This is a movie made of three short movies made by three of the most maverick american directors of that time. In common, they have a passion for the city which they have chosen as a backdrop to their shorts. Now let's get to the business: if you're expecting the "best of the best" selection that could come out of this pack of directors, forget it. Because this was no pretentious project, but a way to express the love the directors have for New York and the people who live there. The inevitable mixed review follows:
1. "Life's Lessons", by Scorsese. A typical Scorsese movie, with a way of filming and characters which resemble their art: painting. Here, like the main credits, we get the stories and the reactions like slobs of paint, apparently thrown at random but with an intentional instinct behind them. Nick Nolte tries to be different for a change, and suceeds. Rosanna Arquette still looks like Marcy from "After Hours", but struggles to snap out of it.
2. "Life without Zoe", by Coppola. Complete with the trademark beautiful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro, this segment comes out as maybe the most trivial of the three, but it is still a sweet tale of how a child has to become a grown up before time, forced by the circunstances which surround them. This segment can be placed between the section of the flops and the section of the victories by director Coppola, which is one of the most unstable directors known.
3. "Oedipus Wrecks", by Allen. Here, I have to take my hat off. Because this is a proof that Woody Allen always delivers when we expect something from him. This hilarious segment will make seeing the movie all worth it, and I will not spoil it so that those who see it can have the most fun with it possible. I just can say that this is a wonderful pearl, and you can expect the usual high-quality Woody Allen fare.
Altogether, I think that after seeing this one few of our lives will be changed, but one will also feel that they gained something from the experience. Anyway, give it a go.
1. "Life's Lessons", by Scorsese. A typical Scorsese movie, with a way of filming and characters which resemble their art: painting. Here, like the main credits, we get the stories and the reactions like slobs of paint, apparently thrown at random but with an intentional instinct behind them. Nick Nolte tries to be different for a change, and suceeds. Rosanna Arquette still looks like Marcy from "After Hours", but struggles to snap out of it.
2. "Life without Zoe", by Coppola. Complete with the trademark beautiful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro, this segment comes out as maybe the most trivial of the three, but it is still a sweet tale of how a child has to become a grown up before time, forced by the circunstances which surround them. This segment can be placed between the section of the flops and the section of the victories by director Coppola, which is one of the most unstable directors known.
3. "Oedipus Wrecks", by Allen. Here, I have to take my hat off. Because this is a proof that Woody Allen always delivers when we expect something from him. This hilarious segment will make seeing the movie all worth it, and I will not spoil it so that those who see it can have the most fun with it possible. I just can say that this is a wonderful pearl, and you can expect the usual high-quality Woody Allen fare.
Altogether, I think that after seeing this one few of our lives will be changed, but one will also feel that they gained something from the experience. Anyway, give it a go.