Vadim Films: (And God Created Woman) - (No Sun in Venice) - (The Night Heaven Fell) - (Les laisons dangereuses) - (Blood and Roses) - (Please, Not Now!) - (The Seven Deadly Sins) - (Love on a Pillow) - (Castle in Sweden) - (Vice and Virtue) - (Circle of Love) - (La Curee) - (Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy) - (Pretty Maids All in a Row) - (Helle) - (Ciao! Manhattan) - (Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman) - (The Murdered Young Girl) - (Game of Seduction) - (Night Games) - (Hot Touch) - (Surprise Party) - (And God Created Woman (1988 film))

© thevoid99 2013

Eros

Eros is an omnibus film from three different filmmakers that explores the world of eroticism in three different continents from its filmmakers Michelangelo Antonioni, Steven Soderbergh, and Wong Kar-Wai. Each segment explores the world of love and sex in various different ways told by these three filmmakers. The result is one of the most fascinating anthology films that features two incredible segments from two of its contributors but also a disappointing one from Michelangelo Antonioni.

The Dangerous Thread of Things

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Screenplay by Michelangelo Antonioni and Tonino Guerra from a book by Michelangelo Antonioni. Starring Christopher Buchholz, Regina Nemni, and Luisa Ranieri. Cinematography by Marco Pontecorvo. Edited by Claudio Di Maurio Set design by Stefano Luci. Costume design by Carin Berger. Sound editing by Gianluca Carbonelli. Music by Enrica Antonioni and Vinicio Milani.

The first segment explores a bickering couple (Christopher Bucholz and Regina Nemni) who spend the day together as they deal with their disintegrating relationship as the man later meets a beautiful woman (Luisa Ranieri) whom he wants to have sex with. It’s a segment that is essentially all style but very little substance. While many of the compositions are beautiful and definitely recalls a lot of Antonioni’s great work from the 1960s that includes Marco Pontecorvo‘s lush cinematography and Claudio Di Maurio‘s stylized editing. It feels more like this bad mix of pretentious art-house cinema mixed in with vapid soft-core porn though nothing really wrong with that. Plus, the acting isn’t very inspired while the music is also very off as it adds to the sense of pretentiousness that is rampant in this very terrible short.

Equilibrium

Written, shot, edited, and directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Alan Arkin, and Ele Keats. Set design by Philip Messina. Costume designed by Milena Canonero. Sound editing by Larry Blake. Casting by Debra Zane.

The segment revolves a man (Robert Downey Jr.) who talks to his psychiatrist (Alan Arkin) about a recurring fantasy he has with this mysterious woman (Ele Keats) while dealing with the pressure he’s having working as an advertising agent. It’s a film that explores a sense of repression and fantasy where it mixes reality and fiction where the psychiatric sessions are shot in black-and-white while the fantasy scenes are shot in color. It’s filled with many ambiguities about what is real and what is fantasy where it also involves voyeurism as Soderbergh puts bits of humor as the psychiatrist is also a voyeur who is more concerned with what’s outside rather than this man’s problems. With great performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Alan Arkin, the segment is easily the most entertaining.

The Hand

Written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Starring Gong Li and Chen Chang. Cinematography by Christopher Doyle. Edited and set/costume designed by William Chang. Sound design by Claude Letessier and Du-Che Tu. Music by Peer Raben.

The third and final segment is about the relationship between a high-class prostitute (Gong Li) and her tailor (Chen Chang) as the tailor makes dresses for her yet keep their relationship professional no matter how troubled she may be and the desires they have for each other. This one is easily the most sensual in not just in its story but also in the performances of Li and Chang as they play into people who care for each other but are separated by circumstances. With its exotic soundtrack filled with old Chinese music and dazzling images courtesy of cinematographer Christopher Doyle and editor/set-costume designer Wiliam Chang. Kar-Wai creates a piece that is just intoxicating to look that is backed up by a very heartbreaking and enthralling story about love.

The film is essentially an exploration into the world of eroticism and how it can delve into the psyche of individuals. With inserted artwork by Lorenzo Mattotti that is filled with these gorgeous images of people making love that comes in between each segment that includes some bossa-nova music in the background. It all reinforce the idea of eroticism as both Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar-Wai each manage to create interesting takes on eroticism. Soderbergh in a lightly-comedic fashion that is filled with ambiguities while Kar-Wai adds a melancholia to this love story about a tailor and a prostitute. The one person that definitely seems to miss the mark is Michelangelo Antonioni as he seems to want to reach into the great work he did in the 1960s to comment on loneliness and sex but ends up making something that just feels very empty despite the gorgeous visuals he creates.

Eros is an excellent omnibus film thanks in part to the contributions of Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar-Wai. Fans of the two filmmakers will no doubt enjoy their segments as it represents some of the best work they did. Especially Kar-Wai whose segment is easily the best of the three for his sensitive portrayal on love. The film sadly also features a very disappointing segment from the late Michelangelo Antonioni in one of his final contributions to cinema. In the end, Eros is an extraordinary anthology film that explores the world of eroticism.

