Lost in New York (1989)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
A black woman, partially dressed, sits in the streets. An elderly woman wonders around the streets. Two little girls discover a wooden figure known as the Moon Goddess. The two little girls talk about movies and various locations before they're magically sent from France to New York City where they reemerge as a couple 20-year-old women.
Director Jean Rollin has become a huge cult favorite over the past decade or so due in large part to films like THE SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES, SCHOOLGIRL HITCHHIKERS, LIPS OF BLOOD and THE LIVING DEAD GIRL. Rollin's surreal mix of blood, vampires and lesbians is something fans of Euro Trash crave and the director often delivered the goods. Later in his career he apparently wanted to try something new and from what I've read this here turned out to be a very personal film for him. Sadly, whatever the original plan was, the finished product really isn't all that good and in fact it comes across as a poor man's Jean-Luc Godard film.
Apparently Rollin found himself in New York with a couple actresses and a camera so he filmed them walking around the streets and then when he returned to France he made a wrap-around story. What we've basically got here are the characters walking around for no apparent reason as a narrator (Rollin) throws out various thoughts. Sometimes these thoughts deal with romance. Sometimes these thoughts are about magic. None of them are overly interesting except the stuff dealing with movies where Rollin even mentions some of his own work.
Technically speaking there's nothing too good here as the direction is all over the place and the cinematography isn't that impressive. The entire story seems to have zero ideas as we just basically see people walking around. There are a few memorable moments including the black lady actually turning into the Moon Goddess and doing a nude dance. Fans of Rollin's vampire films will also get to see a very quick look at a vampire here but please don't expect anything horror related. LOST IN NEW YORK thankfully just runs 52-minutes or else things might have been a lot worse.
