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Paris, je t'aime

post #1 of 3
8/31/08 at 12:56am
Thread Starter 
An interesting collection of Paris tales.
Some not so good. Some not bad at all.

18 stories here. Originally 20,with 2 cut out due to lack of integration.
The Natalie Portman segment and Porte de Choisy are my favourites.

Nice collection of stars. Emily Mortimer, Bob Hoskins, Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi and Nick Nolte.

Anybody else seen this?
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post #2 of 3
9/2/08 at 4:19pm
I do recall the incredibly moving "Bastille," written and directed by Isabel Coixet (ELEGY) to be a definite peak, Christopher Doyle's "Porte de Choisy" fashion ad making (blissfully) little sense and scoring big for visuals and Faye Wong's "Sky," Depardieu's "Quartier Latin" a huge disappointment considering Cassavetes veterans, more flash-zero-substance from Tykwer (and Portman is unconvincing, even faking an orgasm), an embarrassingly bad b&w Universal horror throwback with Elijah Wood as vampire (did I see this crap or just imagine it?). The Wes Craven contribution got a bad rep but I'm a Wilde fan, I like whimsical ghost stories and Emily Mortimer. More than a few of these were preachy on class, racism, cultural barriers - I did like the one with the dying African-Frenchman and the EMT worker. Nice to see Steve Buscemi in a leading role; too bad he's mute and his material (courtesy of the Coen Bros.) not in the least bit funny.

I caught this in a theater over a year ago, half-asleep and madly in love with a woman I had been dating for only a few weeks. In other words, I was in a forgiving mood. I haven't seen the film since.
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post #3 of 3
12/1/08 at 10:00am
Thread Starter 
The new Limited edition version of Paris, je t'aime has some interesting features.

18 new featurettes for each story. Each running at about 8 mins each.
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/pa...esteelbook.php

Quote:
"The small details that are revealed over the course of the featurettes help to flesh out what it was like to contribute to this project. "This is sort of like film school," remarks Alexander Payne (Sideways) as he tries on a costume for a role in Wes Craven's short. Time and resources are slim on the collective project so directors make themselves available to play small parts in each other's films. Craven (Red Eye) puts in a cameo for the installment by Vincenzo Natali (Cube). The participating directors don't complain too much about their constraints but the one equalizer that they all comment on is time: only two days for shooting. The Coen brothers admit they reworked their story to take place on a Metro platform because they didn't want to risk a day of bad weather ruining their shoot.

It's a real eye-opener watching these directors work from rehearsal to the shoot day. Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) seems like an extremely patient and calm person even when she has to deal with weather delays and an actress who can't shake her social modesty. After lengthy rehearsals, Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) can't help but feel frustrated at the mechanical problems that repeatedly ruin his single-take film. Fans of Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men) will enjoy watching that duo working behind the camera. One of those insights that perhaps only a foreign perspective could reveal: the Coens' French crew asks who they answer to and are told, "It doesn't matter."
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