Paris, je t'aime, which I recently saw, is a compilation of short films set in Paris. Twenty filmmakers have approximately five minutes a piece to showcase some aspect of Parisian culture, blending together the locales where they shot and the emotion of love, that is so traditionally associated with the city. The list of directors basically reads as a who's who of the most critically acclaimed directors in the business.
This is a difficult film to honestly critique owing to the fact that the scenes are rather short and sometimes a connection between the different shorts isn't easily discerned. But, there were a few shorts that stood out to me for one reason or another. The Coen brothers directed/written, Tuileries, was a humorous depiction of a Parisian tourist being misunderstood in the metro. Steve Buscemi without uttering a single line delivered a solid performance as the main subject of the scene.
Gus Van Sant's short was a bit confusing to me, while I think the point of the scene was to show that "soul mates" can be persons from the same sex and the spontaneity of meeting yours can be as a random as where lightning strikes, I didn't feel the connection the city like some of the other shorts. But, Van Sant does do a rather magnificent job at showing how language barriers can affect interactions between transplanted Americans and native French.
Paris, je t'aime, is an enjoyable glimpse into Parisian culture worth seeing and if your like me it will probably make you want to book a trip.
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