PARIS, I LOVE YOU!

This has gotta be the most romantic movie to have come out in years. 18 short films all set in Paris, 18 stories that take different views on relationships, 18 ways to fall in love.

I heard about this movie last year when I was checking out on the follow up movie of Elias McConell from the Cannes winning movie ELEPHANT. "LE MARAIS" is one of the installments of PARIS I LOVE YOU which incidentally was also directed by GUS VAN SANT, same as ELEPHANT. It tells the story of two guys, Gaspard and Ellie and their one afternoon chance encounter in a printing house in LE MARAIS.

It's subtle approach and depiction on attraction is nothing short of amazing. You feel for the characters and you actually don't even assume or care about their sexual preference but more on their mixed feelings of falling in love at first sight. Beautifully filmed, short and sweet, LE MARAIS reminds me of SOFIA COPOLLAS "Lost In Translation".

FAUBORG DE SAINT DENIS is another great short from RUN LOLA RUN diretor TOM TWYKER. It's possibly the best short film amongst the lot. It tells the long and short love story of Francine and Thomas. An American theatre actress and a blind local decided to fall in love and used Paris as a silent witness to their passionate love affair... but just like the greatest love stories of our time, the most passionate of relationships are also the most difficult to consume. The movie takes us on a whirlwind ride of falling in love and paints the tragic consequences of falling out of love.

I thank CINEMANILA for bringing this sweet and melancholic movie here in our local theatres to be enjoyed by the countless film buffs craving for a break from the Hollywood mold. (Ironically, PARIS I LOVE YOU stars a number of A-LIST Hollywood Actors - Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood, Magie Gyllenhaal, Willen Dafoe to name a few...) I highly recommend this. :)