J'aime ce film

Bonjour! There's an old movie (and TV show) called The Naked City, and the famous line from it is, "There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them." I suppose you could paraphrase that for the film Paris Je T'aime: There are eight million stories in the City of Lights; these are a dozen and a half of them. That's basically the gist of the movie. Eighteen directors from around the world each contribute a 5–10-minute short film about love in Paris. Some are about young love, others about older couples, one is about a couple of mimes, another is about vampires, and one is about a woman who learns to love herself. None of them are related, except by theme. And it's a pretty nice mix of films. I didn't enjoy them all — the mime one is pretty lame — but I thought a few — including Gus Van Sant's one about a French guy hitting on an American who doesn't understand the language, the Coen brothers' one about Steve Buscemi's run-in with a couple in the Metro, and Alexander Payne's one about a Denver woman's vacation — were real good. Each short film takes place in a different neighborhood, and overall, Paris Je T'aime makes for an attractive promotional film about the city. The movie isn't mind-blowing or anything, but it's a pleasant escape. So, if you're looking for something a little offbeat and different, or if you have no travel plans and just want to get away, Paris Je T'aime is the movie for you. I'm giving it a B+.