Michelangelo Antonioni Films: (Story of a Love Affair) - (I Vinti) - (The Lady Without Camelias) - (Le Amiche) - (Il Grido) - L'Avventura - La Notte - L’Eclisse - Red Desert - Blow-Up - Zabriskie Point - (Chung Kuo, Cina) - The Passenger - (The Mystery of Oberwald) - Identification of a Woman - (Beyond the Clouds)

Steven Sodberbergh Films: sex, lies, & videotape - Kafka - King of the Hill - The Underneath - Gray’s Anatomy - Schizopolis - Out of Sight - The Limey - Erin Brockovich - Traffic - Ocean's Eleven - Full Frontal - Solaris (2002 film) - Ocean’s Twelve - Bubble - The Good German - Ocean’s Thirteen - Che - The Girlfriend Experience - The Informant! - And Everything is Going Fine - Contagion - Haywire - Magic Mike - Side Effects - Behind the Candelabra - Logan Lucky - (Unsane) - (High Flying Bird) - The Auteurs #39: Steven Soderbergh Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

Wong Kar-Wai Films: As Tears Go By - Days of Being Wild - Chungking Express - Ashes of Time/Ashes of Time Redux - Fallen Angels - Happy Together - In the Mood for Love - 2046 - My Blueberry Nights - The Grandmaster - The Auteurs #28: Wong Kar-Wai

© thevoid99 2013

The Hire

The Hire is a collection of eight short films revolving around a mysterious driver in different assignments while driving different variations of the BMW as these shorts were produced for the car manufacturer. Playing the role of the driver is Clive Owen as he ventures into eight different adventures helmed by eight different filmmakers as it also includes a diverse cast of actors to appear in these eight different short films. The result is an incredible collection of shorts from some of the world's best filmmakers.

Ambush (directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Andrew Kevin Walker) is about the driver escorting a man (Tomas Milian) carrying $2 million worth of diamonds as they’re being pursued by a van full of armed men. Chosen (directed by Ang Lee and written by David Carter) is the story about a holy boy (Mason Lee) escorted by the driver as they’re being pursued by criminals at a loading dock where the boy is supposed to be at a sanctuary. In The Follow (directed by Wong Kar-Wai and written by Andrew Kevin Walker), the driver is hired by his manager (Forest Whitaker) to pursue the wife (Adriana Lima) of a film actor (Mickey Rourke) to see if she’s cheating on him. Star (Directed by Guy Ritchie and written by Joe Sweet and Guy Ritchie) is about a spoiled celebrity (Madonna) who orders her driver to drive her to the venue where the results becomes more than she bargains for.

In Powder Keg (directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and written by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Guillermo Arriaga, and David Carter), a war photographer (Stellan Skarsgard) is wounded after taking a photograph as the driver tries to get him to the border so he can be saved. Hostage (directed by John Woo and written by David Carter, Greg Hahn, and Vincent Ngo) is about the driver delivering ransom money to a man (Maury Chaykin) who had kidnapped a CEO (Kathryn Morris) as he later races to save her. In Ticker (Written and directed by Joe Carnahan), the driver escorts a man (Don Cheadle), who is carrying a mysterious briefcase under the orders of a mysterious man (F. Murray Abraham), as they’re under attack from a helicopter while running short on time.

In Beat the Devil (Directed by Tony Scott and written by David Carter, Greg Hahn, and Vincent Ngo), James Brown makes a visit with the Devil (Gary Oldman) to renegotiate an old contract in the form of a wager through a drag strip race in Las Vegas between the driver and the Devil’s driver Bob (Danny Trejo).

The film is a collection of stories involving a driver and all of the adventures he takes in. Some are intense, some are quite funny, some are dramatic, and others are just downright fucking insane. While Star and The Follow don’t exactly follow the conventions of most car-driven films. They do contain some amazing driving sequences as the former is just a straight-out comedy from Guy Ritchie while the latter is a moody piece filled with evocative voice-over narration that plays true to Wong Kar-Wai’s style. Chosen may be an action piece of sorts but Ang Lee inject bits of humor as well as a story about a man and a boy. The rest of the series play to the world of action as the filmmakers each put their stamp into the different stories. Joe Carnahan and John Frankenheimer each create stories involving a passenger that is carrying something where the latter is more slick and professional while the former is more stylish with its mixture of grainy film stock and more clear cinematography.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Powder Keg is definitely the most unconventional in terms of action and drama as it is presented in a grainy film stock courtesy of cinematographer Robert Richardson. John Woo’s Hostage is a strange twist on the hostage story not just because of the kidnapper but what happens afterwards. Then there’s Tony Scott’s Beat the Devil where it’s definitely the strangest one of them all as it’s a mixture of humor and action with a bit of Satanism that involves James Brown and a cameo appearance from Marilyn Manson.

While all of the shorts do stand out on their own, The Follow is clearly the best of them all due to its lingering images from cinematographer Harris Savides and its hypnotic soundtrack. The casting is also great as many of the actors involved are amazing yet the series really belongs to Clive Owen. Owen displays a really low-key approach to his character as he’s just a driver while he does get the chance to be funny but also intense as he really is the star of the series.

The Hire is an extraordinary series of short films that features a superb performance from Clive Owen. The series is a must-see for fans of many of these filmmakers for the way it utilizes different models of BMWs to help tell a story that is engaging but also intense. In the end, The Hire is a fantastic collection of short films from some of the world’s best filmmakers.

© thevoid99 2013

Four Rooms

Four Rooms is an anthology comedy film about a bellboy who works on his first day during New Year’s Eve where he would encounter all sorts of strange things in four different rooms. With segments written and directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, the film explores a crazy day in the life of a new bellhop named Ted that is played by Tim Roth. Also starring Antonio Banderas, Madonna, Valeria Golino, Jennifer Beals, Ione Skye, Lili Taylor, Alicia Witt, Tamlyn Tomita, Paul Calderon, Sammi Davis, Marisa Tomei, and Bruce Willis. Four Rooms is a whimsical yet chaotic anthology-comedy from Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino.

