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New York Stories (1989)
Starring Woody Allen, Heather McComb, Nick Nolte, and Rosanna Arquette. Cinematography by Vittorio Storaro, Sven Nykvist, and Néstor Almendros. Edited by Barry Malkin, Susan E. Morse, and Thelma Schoonmaker. Produced by Fred Fuchs, Fred Roos, Barbara De Fina, Robert Greenhut, Charles H. Joffe, and Jack Rollins. Written by Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola, Richard Price, Woody Allen. Directed by Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Woody Allen.
New York Stories is anthology piece assembled by three of the best filmmakers working in the business. The idea was initiated by Woody Allen, who would also enlist the help of his peers Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Scorsese’s part, titled “Life Lessons”, is the only dramatic piece in the picture and runs for the first thirty four minutes.
In it, painter Lionel Dobie (played by Nick Nolte) struggles with his love life while producing some of the most critically acclaimed art of his era. His young live-in girlfriend, Paulette (played by Rosanna Arquette), is an aspiring artist herself and looks to Lionel for support. She serves as his inspiration despite the fact that she is an emotional parasite and a tremendous unseen burden. Scorsese’s own inspiration for the piece was Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Gambler, with love and obsession being the predominant themes. Scorsese starts this film off right and undoubtedly has the strongest third of the picture.
The original New York Stories lineup was set to include Steven Spielberg, but he became unavailable early in pre-production and was replaced by Coppola. His forty minutes, titled “Life Without Zoe” is combination of sorts of Kay Thompson’s Eloise series and the Shirley Temple movies of the 1930’s. The story follows Zoe (played by Heather McComb), a twelve year old girl who lives in Manhattan’s high class Sherry-Netherland Hotel. Her only friend is her family butler, Hector (played by Don Novello), who spends time playing with her while her parents (played by Talia Shire and Giancarlo Giannini) are away on business.
“Life Without Zoe” was co-written by Coppola’s daughter Sofia Coppola, who also designed the elaborate costumes and animated title sequence. Though she has starred in a number of productions, New York Stories was her first true filmmaking credit. Unfortunately, the Coppola’s segment is pretty weak and is by far the worst part of the project.
The final forty five minutes belongs to Woody Allen with his short “Oedipus Wrecks”. After a string of serious dramas, he comfortably shifts back to his comedic roots and produces what could arguably be considered some of the funniest situations in his filmography. Sheldon Mills (played by Allen himself) is an attorney in New York.
He seems to be pretty well rounded until you see him with his mom (played by Mae Questel), who is the quintessential Jewish mother. Her constant nagging and kvetching drives him to the point of insanity, and while the truly does love the woman, he endless wishes that she would just disappear. Well, he one day he finally gets his wish.
After a short period of guilt he decides to move on with his life and begins to pursue a romantic interest. Suddenly his mother reappears in a way that no one could ever expect. “Oedipus Wrecks” is offbeat and pretty funny, and ends New York Stories on a strong note. But anthologies haven’t seen much success since their heyday in 1960’s and this one is no exception. The film was passed on critically and only did moderate business in the box office.
Budget: $15,000,000
Total US Gross: $10,763,469
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 119 Minutes
US Release Date: 3/10/89
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards: none
Tagline: One City. Three Stories Tall.
Quote: “It's art. You give it up, you were never an artist in the first place.”
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