15.12.08

Cities and Movies, Vol1: New York

NYC
It is difficult, nay, impossible to capture that one defining spirit of NYC. When they attempted to find one by getting, arguably, the three best NYC directors (Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen and Coppola, may be they should have thrown in Spike Lee and Sydney Lumet as well into the mix to see what would come of it) together to make New York Stories, what the audience received was three distinctly different voices of the city.
You have stories of love and despair, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Working Girl or even Dog Day Afternoon (after all Al Pacino wanted to pay for sex-change operation for his lover). Of crime and punishment, Godfather, Goodfellas, New York, New York, Gangs of New York and a legion others. The classic stories of an outsider in NYC, fighting to survive, battling odds in the face of the city's unyielding efforts at dehumanizing him like in Taxi Driver or Midnight CowboyThe entire oeuvre of Woody Allen where the city is the muse, a lover's embrace when things seem to go wrong or a friendly shoulder to lean on. Or finally the joie de vivre of streets in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and other movies which reflect that enduring spirit in the face of adversity that NYC is famous for. NYC is a kaleidoscope and aren't we glad that so many talented film-makers have created lasting stories and images twisting and turning it.

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