It’s New Year’s Eve as a bellhop named Ted is working in his first day at the Hotel Mon Signor. For his first assignment in The Missing Ingredient (Allison Anders), a coven of witches take the honeymoon suite to create a potion in hopes of freeing a woman (Amanda deCadenet) who had been a statue for 40 years. When one of the young witches in Eva (Ione Skye) is unable to get one special ingredient, Ted is called upon to help Eva get the ingredient. Later that night, Ted is asked to bring ice to a room where a party’s going on. In The Wrong Man (Alexandre Rockwell), Ted enters a room where a man (David Proval) holds his wife Angela (Jennifer Beals) hostage to confront her about a possible affair where Ted is mistaken to be Angela’s lover.

Following that troubled encounter, Ted is then called to do his next job in The Misbehaviors (Robert Rodriguez) where he’s asked by a man (Antonio Banderas) to watch for his kids (Danny Verduzco and Lana McKissack) for the night as the man and his wife (Tamlyn Tomita) go to a New Year’s party. Ted is getting calls from the kids about strange demands while the kids later complain about a strange smell in the room where they discover the source of the smell. Following that incident, Ted tries to reach his boss Betty (Kathy Griffin) about the things he’s been dealing with as he has to finish one more assignment for the night. In The Man from Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino), Ted brings some things to filmmaker Chester Rush (Quentin Tarantino) for a party that includes Angela, a friend named Norman (Paul Calderon), and Leo (Bruce Willis) about a bet based on a episode from The Alfred Hitchcock Hour that involves Chester’s car and Norman’s pinky where Ted has to play a key role in the bet.

The film is essentially a collection of stories about a crazy first day for a bellhop who encounters four very strange events as they all become more out of control as time goes on. All of it is largely told from the perspective of this young bellhop who has no idea what’s in store for him in the course of a crazy day. Particularly as it’s on New Year’s Eve where everybody is partying and there’s brief inserts that help sets up each story. There, this young man named Ted would be involved crazy events involving a coven of witches, a fighting couple, misbehaving kids, and a filmmaker with a crazy proposition all of which would tempt Ted with money.

In the first segment by Allison Anders, Ted plays to the service of a group of very strange yet eccentric witches who are creating a potion to revive someone yet there’s a lot trouble ensues. Anders’ direction is very playful as she also employs some fun editing schemes by Margaret Goodspeed and Rodrigo Garcia’s bright and colorful cinematography. It’s a segment that doesn’t take itself seriously as it opens the film in a nice start. The weakest segment belongs to Alexandre Rockwell where it has an interesting premise but ends up dragging the film where it involves a lot of strange moments and hijinks that don’t work such as a scene where Ted is stuck between a bathroom window. With editing by Elena Maganini and photography by Phil Parmet, it’s the one segment that doesn’t really get the chance to stand out due to its weak script and lackluster direction.

Robert Rodriguez’s segment is clearly the best one due to the shenanigans of the children where they smoke, drink, and watch all sorts of things where Rodriguez really captures the energy of kids misbehaving. With Rodriguez serving as his own editor and Guillermo Navarro providing some amazing camera work, it’s a segment that really captures the antics of children in all of its insanity that is followed by a very funny insert involving a stoned woman (Marisa Tomei) and a sleepy hotel owner. This would then lead to the final segment from Quentin Tarantino that is the most stylistic segment of the film. Largely due to the few long-takes Tarantino uses for the scene along with some amazing compositions courtesy of cinematographer Andrzej Sekula along with the methodical editing of Sally Menke. Tarantino’s segment ends the film on a high note as the overall work is a very funny and off-the-wall anthology comedy.

Production designer Gary Frutkoff, along with set decorator Sara Andrews and art director Mayne Berke, does superb work with the set pieces to give each room a distinctive look and feel for each segment. Costume designers Susan L. Bertram and Mary Claire Hannan do excellent work in the costumes from the dresses the witches wear to the party clothes the other characters wear along with Ted‘s uniform. Sound designer Lance Brown, along with sound editors Bruce Fortune and Victor Iorillo, does terrific work with the sound to capture the craziness that goes on in each room. The music by Combustible Edison is wonderful for its playful score that adds to the humor of the film as the rest of the soundtrack features a couple of stuff by Esquivel that plays to some of the craziness of the film.

The casting by Russell Gray is brilliant for the ensemble that is created for this anthology film. For The Missing Ingredient, there’s fantastic performances from Madonna, Valeria Golino, Sammi Davis, and Lili Taylor as the four eccentric and experienced witches along with a quirky one from Alicia Witt as the daughter of one of the witches. Amanda deCadenet is terrific in her appearance as the goddess Diana while Ione Skye is superb as the young witch Eva. From The Wrong Man, there’s a funny appearance from producer Lawrence Bender as a drunk yuppie along with Paul Skemp in a small role as a partygoer. David Proval is pretty good as the angry husband Siegfried while Jennifer Beals is excellent as Siegfried’s wife Angela who also appears in The Man from Hollywood.

From The Misbehaviors, there’s an appearance from Salma Hayek as the dancing woman on the TV while Tamlyn Tomita is very good as the wife. Antonio Banderas is amazing as the very intimidating husband while Danny Verduzco and Lana McKissack are wonderful as the two troublesome kids. From the insert between the last two segments, Marisa Tomei is hilarious as the stoned partygoer while Kathy Griffin is pretty good as Ted’s boss Betty. From The Man from Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino is very funny as the talkative Chester Rush while Paul Calderon is solid in a small role as Norman. Bruce Willis is also very funny in an un-credited performance as Chester’s friend Leo. Finally, there’s Tim Roth in a marvelous performance as Ted the bellhop where Roth gets to show a lot of wit and physicality into his role as a bellhop working on his first day on the job where Roth really gets the chance to be funny.

