A bad anthology film, or is that redundant. This one is a collection of 18 short films, each one set in a different neighborhood (arrondissement) of Paris. Some are downright bad (I'm looking at you, Richard LaGravenese), most are just forgettable, and then a couple are pretty good. Tom Twyker's film starring Natalie Portman is visually fun to watch, and I liked Oliver Assayas' piece that follows an American actress (Maggie Gyllenhaal) scoring drugs on a film set. With all that said, the last short film of the bunch, directed by Alexander Payne, a director I'm not particularly fond of, is a complete stunner. In it, a Kansas mail carrier (played by the amazing character actress Margo Martindale) narrates in terrible French her trip to Paris. It borders on a slightly cruel parody of the ugly American tourist, then, all within the space of about 5 minutes, transforms into something incredibly touching. Almost worth watching the rest of the movie for.
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