Review of 2 Days in New York
Julie Delpy’s sequel to 2 Days in Paris explores Franco-American culture clash and family ties while celebrating flawed-but-beautiful cities and people. Most of the characters given screen time in the first film return for this one; unfortunately, they are shorthand versions of their previous incarnations, making their behavior seem malicious or downright evil without context.
Marion (Delpy) is a photographer with a quiet bumbling nature (interrupted by angry episodes and goofball storytelling). Her relationship with Mingus (Rock) is shaken up by the arrival of her father, Jeannot (real-life father Albert Delpy), and sister Rose, (co-writer Alexia Landeau). Rose allows tagalong Manu (an ex-boyfriend of Marion’s played by Alexandre Nahon) to join them on the trip, throwing off carefully constructed sleeping arrangements – Mingus and Marion live in a tiny Manhattan apartment with their two children, each from previous relationships. The couple allows everyone to stay in the apartment instead of securing hotel rooms despite Manu’s inappropriate remarks and Rose’s insistence on wandering around the house half-dressed while giggling over the fact that Mingus’ name rhymes with a sex act. Mingus doesn’t throw the inevitable fit until an opportunity for him to meet the president is ruined by Manu’s earnestly mistaken racist remarks while Marion and Rose have a loud hair-pulling and screaming fight. By this point, the trip is half over and the worst damage is done.
The ostensible reason for the visit – Marion’s photography exhibit – feels a bit contrived and isn’t well executed (a critique echoed onscreen, triggering another one of Marion’s out-of-character tantrums). The exhibit involves a ten-year retrospective of Marion’s relationships in the form of self-portraits in bed, and culminates in an auctioning off of her soul. Unfortunately, no importance is given to this event until it is bought by Vincent Gallo (played by himself) for half the amount she was expecting. Her confrontation with him plays out like a failed improv exercise.
All this aside, I liked this film in spite of itself, if only because of Chris Rock’s generally controlled performance and the opportunity to revisit the fun characters from Paris. I’m glad I saw 2 Days in Paris first — it did all of the heavy hitting as far as character development — and I found myself liking these people despite their flaws. The cinematography and score is reminiscent of a Woody Allen film, and the structure of imperfect people in a lovely setting worked well. I just wish the film’s sincerity wasn’t lost amidst jokes we’ve heard before.
About the Author
Alicia Coombes Alicia Coombes is a dramaturg, director and writer. Growing up in rural Oklahoma as an outsider with a flair for the dramatic, she wasn’t exposed to very much art or theatre outside of rodeos and Halloween Hell Houses. Luckily as a teenager her family returned to the Bay Area and she quickly immersed herself in more arts and culture than she had imagined was possible. She still has a particular soft spot for the dramatic (and clowns, perhaps from the rodeo days). She graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Theatre with an emphasis in Dramaturgy. She was Aurora Theatre Company’s Literary Manager and Artistic Assistant for four seasons and served as resident dramaturg for the 2011-2012 Season. She has worked in many aspects of the theatre with several other Bay Area companies including Crowded Fire Theater, Marin Theatre Company, Z Space/Word for Word, Golden Thread, Woman’s Will, and CalShakes and is currently the Company Manager for San Francisco’s foolsFURY Theater.
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