While it is a flawed film, Four Rooms is still a very entertaining anthology comedy from Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Allison Anders, and Alexandre Rockwell. While the film features some great segments from Tarantino and Rodriguez along with a good one from Anders. Only the Rockwell segment is the one that drags the film as a whole though things do pick up after that segment. In the end, Four Rooms is a stellar anthology comedy that features a crazy story in the day of a young bellhop.

© thevoid99 2012

Three... Extremes

Three… Extremes is a trio of horror-based short films directed by three of Asian cinema’s top filmmakers. In the segment Dumplings that is directed by Fruit Chan and written by Lillian Lee, an aging actress finds a new anti-aging cream unaware of its substance. In Cut by Chan-wook Park, a filmmaker and his wife are kidnapped by an extra as he plays a sick game against the director. In Box that is directed by Takashi Miike and written by Bun Saikou and Haruko Fukushima, a young woman has a recurring nightmare believing in involves her twin sister. The result is a fascinating yet stylish trilogy of shorts from some of the best filmmakers working today.

Dumplings

Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung) is dealing with a fading career as an actress as her husband (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) is having an affair with a maid (Pauline Lau). Dealing with her old age, Mrs. Li turns to a mysterious woman named Mei (Bai Ling) who creates special dumplings to deal with Li’s aging. Mrs. Li eats the dumplings as she discovers the secret ingredient that Mei puts into the dumplings. Though it worked for Mrs. Li’s issues, complications arrive when it involved a young woman (Miki Yeung) as Mrs. Li turns to Mei for help as trouble starts to arrive about what had just happened.

Cut

A filmmaker (Lee Byung-hun) returns home where is knocked out by a mysterious man (Lim Won-hie) as he later wakes up. There, he sees his wife (Kang Hye-jeong) suspended by ropes in mid-air as she sits next to a piano where the man threatens to cut each of her fingers off. Meanwhile, a young child is on a couch tied up as well as the man, who is revealed to be an extra of the director’s films, is challenging the director to kill the child so his wife can go free in a game of morality and wits. Even as the man is trying to force the director his own sins throughout this ordeal.

Box

A quiet novelist (Kyoko Hasegawa) is dealing with recurring nightmares as she believes they’re connected to a memory when she was a circus performer as a child with her twin sister. Believing that the ghost of her twin sister is appearing, she deals with the guilt that she was responsible for her sister’s death while begins to believe that her dream is really something that could become real.

The film is essentially a trio of little horror stories in three different styles from three different filmmakers. The stories each present a different type of extreme as it all relates to the idea of horror. Still, the directors of this project chose to create their own idea of what extreme is as it’s all about how a person would react to their situations.

In Dumplings, it’s about a woman that is trying to look young to revive her acting career and to get her husband’s attention. With the help of a mysterious woman, she eats special dumplings that feature a key secret ingredient. The secret ingredient is something that is just fucking disgusting to the point where the audience is wondering why? What becomes more extreme is how the woman reacts to it much later in the film while the woman who cooks it doesn’t think she’s doing anything wrong. Fruit Chan’s direction is mostly straightforward for the story as he’s carried by Christopher Doyle’s lush cinematography to the brilliant performances of Miriam Yeung and Bai Ling for what is this gorgeous yet cringe-inducing story.

In Cut, it’s all about an extra seeking vengeance against a successful filmmaker he’s worked for while playing a game against the filmmaker. In this game of vengeance, a young child and the director’s wife are in danger as the extra forces the director to do things though he is really a good man. Chan-wook Park’s direction is very stylish with amazing camera work, startling compositions, and dark humor as the terrifying performance of Lim Won-hie is electrifying as is the harrowing conclusion of the film as it is a short that does go to extremes.

Takashi Miike’s Box is a much different film from the previous as its approach to extreme isn’t what many would expect from Miike. Instead, the short is very restrained in its presentation that includes gorgeous cinematography and stylish editing to complement the haunting tone of the short. Featuring a mesmerizing performance from Kyoko Hasegawa, the short is about a woman dealing with guilt and the nightmares she’s dealing with as she is seeking forgiveness in what she’s done. While it might seem like the weakest of the three films because it strays from convention, it’s still a short that is very entrancing in what Miike presents.

Three… Extremes is a superb yet chilling anthology film from Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park, and Takashi Miike that brings something new and horrifying to the world of horror films. The film is definitely something that horror fans will enjoy in terms of chills and discomfort as well as something that is dramatic and has some humor. For the fans of these filmmakers, it’s a must-see for the work they put and how they handle the horror genre in their own way. In the end, Three… Extremes is a brilliant yet spellbinding horror anthology film from Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park, and Takashi Miike.

Chan-wook Park Films: (The Moon is… the Sun’s Dream) - (Trio) - (Judgement) - JSA: Joint Security Area - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - (If You Were Me-Never Ending Peace and Love) - Oldboy - Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - I'm a Cyborg but That's OK - Thirst - (Night Fishing) - Stoker - The Handmaiden

© thevoid99 2011

11'9"01 September 11

11’9”01 September 11 is an anthology film of 11 short films by some of the world’s revered filmmakers as they each make a short film about 9/11 based on an idea by Alain Brigand. With each short having a running time of 11 minutes and nine seconds and one frame about 9/11, it allows each filmmaker from different countries to respond about the infamous attacks on September 11, 2001. The result is a fascinating anthology film from some of the world’s best filmmakers.

Iran (written and directed by Samira Makhmalbaf) is about a schoolteacher (Maryam Karimi) trying to teach young Afghan kids about what had just happened as they look at a tall chimney stack to think about the attacks in New York City. In France (directed by Claude Lelouch and written by Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven), a deaf woman (Emmanuelle Laborit) writes a letter to her American boyfriend (Jerome Horry) who is working at the World Trade Center as she is unaware of what is happening. Egypt (written and directed by Youssef Chahine) is about a documentary filmmaker (Nour El-Sherif) communicating with a dead soldier (Ahmed Haroun) from the 1983 Beirut bombing as they try to make sense of war and what happened in the U.S.

