Paris Je T'aime (2006)

PARIS JE T'AIME  (2006)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Tom Tykwer, Bruno Podalydès, Gurinder Chadha,
    Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Coen, Walter Salles, 
    Daniela Thomas, Christopher Doyle, Isabel Coixet, 
    Nobuhiro Suwa, Sylvain Chomet, Alfonso Cuarón,
    Olivier Assayas, Oliver Schmitz, Richard Lagravenese,
    Vincenzo Natali, Wes Craven, Frédéric Aubertin,
    Gérard Depardieu, Alexander Payne
    C: Nick Nolte, Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche,
    Willem Dafoe, Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal,
    Emily Mortimer, Elijah Wood, Ben Gazzara,
    Gena Rowlands, Gérard Depardieu, Bob Hoskins,
    Marianne Faithfull, Fannny Ardant, Rufus Sewell,
    Ludivine Sagnier, Miranda Richardson, Olga Kurylenko
Vignettes, all dealing in some way with love, each made by a different director and set in a different neighborhood in the City of Light. They run about five minutes each, and like any collection of short stories, they vary widely. Some don't really go anywhere and aren't meant to. Some are just little jokes. Some are unexpectedly moving. Picking a favorite could be a challenge. There's Steve Buscemi in a Coen Brothers piece about a tourist in a Metro station. An aching reflection on loss by Nobuhiro Suwa, with Juliette Binoche as a grieving mother and Willem Dafoe as a cowboy. A tongue-in-cheek vampire story by Vincenzo Natali, starring Elijah Wood. A droll segment by Wes Craven, with Rufus Sewell and Emily Mortimer as an estranged couple traipsing through Pére Lachaise Cemetery and getting a much-needed comic assist from the ghost of Oscar Wilde. And a tragedy by Oliver Schmitz about bad luck, two cups of coffee, a rescue worker and a Nigerian parking-lot attendant. Many famous faces appear, but the real star is the world's most romantic city. If you've ever spent time in Paris and thought you might want to go back someday, this is a vicarious way to do that.