Film #095 - New York Stories (2003)
Viewed April 5, 2006
Not to be confused with the 1989 Martin Scorcese / Francis Ford Coppola / Woody Allen anthology film of the same name, New York Stories is a short film from Donna Karan clothing company. It is basically a collection of loosely connected storylines apparently designed to show off DKNY clothing.
As these things go, it’s not that bad. Since the most important aspect is making the clothes look good, the filmmakers hired models for most of the parts, but they don’t detract from the experience too much. The direction is decent enough and the script does an acceptable job of delineating each of the characters and making their stories intertwine.
Sohpie Dahl (granddaughter of author Roald Dahl) is probably the strongest in her role as a writer struggling to finish her second novel. Angela Lindvall plays an aspiring actress and shows some weakness while rehearsing for an audition, but does better with more honest moments. Michele Hicks is probably the weakest, but she’s given the weakest story: a singer in a band who wishes she could play guitar.
New York Stories is entertaining enough to justify its eighteen minute run time, but couldn’t possibly sustain more. It would probably be entertaining even if I didn’t know it was from DKNY, which is probably the nicest thing one could say about a production like this.