Bosnia-Herzegovina (written and directed by Danis Tanovic) is the story of a young woman (Dzana Pinjo) going to a protest rally, much to the wishes of her mother (Tatjana Sojic), as she meets her legless friend (Aleksandar Seksan) where the events of 9/11 threatens the rally. Burkina Faso (written and directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo) has a young boy (Lionel Zizreel Guire) claiming to see Osama Bin Laden as he rallies his friends to hunt him down for the reward money so they can help his ailing mother. In United Kingdom (directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty, Ken Loach, & Vladimir Vega), Vladimir Vega writes a letter to the people of 9/11 as he talks about the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat that happened on that same date. Mexico (written and directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) is a short that collects brief images of bodies falling from the Twin Towers with sounds of what is happening on a black screen.

In Israel (directed by Amos Gitai and written by Amos Gitai and Marie Jose Sanselme), a soldier (Liron Levo), an officer (Tomer Russo) deal with a car bombing while a news reporter (Keren Mor) tries to cover what happened only to learn about what happened in NYC. India (directed by Mira Nair and written by Sabrina Dhawan) is the true story of an Islamic family wondering the whereabouts of a man who is rumored to be a terrorist. United States of America (written and directed by Sean Penn) is about a widower (Ernest Borgnine) who believes his wife is still around until light appears for his flowers. In Japan (directed by Shohei Imamura and written by Daisuke Tengan), a man (Tomorowo Taguchi) returns from World War II acting like a snake causing trouble among people from his village.

9/11 was a tragedy that really affected the world about terrorism and the chaos following the attacks. Yet, it’s not an American event that happened but also the world as the film is about how the world reacted to an event as catastrophic as 9/11. For 11 filmmakers, each one had to make a short with a running time of 11 minutes and nine seconds so they can each shed provide insight into how they feel about what happened on that day. The overall result is a film that has some great segments, some decent ones, and one that is really ridiculous.

The film starts off innocently by Samira Makhmalbaf who creates a story about a schoolteacher trying to teach her young students about what just happened. For these young Afghani refugee kids whose parents are building a shelter in wake of what just happened, they’re not exactly sure what happened as they’re talking. Yet, it’s all about the innocence of children trying to understand that they’re world is going to change. Makhmalbaf’s short along with Idrissa Ouedraogo’s short in Burkina Faso has an air of innocence that isn’t displayed often as the latter is about a boy wanting to capture Osama Bin Laden to get reward money for his ailing mother with the help of his friends.

These two shorts are among the highlights of the anthology film as both filmmakers each provide their own ideas about what happened at 9/11. Others like Claude Lelouch, Danis Tanovic, and Mira Nair provide more personal stories about the attacks on a more dramatic scale. While Lelouch uses 9/11 as a dramatic plot-point in this story of a woman wanting to leave her boyfriend, Tanovic puts a bit of politics over the events of Bosnia-Herzegovina as the woman wanting to protest finds a bigger reason to do her protest. Nair’s story is based on the true story of a young Islamic-American man lost during 9/11 as his family is forced to confront the possibilities that he’s a terrorist where they’re suddenly isolated by neighbors over a misunderstanding while it’s ending is a lesson about prejudices and loss.

Directors like Youssef Chahine and Amos Gitai both provide some political ideas about their own situations of 9/11 in relation to the Middle East. While Chahine’s segment is a bit over-stylized with its story of a director talking to a soldier, it does provide a point about the fallacies of war and conflict no matter what side anyone is on. Gitai’s short is shot entirely in one continuous short as a car bomb attack happens as a reporter tries to reveal what is going though she’s being cut off by her editor about 9/11 as she tries to state all the important tragedies that occurred on September 11th. It’s a chaotic segment though it tries to reveal that just because something happened in the U.S. doesn’t mean that the tragedies in Israel shouldn’t be ignored as it’s a good short despite having a heavy-handed message.

The Japanese short provided by Shohei Imamura, in his final work as a filmmaker, is the one that deviates from everything that is about 9/11 as it’s more about the aftermath of war and its effects on soldiers. Though it’s the short that doesn’t seem to fit in, the final message about the fallacy of Holy War does make a compelling point about what Imamura wants to say. The most shocking and most harrowing short comes from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu as his segment is just a simple tale of all of chaos happening as brief images of bodies jumping off the tower and then fade-to-black for sounds of bodies hitting the ground. It is definitely the most uncomfortable one in the entire film yet it ends with the words “Does God’s light guide us or blind us?” as Inarritu is asking more questions rather than provide answers about this tragedy.

With the highlights of the film coming from Nair, Inarritu, Ouedraogo, and Makhmalbaf with really good ones from Lelouch and Tanovic, the best segment comes from Ken Loach. Loach’s short about Vladimir Vega’s experience about his September 11 tragedy back in 1973 Chile when Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende is one of the most haunting stories told. With Vega both narrating and singing about what happened as he writes a letter to Americans about what they’re dealing with. It’s also a reminder that he hopes they don’t forget about what happened in Chile and the role they played into Allende’s overthrow and his death on that day either by suicide or murder. It’s also a sad reminder that though Vega lives happily in England with his family, he could never return to Chile over what happened.

With Loach’s short being the best for its mix of personal storytelling and political insight, the worst one comes from Sean Penn. Despite a great performance from Ernest Borgnine, it’s definitely one of the most ridiculous as it’s about a widower wanting light outside of his house so the flowers would bloom as he talks to his wife as if she’s still here. The ending is without a doubt one of the worst as it involves one of the towers falling and sunlight appears for the flowers to bloom. The ending might be offensive to people though Penn was probably not intending to do that though he approaches it in a very bad way.

