Themes: Mischievous Children, Mothers and Sons, Bohemian Life
Main Cast: Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Heather McComb, Patrick O'Neal, Jesse Borrego, Talia Shire, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Mae Questel, Julie Kavner, Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Giannini
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 124 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
The omnibus film New York Stories is the product of three powerhouse filmmakers. The film is divided into three stories, each exploring a different aspect of life in the Big Apple. Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorcese, is a Dostoevsky-like tale of the rarefied Art World, with Nick Nolte as a self-indulgent abstractionist who loves Rosanna Arquette, but can't bring himself to lie to her about her negligible artistic talents. Life Without Zoe, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is more than a little reminiscent of Kay Thompson's Eloise stories, with 12-year-old Zoe (Heather McComb) running amok at the Sherry-Netherland hotel while her parents are embarked upon a world-girdling vacation. The last and is Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks, wherein a schnooky lawyer (guess who?) inadvertently "creates" the Jewish Mother From Hell: thanks to a misguided magic trick, Allen's mama (the incomparable Mae Questel) becomes a huge spectral vision on the New York skyline, telling everyone within earshot about her son's inadequacies. The cinematographer lineup on New York Stories includes Nestor Almendros, Vittorio Storaro and Sven Nykvist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Probably the greatest flaw of this generally enjoyable attempt to revive the omnibus film, once a staple of the auteur-heavy French New Wave, is that little unifies its three segments other than a common location. Had Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Francis Ford Coppola gotten together to collaborate in, say, 1974, chances are they could have put into focus the new generation of American filmmakers emerging at the time, however different their approaches. But by 1989, filmgoers were already well familiar with each director; consequently, New York Stories feels more like an excuse to dabble in short-form filmmaking than any sort of statement. Of course there's nothing wrong with that, as the film proves. Scorsese's Life Lessons allows him to explore a story too claustrophobic and tightly focused to warrant a feature-length treatment, but it makes for a haunting portrait of a doomed relationship memorably set against the booming '80s' New York art scene. Sandwiching the weakest bit in the middle, the cleverest aspect of Coppola's inconsequential kid's-eye-view of New York Life Without Zoe is the pun in its title. (Coppola's legendary, failed production company was named American Zoetrope.) Allen's film, Oedipus Wrecks, not only has a better pun, but reveals itself as one of Allen's most outright funny efforts in years, feeling like a decade of suppressed mother jokes unleashed all at once and allowing the worthwhile, if never quite overwhelming, film to end with a bang. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Peter Gabriel - Himself; Illeana Douglas - Paulette's Friend; Paul Herman - Clifford, the Doorman; James Keane - Jimmy; Don Novello - Hector; Selim Tlili - Abu; Carmine Coppola - Street Musician; Carole Bouquet - Princess Soroya; Marvin Chatinover - Psychiatrist; Jessie Keosian - Aunt Ceil; George Schindler - Shandu the Magician; Bridgit Ryan - Rita; Edward I. Koch - Himself; Victor Argo - Cop; Brigitte Bako - Young Woman; Mark Boone, Jr. - Hank; Adrien Brody - Mel; Thelma Carpenter - Maid; David Cryer - Suit; Kirsten Dunst; Chris Elliott - Robber; Nancy Giles - T.V. Interviewer; Helen Hanft - Citizen; Michael Higgins - Robber; Jodi Long - T.V. Interviewer; Samantha Larkin; Tom Mardirosian - Hasid; Bill Moor - Mr. Lilly; Paul Mougey - Guy at Blind Alley; Jenny Nichols - Lundy; Martin Rosenblatt - Citizen; Mike Starr - Hardhat; Ira Wheeler - Mr. Bates; Deborah Harry - Girl at Blind Alley; Richard Price - Artist at Opening; Michael Rizzo - Waiter; Annie-Joe - Citizen; Paul Geier - Suit; George Rafferty - Squiggy; Larry David - Theater Manager
Credit
Speed Hopkins - Art Director, Barbara de Fina - Co-producer, Fred Fuchs - Co-producer, Robert Greenhut - Co-producer, Fred Roos - Co-producer, Sofia Coppola - Costume Designer, Jeffrey Kurland - Costume Designer, John Dunn - Costume Designer, Elizabeth Shelton - Costume Designer, Woody Allen - Director, Francis Ford Coppola - Director, Martin Scorsese - Director, Barry Malkin - Editor, Susan E. Morse - Editor, Thelma Schoonmaker - Editor, The Coconuts - Composer (Music Score), Carmine Coppola - Composer (Music Score), August Darnell - Composer (Music Score), Steven W. Graham - Production Designer, Santo Loquasto - Production Designer, Dean Tavoularis - Production Designer, Kristi Zea - Production Designer, Néstor Almendros - Cinematographer, Sven Nykvist - Cinematographer, Vittorio Storaro - Cinematographer, Charles H. Joffe - Producer, Jack Rollins - Producer, Susan Bode-Tyson - Set Designer, Nina Ramsey - Set Designer, Woody Allen - Screenwriter, Francis Ford Coppola - Screenwriter, Sofia Coppola - Screenwriter, Richard Price - Screenwriter, Stuart Robertson - Visual Effects Supervisor, George De Titta, Jr. - Set Decorator
This interesting outing by an all-star group (guitarist Danny Gatton, altoist Bobby Watson, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman on tenor, pianist Franck Amsallem, bassist Charles Fambrough and drummer Yuron Israel) is most notable for featuring the brilliant Gatton in a jazz setting. Together the septet, performs nine originals by group members and Gatton and Watson emerge as the main solo stars. Despite its somewhat generic name, this advanced hard bop date is quite memorable. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
New York Stories is an anthology film which was released in the United States in March of 1989. The film consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City. The first short is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Richard Price. The second is Life Without Zoe, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by Coppola and his daughter, Sofia Coppola. The last segment is Oedipus Wrecks, directed and written by Woody Allen. One actor, Paul Herman, has a bit part in each segment.
