Paris, je t’aime

When I first heard about this, well over two years ago, I was sure it would be the best film ever made. By the time it came to a theater here, the reviews were so mediocre I had no real desire to spend the money. Gotta love the expectations game.

By the time I got the DVD, I really had no expectations either way, and that left me with a pleasantly enjoyable, but on no level mindblowing, experience. Shorts are of widely varying quality, and I wonder what the big idea was leading off with three of the weakest. But there are some real gems here, a few that manage to say quite a lot in a five-minute window, with highest praise going to Tom Tykwer, Alexander Payne, Nobuhiro Suwa, the Coens, Richard LaGravenese and Isabel Coixet’s segments; many are middling and enjoyable (here I’d class Depardieu’s collaboration with Rowlands & Gazzara), and many awfully forgettable. Some seemed to forget to get the concepts of “Paris” and “love” in. Plenty to fall in love with, the overall effect is quite pleasing, and ultimately this came as a nice surprise.

Don’t know that it matters, but what the hell, I’ll rank the shorts:

BEST
1 - Bastille by Isabel Coixet
2 - Faubourg Saint-Denis by Tom Tykwer
3 - Place des Victories by Nobuhiro Suwa
4 - 14th Arrondisement by Alexander Payne
5 - Tulieres by the Coen Brothers
6 - Pigalle by Richard LaGravenese

GOOD
7 - Quartier Latin by Frederic Auburtin and Gerard Depardieu
8 - Parc monceau by Alfonso Cuaron
9 - Le marais by Gus Van Sant
10 - Loin du 16′eme by Walter Sales and Daniela Thomas
11 - Tour Eiffel by Sylvian Chomet
12 - Place des Fetes by Oliver Schmitz
13 - Pere Lachaise by Wes Craven
14 - Quartier des Enfants Rouges by Olivier Assayas

FORGETTABLE/BAD
15 - Porte de Choisy by Chirstopher Doyle
16 - Montmarte by Bruno Podalydes
17 - Quais de Seine by Gurinder Chadha
18 - Quartier de la madeleine by Vincent Natali