While there’s some great technical moments in some of the shorts, notably the ones by Gitai, Loach, Inarritu, and Lelouch in terms of photography, sound design, and music score. Each short is presented by a transitional scene of the world map as it plays to soft electronic music and later a somber orchestral piece that is provided by Alexandre Desplat. This way, it allows each short to be unified into one film as it ends up being one of the most intriguing yet powerful anthology films about one of the most horrifying events of the 21st Century.

11’9”01 September 11 is an excellent anthology about the world’s reaction to 9/11. With some great pieces by Samira Makhmalbaf, Mira Nair, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Idrissa Ouedraogo, and an outstanding one from Ken Loach. It’s a film that emphasizes that 9/11 is a world event that shook up everything that happened. While it’s not an easy film to watch due to its subject matter, it does allow audience a chance to see what other countries think about what happened and how it relates to their own feelings. In the end, 11’9”01 September 11 is an extraordinary though chilling film about the horrors of 9/11.

© thevoid99 2011

New York, I Love You

New York, I Love You is an anthology film about love in the city of New York that collects 11 shorts film by ten different filmmaker. The second part of the City of Love anthology films that was preceded by the 2006 anthology film Paris, Je T’aime. The film includes stories directed by Brett Ratner, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Fatih Akin, Natalie Portman, Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes, Jiang Wen, Shekhar Kapur, Shunji Iwai, and inserts by Randy Balsmeyer. The film includes an all-star cast that includes Natalie Portman, Irffan Khan, Christina Ricci, Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson, Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Maggie Q, Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Drea de Matteo, Olivia Thirlby, James Caan, Anton Yelchin, Blake Lively, Julie Christie, and John Hurt. New York, I Love You is a pretty good film that has some moments that is cluttered with some unnecessary transitions.

A young thief (Hayden Christensen) tries to woo a young lady (Rachel Bilson) at a bar where he meets her much older boyfriend (Andy Garcia) while dealing with other issues. Meanwhile, an Indian jeweler (Irrfan Khan) talks with a Jewish woman (Natalie Portman) who is set to be married the next day as they discuss their cultural differences. A young music composer (Orlando Bloom) is trying to finish some music for a film as a young woman (Christina Ricci) keeps calling him to discuss the things the director wants. A writer (Ethan Hawke) engages into a conversation with a married woman (Maggie Q) as they share a smoke together. In the fifth segment, a young man (Anton Yelchin) has been dumped by his ex-girlfriend (Blake Lively) as his local pharmacist (James Caan) helps him by having his handicapped daughter (Olivia Thirlby) as his date.

A man (Bradley Cooper) and a woman (Drea de Matteo) are in different areas of the city thinking about their dissolving relationship. A woman (Julie Christie) returns to a hotel that she likes as she befriends an immigrant bellhop (Shia LaBeouf) as a hotel manager (John Hurt) listens. A young girl (Taylor Geare) walks around Central Park with her nanny (Carlos Acosta) as they wait for the return of her mother (Jacinda Barrett). A painter (Ugur Yucel) is transfixed by a beautiful woman (Shi Qu) as he wants to paint her. A businessman (Chris Cooper) meets a woman (Robin Wright) outside a restaurant as they talk while she is trying to get her husband to notice. Meanwhile, an old couple (Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman) bicker as they walk to Coney Island while a young woman (Emilie Ohana) is trying to create a video project of all the things she’s seeing.

In this eleven shorts and transition sequences, it’s all about New York City and love through this anthology film made by several filmmakers. Yet, the approach for the entire film doesn’t come across as exciting due to the transition sequences made by Randy Balsmeyer, with writing by Hall Powell, Israel Horovitz, and James Strouse, end up being very distracting and confusing. Largely because characters from the shorts pop up in the transitions with some wondering if they’re still watching some shorts or just a mesh of a bunch of stories. Whatever the approach is, it doesn’t work nor is there a lot of mention throughout the film until the final credits on who directed and wrote each segment.

The film starts off in a bad way with Jiang Wen‘s short that was created with writers Hu Hong and Meng Yao, with Israel Horovitz providing the English adaptation, about a young thief. Along with the transition sequences, that short along with the short that Allen Hughes, with writers Xan Cassavetes and Stephen Winter, had about the dissolving couple speaking in voice-overs and Shekhar Kapur’s short, that was written by the late Anthony Minghella, about an old woman and a crippled bellhop borders into either pretentiousness or just bad storytelling.

Those shorts and the transitions are among the problems with the film while all of them have a similar palette to the cinematography that doesn’t make it very outstanding nor gives a lot of the films a chance to stand out on its own. Kapur’s short does try to put something different to the photography but it only adds to stupidity of that short. Despite the uninspired colored palette schemes and distracting transitions, the rest of the shorts by the other filmmakers do bring in some surprises.

Among them is the short Brett Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson create about a young man needing a date for the senior prom that proves to be funny but also heartwarming. Mira Nair’s short, with a script by Suketu Mehta, has a very engaging story about cultural differences and longing that proves to be one of the highlights. The two shorts that Yvan Attal made, with writer Olivier Lecot, about the writer and married woman and the businessman talking with another married woman proved to be exciting for the looseness each story has. Fatih Akin’s short about the painter and his Asian muse is very good though it feels a bit shorter than the rest despite the artwork that is presented while the Shunji Iwai short, that is adapted into English by Israel Horovitz, is another surprise over its conversations and surprises.

