New York, I Love You!

New York, the city that never sleeps.

          “New York, I Love You” is a movie about eleven short stories and each story is directed by different directors, and some of them are the world’s most-respected directors. Each of the directors have their own way and style to direct their story. There are different love stories in this movie that happened surrounding in one of the most loved cities in the world, New York. From this kind of movie combination, people can truly feel and understand the life in New York from another different perspective. 

          There are a lot of famous film stars took part in this movie, among them are Bradley Cooper, Anton Yelchin, Chris cooper, Shu Qi and so on. The chosen characters are the ones who make the story more interesting and more attractive. 

Love story of old couple

     One of the part that I loved the most in this movie is the old couple, Abe and Mitzie which played by Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman. I loved how this love story is different with others, loving the way this old couple who keep bickering and quarrelling with each other all the time. However, from their conversation I am able to feel how deep is their love for each other throughout their whole life. One of scene that impacts me the most is when they are walking towards the seaside enjoying the view along the way and how the old lady laid her head on her husband's shoulder at the end of the street. How romantic is that. 

Shu Qi with the painter

          The next scene that captures my attention is the pair of a painter and a chinese herbalist, which played by Ugur Yucel and Shu Qi. I admit that one of the reasons that I love this part of the short film is because of the attractiveness of Shu Qi. She really is a beautiful girl with charming smile. Back to the story, the painter wants to sketch a portrait for her and asks her to look for him whenever she changed her mind because she refused to become the model of the painter when he first approach her. Shu Qi found out that the painter has already passed away when she decided to change her mind. From this part, I learned that we should live our life without regrets because time waits for no one, we should live with no excuses and love with no regrets.

Natalie Portman in this movie.

          Inversely, one of the stories that I dislike in this movie will be the relationship between Rifka Malone and Mansuhkhbai, which played by Irrfan Khan and Natalie Portman. Both of them came from a different world that are far apart. Mansuhkhbai is a Jain Indian diamond trader while Rifka is a jewish woman who is about to get married. At the end of the story, Mansukhbai kisses Rifka’s head when she removed her wig. I wasn't able to get what the director is trying to say in this part.

New York, I Love You!

          Although this movie consists up to 10 different short stories, but “New York, I Love You” was overall a nice movie that brings me warm feelings and showed me the beautiful part of this lovely city.

The Overture

The Overture

This movie won a lot of awards in Thailand in 2004. They include: 

2004 Thailand National Film Association Awards

2004 Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards

2004 Star Entertainment Award

The Overture Poster

          The movie starts with the childhood life of Sorn. The scene shows him following a butterfly which then stops at a Thai instrument called ranat-ek. This part shows a destiny of Sorn and his music life.

Ranak-ek

          Sorn has a brother who is a gifted classical musician. However, this directly causes his rivalry with other musicians. And that leads to his brother’s death. His death becomes the saddest thing to his family and because of that, Sorn is not allowed to play the ranat-ek anymore. However, the passion of him doesn’t stop him from playing the ranat-ek. Without his father's notice, he keeps practicing the instrument in the jungle every night.

Sorn is playing ranat-ek

          Because of his talent with the instrument and also a monk’s advice, his father decides to let him keep learning. Time flies and Sorn grows up. He becomes arrogant and even misses his practice very often. His father wants him to learn not to be too self-satisfied. Therefore, in one ensemble, his father asks him to play another instrument called Kong-wong instead of the ranat-ek. When their team is playing, the judge starts to realize that Sorn is not the one who is playing the ranat-ek and asks the band to start all over again. Sorn becomes the one who plays on the ranat-ek this time. Obviously, his skills are much more better than other players. 

Sorn falls in love with the girl.

          The scene cuts to another day. In a village, a music team is setting up for the performance. Sorn replaces the ranat-ek player's position. On the other side across the courtyard, another ranat-ek player who is dressed in black becomes the competitor to Sorn. The background music and the video effects help enhance the fierceness of the performer. From that day, Sorn loses his confidence and he wants to be like him.

          He starts to give up on himself. However, he is sent to the palace for more proper  music training. That is when he meets a pretty girl. What a typical scene! Falling flowers with a pretty girl’s charming smile. He starts to fall in love with the girl. At the same time, an older man who names Master Tian is sent to teach him. The way that Master Tien teaches is a bit strict to him. There are even a few days when Sorn runs away from the palace and hides in his hometown. 

          After that, Sorn goes back to the palace again. Here comes the time for the kingdom’s musical competition. Sorn meets again the performer who is dressed in black. This time, finally Sorn overcomes the fierceness of his rival and finally wins. The music that they play almost killed me but I really admire their skills and how they play ranat-ek.

Sorn is the only player who plays on rant-ek in the competition.

The fierce looking of the performer who dressed black.

          This movie adds in some old times which show that Sorn (played as an old man by Adul Dulyarat) as a respected teacher. Sadly, this movie ends up with Sorn’s death after he plays the ranak-ek. I am really glad that the last performance of Sorn before he dies is not stopped by the dictator who sets the rule of forbidding traditional Thai Music, dance or even theatre. It is touching that when the moment Sorn goes against the rule and plays the ranat-ek, every one who hears it comes out from their house and listen to it.

Close up of Sorn playing ranat-ek.