New York Stories (1989)

Omnibus film composed of three short works by famous directors, thematically held together by the fact that all of them are set in New York City. New York City being perhaps the most common setting for American movies, the conceit of the film is less impressive then it would be were all three segments set in say Milwaukie or Boulder, Colorado. While its interesting to see the three featured filmmakers work in the 'short story' format rather then their regular 'novels' the resulting efforts are all among the more minor entries in their directors cannons. Martin Scorsese directs Life Lessons a forgettable and cliché tale of talented painter Nick Nolte obsessed with his young assistant Rosanna Arquette. Francis Ford Coppola is at his most cutesy in Life Without Zoë, the story of a preciouses 12 year old (Heather McComb)who brings her mildly estranged parents back together simply by.... I'm not completely sure, reminding them they have a daughter? While Woody Allen contributes the most successful of the three segment with Oedipus Wrecks, the story of a nebbishie lawyer whose overbearing Jewish mother disappears, only to reappear as a giant floating, and nagging, head and shoulders above the city. I like segmented films like this in theory but they are hard to pull off, and this film only proves that these directors work best in a longer format.**