Then there’s two other shorts that truly become the major highlights as Joshua Marston’s about the aging couple walking to Coney Island for their anniversary is very funny and heartwarming. The other is Natalie Portman’s whose short about a child and her male nanny ends up being the best of them due to its loose style that is in tune with cinema verite but also has a wandering style that is reminiscent of the work of Terrence Malick. While the final result has a lot of great shorts with some touching stories, it only gets bogged down by its lack of visual style for each short as well as a few awful shorts and unnecessary transitional sequences.

On the performance front, there’s not a lot that stands out as anything that involves Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson is bad news. The best performances go to James Caan, Natalie Portman, Olivia Thirlby, Anton Yelchin, Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman, Irrfan Khan, Chris Cooper, and Robin Wright as they each bring something joyful to the characters they play.

New York, I Love You is a worthwhile anthology film that has some moments but is very weak in comparison to its predecessor Paris Je T’aime. While the shorts from Mira Nair, Brett Ratner, Yvan Attal, and Joshua Marston are among some of their best work while Natalie Portman’s short is an indication of her rising talents as a filmmaker. There’s stuff in the film that aren’t very good along with transitional sequences that just reeks of pretentiousness. In the end, New York, I Love You is best watch from the good shorts the film has to offer but not as an entire film.

Paris Je T'aime - (Tbilisi, I Love You) Rio, Eu Te Amo

© thevoid99 2011

To Each His Own Cinema

Note: The Version of the Film I Saw Does Not Feature the Coen Brothers’ World Cinema short starring Josh Brolin and Grant Heslov that Can be Seen Here.

Chacun son Cinema (To Each His Own Cinema) is a 2007 anthology film project produced by Cannes Film Festival organizer Gilles Jacob to celebrate the festival’s 60th anniversary. Inviting many filmmakers from five different continents and twenty-five countries, each filmmaker has to create a three-minute short to exemplify their love for cinema. Among the filmmakers contributing to this project are the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Ken Loach, Lars von Trier, David Cronenberg, Wong Kar-Wai, Roman Polanski, David Lynch, Michael Cimino, Walter Salles, Atom Egoyan, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the Dardenne Brothers, and many more.  The result is one of the most fascinating collection of shorts from some of the world's revered filmmakers.

Cinema d’ete (Open-Air Cinema) (Raymond Depardon) is about a gathering of young Islamic people going up the roof of a building to see a Bollywood movie as they enjoy themselves. One Fine Day (Takeshi Kitano) has a laborer (Takeshi Kitano) going to a small theater in the middle of Japan to watch Kitano’s Kids Return by himself only for things to go wrong during the screening. In Trois minutes (Three Minutes) (Theo Angelopoulos), a woman (Jeanne Moreau) enters an empty theater where she talks to the ghost of Marcello Mastroianni. Dans le noir (In the Dark) (Andrei Konchalovski) has a woman (Yola Sanko) watching Fellini’s 8 ½ while hearing a young couple having sex in her theater. In Diaro di uno spettatore (Diary of a Moviegoer) (Nanni Moretti), Nanni Moretti reflects his own experiences watching films in a cinema along with the places he watches those movies.

The Electric Princess Picture House (Hou Hsiao-hsien) is about Hsiao-hsien’s reflection of an old theater where he has a family in the 1960s going to this beloved theater to watch Robert Bresson’s Mouchette. Dans l’obscurite (Darkness) (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) is about a young thief (Jeremie Segard) trying to steal the purse of a woman (Emilie Dequenne) as she is crying during a screening of Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar. In Absurda (David Lynch) has a group of teens watching a movie where a man on the film presents them horrifying images that scares them. Anna (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu) has a blind woman (Luisa Williams) watching Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt with her friend (Shaun Madden) as she is moved by what she’s hearing. En regardant le film (Movie Night) (Zhang Yimou) is about a little boy along with a group of children and adults in a small Chinese village waiting to see a movie as they wait for nightfall to see a movie.

In Le Dibbouk de Haifa (The Dybbuk of Haifa) (Amos Gitai), two different groups of people in 1936 Warsaw and in 2006 Haifa are watching the same film just before things would change around them. The Lady Bug (Jane Campion) is the story of a cleaning man (Clayton Jacobson) trying to kill a dancing bug (Erica Englert) as audio from a film is being played. Artaud Double Bill (Atom Egoyan) is about a woman watching Godard’s Vivre sa vie as she texts her boyfriend who is at another theater watching Egoyan’s The Adjuster. La Fonderie (The Foundry) (Aki Kaurismaki) is about a group of factory workers finishing up their job so they can see a film by the Lumiere brothers inside their factory. Recrudescence (Upsurge) (Olivier Assayas) has a couple (Deniz Gazme Erguven & Lionel Dray) go to a movie while a man (George Babluani) eyes the woman for some strange reason.

47 ans aspres (47 Years Later) (Youssef Chahine) is about Chahine’s experience back at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival where his second film was receiving bad reviews as he looks back 47 years later where he receives a lifetime achievement award at the same festival. It’s a Dream (Tsai Ming-liang) has a man recalling his days when his grandmother took him to the cinema as she eats a certain specialty as he watches a movie with his mother, son, and a picture of his grandmother. Occupations (Lars von Trier) has von Trier at a premiere for his own film Manderlay where he’s being pestered by a rude man (Jacques Frantz) as von Trier deals with him in his way. Le Don (The Gift) (Raoul Ruiz) has a blind film buff (Michael Lonsdale) talking to his anthropologist niece (Miriam Heard) about his own experiences while they watch a film in a theater.