The reviews were generally positive for Life Lessons and Oedipus Wrecks, but generally negative for Life Without Zoe[1]. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote that Coppola's segment was "by far the director's worst work yet." [2]
In Life Lessons, written by Richard Price, and very loosely based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's short novel The Gambler, Nick Nolte plays Lionel Dobie, an acclaimed abstract painter who is unable to paint before a major gallery exhibition of his new work, and Rosanna Arquette is Paulette, his apprentice/assistant and former lover. Lionel is still infatuated with her, but Paulette wants only his tutelage, which makes things difficult since they live in the same studio-loft, where most of the action in the movie takes place. While Lionel procrastinates, unable to complete the paintings that are scheduled for an upcoming solo exhibition of his, Paulette dates other people, including a performance artist played by Steve Buscemi and a painter played by Jesse Borrego.
These deliberate provocations on Paulette's part cause Lionel to get insanely jealous—and fuel his creativity. Both Lionel and Paulette, it becomes clear, have been using each other: Lionel using her sexually, Paulette using him as a means of entree to the higher spheres of the New York social and art scene. But now that their relationship is no longer sexual, Paulette wants to leave the mess that has become her life and move back in with her parents. Lionel, however, persuades her to stay because New York is where a painter needs to be, even though it is unclear whether Paulette is even a particularly good painter. Throughout this turmoil in their relationship, Lionel pours his anxiety and repressed passion into his work. Paintings around the studio show visual metaphors from relations past: stormy skies, burning bridges, and tormented clowns. There are several Pagliacci references if one looks closely. Lionel, although a lion in the art world, becomes a clown in the eyes of the women in his life. Eventually, Paulette leaves when she has had enough, but not before Lionel is on his way to completing all the paintings he needs for his exhibit.
As he is completing the final piece, Lionel suddenly realizes that he needs the emotional turmoil of his destructive relationships in order to fuel his art—without the one, he can't produce the other. In the last scene, while at the art exhibit, Lionel meets another attractive young woman who is a struggling painter—by the end of the gallery opening, he has persuaded her to become his assistant, and potentially his lover, beginning the cycle anew.
Life Without Zoë
Life Without Zoë is about an heiress Zoë (Heather McComb), a young girl who helps return to an Arab princess a valuable piece of jewelry that she had given to Zoë's father (Giancarlo Giannini) and had been subsequently stolen and recovered. At the same time she spends time trying to reunite her divorced mother, a photographer (Talia Shire), and father, a flute soloist. The lush cinematography and sumptuous sets and art direction are the main features of this film, which presents a fairy-tale New York where even the homeless people are characters. The short also includes Adrien Brody as Mel in his first film role.
Oedipus Wrecks
Oedipus Wrecks is about a New York lawyer Sheldon (Woody Allen), who has problems with his overly critical Jewish mother (Mae Questel). Sheldon complains constantly to his therapist about her, eventually concluding he wished she would just disappear. He takes his fiancé, Lisa (Mia Farrow), to meet his mother and she disapproves. The three of them, as well as Lisa's children from a previous marriage, try to get to know each other better by going to a magic show. At the magic show, his mother is invited to be a part of the act. She is put in a box that has swords stuck through it and she disappears like she is supposed to, but then she never reappears. This turns out to be great for Sheldon because, with her out of his life, he can finally relax. But soon his mother reappears in the sky over New York City.
She annoys Sheldon and Lisa by constantly talking to strangers about embarrassing moments. This puts a strain on his relationship with Lisa and she separates from him. Sheldon is persuaded by his psychiatrist to see a psychic, Treva (Julie Kavner), to try to get his mother back to reality. Treva's experiments don't work, but Sheldon falls for her because she is very similar to his mother (see Oedipus complex). When he introduces Treva to his mother, she finally approves of his girlfriend and decides to come back to Earth.
Oedipus Wrecks is the debut of Kirsten Dunst in a bit part, and features Larry David as the club owner who explains to Allen that his mother is missing. It also features both Mae Questel and Julie Kavner.
