TIFF'08: The return of Shunji Iwai in "New York, I Love You"

by Bob Turnbull

Comprised of 12 separate stories all taking place in New York City, the latest omnibus film from the producers of "Paris Je T'aime" called "New York, I Love You" was screened at TIFF as a Work In Progress. Since it is indeed not the finished version of the film (e.g. music may be changed, titles not complete, etc.), producers Marina Grasic and Emmanuel Benbihy asked that the press hold off on publishing any reviews.

Of interest to the readers of J-Film Pow-Wow is the name of one of the twelve individual story directors - Shunji Iwai ("All About Lily Chou-Chou"). His segment comes early in the film (the second one in sequence if I recall) and stars Orlando Bloom as a musical score writer who is struggling with getting his cues right for a film he is working on. He receives help via the phone from a woman assistant to the director who gives him helpful tips like "read Dostoyevsky". Of course, considering the title of the parent film, the story becomes more about whether the woman will actually meet Bloom's character or not. I won't ruin the rest of the segment, but it did turn out to be one of my favourite stories of the bunch. Of particular note is that the film playing in the background in Bloom's apartment which he is trying to score is one of the segments from Genius Party Beyond (the fourth one entitled "Tou Jin Kit") - previously reviewed here at the Pow-Wow when it played in the Worldwide Short Film Festival back in June.