Cinema de boulevard (The Cinema Around the Corner) (Claude Lelouch) is about Lelouch recalling the moment his parents met at a theater and how his life was transformed by the films that would impact his life. In First Kiss (Gus Van Sant), a young projectionist (Paul Parson) puts on a movie as a woman (Viva Las Vegas) appears on screen as he‘s transfixed by her. Cinema Erotique (Erotic Cinema) (Roman Polanski) has an old couple watching Emmanuelle where they’re bothered by a man supposedly masturbating to the movie. No Translation Needed (Michael Cimino) has a budding filmmaker (Yves Courbet) wanting to make a movie about a Cuban band with a diva-esque singer (Juliana Munoz) by asking them to perform in a theater. At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the Last Cinema of the World (David Cronenberg) has Cronenberg set to kill himself at the last cinema in the world as it’s being reported by two reporters commenting on the situation.

I Travelled 9000 km to Give It to You (Wong Kar-Wai) is about a man (Fan Chih Wei) and a woman (Farini Chang Yui Ling) falling for each other during a screening of Godard’s Alphaville. Where is My Romeo? (Abbas Kiarostami) has a group of Muslim women watching Romeo & Juliet in a theater to a strong reaction. In The Last Dating Show (Bille August), a Danish man and an Islamic woman go on a blind date to see a movie as a group of men are bothered by the man translating the wrong things to the woman. Itrebak (Awkward) (Elia Suleiman) has Suleiman attend a screening of a film where things don’t work out while he later does a Q&A where everything feels awkward. Rencontre unique (Sole Meeting) (Manoel de Oliveira) has people watching a silent film about a meeting between Nikita Khrushchev (Michel Piccoli) and Pope Jean XXIII (Duarte D’Almeida).

A 8 944 km de Cannes (5,557 Miles From Cannes) (Walter Salles) is about two men having a musical interlude about one’s trip to Cannes as they’re about to go into a theater to watch The 400 Blows. War in Peace (Wim Wenders) is about a group of people in Kabalo watching Black Hawk Down on a television inside a small building. Zhanxiou Village (Chen Kaige) is about a man reflecting the time he watched a Charles Chaplin film as a child as his friends try to find a way to play the film. In Happy Ending (Ken Loach), a father and son (Bradley Walsh & Joe Siffleet) try to figure out what movie to see at a multiplex. World Cinema (Joel & Ethan Coen) is about a cowboy (Josh Brolin) who walks into an art house theater asking an usher (Grant Heslov) about the event as he watches Climates by Nuri Bilge Ceylan to a surprising reaction.

The concept is simple, a collection of short stories by some of the world’s greatest filmmakers expressing their love for cinema. Whether it’s personal, humorous, or serious, it’s all about going to the movies and what does it mean. With many filmmakers choosing to use clips of other movies to express their love of cinema, they also allow to create some kind of statement about what cinema means to them or to express something about what cinema does to them.

The film opens and ends with two different shorts about going to the movies as Raymond Depardon and Ken Loach each create two amazing shorts about going to the movies. In Depardon, he creates the joy of going to a cinema on a building rooftop in an Islamic country just for a bit of freedom. In Loach’s short, it’s all about a father and son trying to figure out what to see amidst a group of annoyed people waiting in line. These two shorts each exemplify the importance of cinema as they each set an example of what these shorts should tell.

Loach and Depardon are among two of the best shorts in the anthology films as many other filmmakers create some amazing gems for varying different reasons. In the humorous department, the shorts by Roman Polanski, Nanni Moretti, Takeshi Kitano, Elia Suleiman, and Lars von Trier provide different arrays of humor. With Moretti, he adds a personal element about his love of going to the movies where he sings the theme to Rocky while Suleiman reveals the awkwardness of attending a movie. The von Trier segment is easily the most gruesome because it’s all about what not to do when watching a movie with Lars von Trier.

Other great shorts involve personal stories such as the shorts by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Claude Lelouch, Chen Kaige, Tsai Ming-liang, and Yousseff Chahine where they each give their own personal stories. For the dramatic moments, Zhang Yimou, Abbas Kiarostami, Andrei Konchalovski, Aki Kaurismaki, Theo Angelopoulos, and Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu each provide some narratives to their shorts to exemplify the power of cinema. Directors that are known for their style such as the Dardenne Brothers, Walter Salles, the Coen Brothers, Wong Kar-Wai, and David Lynch use the shorts to display part of their own ideas to the anthology. Yet, it’s David Cronenberg’s short that is the major highlight because it has Cronenberg literally shooting himself as he’s about to kill himself over the state of cinema.

With a lot of shorts in this film, there are a slew of great ones but also some good ones that don’t really stand out. The shorts by Gus Van Sant, Bille August, Olivier Assayas, Raoul Ruiz, and Manoel de Oliveira don’t stand out as much but do provide some insight into the power of film. The two shorts by Wim Wenders and Amos Gitai each have political elements though Wenders chooses to downplay at the end of his short while Gitai’s exploration of Hebrews watching a film in two different eras in times of war comes off as pretentious and overbearing. Jane Campion’s short doesn’t really show a film but rather a performance that doesn’t fit in with the entire concept of the film. Yet, her short isn’t the worst as it belongs to Michael Cimino that ends up being extremely ridiculous and very self-indulgent as Cimino tries to make fun of himself for being an egomaniacal filmmaker.

Chacun son Cinema is an extraordinary collection of short films that truly exemplify the brilliance that is cinema. With some amazing shorts from Lars von Trier, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, the Coen Brothers, the Dardenne Brothers, Ken Loach, and several more. There is a great collection that allows fans of these filmmakers to check out while for those who had never heard some of the filmmakers who contribute to this anthology film will get a chance to discover them. In the end, Chacun son Cinema is an anthology film that film buffs must see for these gems from some of the world’s best filmmakers.

© thevoid99 2011