New York Stories

Three 40 minutes short films by three of the greatest American directors; Scorsese, Coppola and Allen. I personally like Scorsese's introducing segment the most, Life Lesson. Even if I personally is not a fan of Nick Nolte, the movie has depth and it's just as good as you would expect from a director like Scorsese. Unlike many other directors, Scorsese manages to capture sexual attraction, in this case felt by the main character (Nolte). Freshly photographed and good ending that makes you recall upon your own life. Not a masterpiece but indeed great.

Coppola's segment "Zoe" is a total disaster. It is beautifully filmed, but the acting and the story is far below good. Better fit for the children's hour on TV. I don't know if the story was supposed to be ironical, a satire of spoiled extremely rich kids on Manhattan, which could be the fact since there were some scenes where the young girl interacts with a homeless man. That could have been a good theme, if it was Coppola's intention, but no matter the case - it just don't work. It is silly and it doesn't feel satirical at all. Another idea is that it was supposed to be funny, a short comedy, however, neither does it work on that layer. It somewhat makes me lose my respect for the director.

Woody Allen's part however is a pleasant refresher after Coppola's borer. Very funny, typical Allen, good acting from Allen's side and good music.

Overall rating is a mere 6, dragged down by Coppola. Without his segment I would rate this movie an 8.

Life Lessons - I've probably seen it 10 times. You can refer to it as a 'short', but I get so wrapped up in it that I almost consider it to be a full-length movie. It's very close to perfect.

Life Without Zoe - Past comments have stated that this is the weakest of the three. I don't like to think of any of the stories as weak. I think the order of the stories is what is important. First is the tense art world drama, then the fairytale-like Zoe. Zoe doesn't have the punch of Life Lessons, but it's a relaxing follow-up. Enchanted flutes, princesses, sheiks, diamonds, parties, sunsets. I hate to use the word 'cute', but that's what it is - very cute, and that's not a bad thing in this case.

Oedipus Wrecks - Leaves the movie ending on a very outrageous and very funny note. This short is better than several of his movies (and I'm a HUGE Woody Allen fan).

**1/2 of****

Three completely different short stories told by three of Hollywood's most influential and profilic directors in the most exciting and mythical city on earth. Seems like a shoe in doesn't it? Well almost. Looking forward as I did to the Woody Allen piece "Oedipus Wrecks" the wait was worth it, but still somewhat unsatisfying. This featurette would've been a welcome change of pace for Woody at the time given that he hadn't made a flat-out silly comedy for a while and he manages to make good use of every moment. He has a great cast,(Kavner, Questral are particular standouts) and a genuinely strange premise to work with and the results are a riot, dare I say one of Woody's best. So what's so unsatisfying? As good as "Oedipus Wrecks" is , it still suffers because it has to follow Coppolla's god awful and charmless "Life Without Zoe." Seriously I had absolutely no clue what the hell was going on in this obnoxious, cutesy-poo clinker. Can anyone help me understand why Coppola thought anyone would like this? Sitting through "Zoe" is so emotionally draining that by the time you get to "Oedipus" you're too annoyed and confused to fully enjoy it. As a result Scorsese's "Life Lessons" comes off the best of the three. Nolte and Arquette are flawless and the intensity and friction between them make for an engaging if not distressingly tense 35 minutes.

I have viewed the "Life Lessons" segment of New York Stories probably 80 times. I use the film religiously in my college writing classes.

The assignment I give my students is to define art for Lionel, for Paulette, and for themselves. After some analysis, students realize that a big problem between Lionel and Paulette is that they view art differently. Paulette constantly needs external validation ("Can you tell me if I'm any good or not") while for Lionel art is a compulsion - his life and art feed off each other. Students who are able to get past Lionel's somewhat dysfunctional personality are able to understand and discuss some very important concepts about what it is to be an artist.

I would highly recommend "Life Lessons" to anyone teaching art, aesthetics, writing, or theater classes. It's a great way to initiate a discussion about art.

"New York Stories" tells three tales of the Big Apple. Martin Scorsese's "Life Lessons" shows artist Lionel Dobie (Nick Nolte) trying to assess his relationships with people, Francis Ford Coppola's "Life without Zoe" shows a very mature girl, and Woody Allen's "Oedipus Wrecks" is about Sheldon Mills (played by Allen himself), a man who quite literally cannot get away from his mother.

I have to say that Scorsese did a very good job looking at troubled relationships, and Allen shows how hard it is to have certain kinds of people as parents (of course he often shows that). But Coppola's segment was so dull that I choose not to even write about it. But don't worry; the movie is overall really good, and we should assume that it really sucks to be Allen's character, given what happens in that segment.