2 Days in New York

We went to see 2 Days in New York in Berkeley on Saturday, on our way home from Santa Cruz (which was lovely, by the way). If you’re a fan of Julie Delpy, then you should see (first) 2 Days in Paris, and (now) 2 Days in New York. I adore Delpy in the “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” films, where she talks talks talks and is charming and French and lovely. In “2 Days in Paris” and “2 Days in New York”, she is more wacky and insane…or, more accurately, somewhat, almost sane, in a family of insanity. In “2 Days in Paris”, she is a Parisian (Marion) living in New York, traveling with her American boyfriend (Jack, played by Adam Goldberg), and they stop in Paris for 2 days so she can visit her family, and insanity ensues, mainly because her (many many) ex-lovers keep showing up, and her parents (played by Delpy’s real parents) are crazier than your parents. Think about that.

In “2 days in New York”, several years have passed. Marion and Jack have broken up, but they have a son, Lulu. She is now in a serious, living together relationship, with Mingus (Chris Rock) and his daughter, Willow. All seems to be sane and somewhat serious, until Marion’s family appears. Her father (again played by Delpy’s real life father), her sister Rose (co-writer Alexia Landeau), and Rose’s boyfriend (also Marion’s ex-boyfriend), Manu (Alexandre Nahon) appear for a visit, to support Marion in the exhibition of her newest artwork. Rose is coming on to Mingus, Manu is trying to score pot, and the father is simply wonderful. To say that this is a dysfunctional family is the height of restraint. They’re insane. And yet, not so over the top that you can’t believe that such things couldn’t happen…we all have families, after all.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. With the high price of films these days, I sometimes rate them on whether they’re full price worthy, or matinee’ worthy. Not many films make full price worthy in my mind. $10.50 is a lot. But we paid $8 per person today, and I thought it was definitely worth at least that. If the film comes within a reasonable distance of you, go see it.