Film Review: 'New York, I Love You' -- GRADE: B

Review: Urban anthology 'New York' packs hits and misses

Roger Ebert / Chicago Sun-Times

The rules: No more than two days' shooting time. One week of editing. An eight-minute time limit. Ten directors, and one more to consider the 10 short films and create transitions. "New York, I Love You" is the second installment in an ambitious project that began with "Paris, Je T'aime" (2006), an anthology with 13 directors. Rio is said to be next.

Inevitably, the film is a jumble sale. It's not one of those films where all the separate characters come together at the end in a miraculous coincidence.

I suspect the title isn't intended as a simple declaration, but should be pronounced in a wondering tone, with a wry shake of the head, as in, "Oh, you kid." The film assembles a collection of colorful characters, who find that eight minutes is quite enough to make an impression, as so many New Yorkers would agree.

The very first segment, directed by Jiang Wen and starring Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia and Rachel Bilson, begins the film with a deft touch worthy of O. Henry, the master of New York short stories. Bilson and Christiensen meet in a bar, where he finds a cell phone she left behind. He opens a seductive conversation, interrupted by Garcia as her boyfriend, who immediately reads the other guy. The two of them elevate their confrontation to a level of sly expertise, in a way that is rather remarkable.

Another O. Henry twist is in Yvan Attal's segment starring Maggie Q. and Ethan Hawke, who meet outside a club. He launches an impressive improvisation involving his sexual skills that could work either as a serious come-on, or as a display of sheer wit. It fails at both.

Joshua Marston's segment starring Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman struck a chord. They've been married since forever, and now they're taking a walk at Coney Island. "Pick up your feet!" she tells him. "I am picking them up!" he says. "You're shuffling!" We intuit this conversation has been going on a very long time.

Some of the stories are small slices of life. Mira Nair's segment stars Natalie Portman as a Hassidic woman in dealings with an Indian diamond merchant (Irrfan Khan). She's about to be married and confides that on that day she'll cut off all of her hair. Such a practice is not unknown in India, but the merchant now is simply a man admiring beautiful hair. And she ... how does she feel?

By its nature, "New York, I Love You" can't add up. It remains the sum of its parts. If one isn't working for you, wait a few minutes, here comes another one.