Montmartre
Dir: Bruno Podalydes
Apt enough as the first film of the collection. The parallel parking thing seems to reflect the main character's own being stuck as a single man. He does find love in a weird way, however.
Quais de Seine
Dir: Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham)
A young man who is hanging out with his two friends, who taunt women who pass by the street, befriends a young Muslim woman. A cute, short film. It also touches on Muslim women's views on hijab (that cloth that you see that covers women's heads) and so on and so forth.
Le Marais
Dir: Gus Van Sant (Elephant)
During a visit to a print shop, a man approaches one of the male employees, saying that (for some reason) he is his soulmate. But he doesn't know that the employee doesn't understand a word he's saying. The ending is interesting. Marianne Faithfull has a short cameo in the film.
Tuileries
Dir: Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men, Fargo)
A Tourist (Steve Buscemi) gets involved in a fight with a couple after he eyeballs the girl in the Paris Metro station. This one was pretty funny; I'm sure one time or another we've all been in a situation like this before.
Loin du 16e
Dir: Daniela Thomas, Walter Salles
I'll let you figure out the plot for yourself. A reference on how we are all equal/unequal? A reference to longing and substitution of one person for another? Really nice, despite the time limit. Viewers may recognize the main actress, Catalina Sandino Moreno, from the award winning Maria Full of Grace, and on a lesser note, from Twilight: Eclipse.
AWWWWWWW YOU DIDN'T JUST MAKE A REFERENCE TO THAT CESSPOOL OF A FILM JOHN T. NO YOU DIDN'TTTTTT
Porte de Choisy
Dir: Christopher Doyle
A salesman of beauty products tries to sell his wares in Paris' Chinatown (there's a Chinatown in Paris? I'm surprised) to this lady who... well just watch the film. It starts off innocently enough, but it reaches newer heights of weirdness by the end. I'm almost tempted to use the word 'screwball' to describe it. You may know Christopher Doyle more as a cinematographer than as a director, with his award winning work with Wong Kar-Wai on classics like In the Mood for Love.
Bastille
Dir: Isabel Coixet
A man plans to separate from his wife, but some unexpected news changes everything. Some of the scenes are comedic, but there is a tragicomic tint to the whole thing. Simple, yet very nice.
Place des Victoires
Dir: Nobuhiro Suwa
A woman (Juliette Binoche) is trying to cope with the loss of her son. I like this film for some reason. Willem Dafoe is also in this film, but I'm not gonna tell who he is. You probably won't believe me anyways if I told you (if you haven't seen the movie before, of course)
Tour Eiffel
Dir: Sylvain Chomet
A young boy relates the story of how his father, a mime, fell in love. As with most animation directors, the visual style for this one is really interesting. Plus it's quite lighthearted. I can see this being lengthened into something feature-film-ish.
Parc Monceau
Dir: Alfonso Cuaron (Y tu Mama Tambien, among others)
An old man (Nick Nolte) and a young woman (Ludivine Sagnier) talk about a meeting with a third person, Gaspard, while walking through the streets of Paris. The entire film was done in one take. Quirky, and a nice twist at the end. The 'shoutouts' to the fellow directors of the omnibus is also a nice touch.
Quartier des Enfants Rouges
Dir: Oliver Assayas (dude, it's Oliver Assayas. c'mon brah)
An American actress (Maggie Gyllenhaal) gets some hashish from this other guy. It's clear at the end of the film that they like each other, but neither one of them knows that. I was impressed by Maggie Gyllenhaal's French. She's good. Also, that line at the end... so many different meanings to it. I like it.
Place des fetes
Dir: Oliver Schmitz
A Nigerian man lies dying at the Place des fetes. EMTs arrive to save him, and he says that he knows one of the EMTs from somewhere. But how? This was a nice film, and you can't help but feel for the guy. Dude got the short stick I guess.
Pigalle
Dir: Richard LaGravenese
An old couple try to 'act out' an argument to spice up their old relationship, even throwing a prostitute in the fictitious play. But soon the fake argument turns into a real one. This one stars British actor Bob Hoskins and French actress Fanny Ardant. Now Bob Hoskins has a lot of distinguished acting awards, but in the same vein that you may have recognized Catalina Sandino Moreno from Eclipse, you may have seen this guy in Super Mario Bros. The Movie. Yeah.
Quartier de la Madeleine
Dir: Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Cypher)
A backpacker (Elijah Wood) meets a vampire (Olga Kurylenko.) I like Natali's sci-fi, and he tries a little fantasy here. His throwback to those old B-horror movies is nice with the exaggerated blood and so on. The ending is ridiculous, but for a vampire movie, it kinda makes goofy sense.
Pere Lachaise
Dir: Wes Craven (uhhh. hello? Scream?)
In the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, a young couple engaged to get married get into a fight, until the matter is settled by the ghost of Oscar Wilde. No, it's not as horror as it seems. It's actually kinda cute and funny. No mad killers here either.
Faubourg Saint-Denis
Dir: Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run)
Tomas, a blind man, suddenly gets a call from his girlfriend, a struggling actress (Natalie Portman.) Is she breaking up with him? As he mulls over that phone call, he looks back at his relationship along with its ups and downs. This one's a nice film. The fast time lapse thing kinda makes it feel like the world is spinning around this couple.
Quartier Latin
Dir: Gerard Depardieu and Frederic Aubertin
An elderly couple (Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara) sit down and have one last dinner/drink together... before they divorce. This one resonated with me for some reason. Rowlands wrote this film, and Depardieu even appears as a supporting actor.
14e arrondisement
Dir: Alexander Payne (Sideways)
An American letter carrier narrates in awkward French her experience in Paris and the joys and realizations that it brought her. It's a good ending to a great omnibus film (although there is the short segment after this one that wraps everything up and connects some of the stories.)
All in all, this one kept more with its theme of love and Paris as a city. You can actually feel the city itself in the film. So give this one a watch.
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