Whereas The Boy Kings of Texas: A Memoir by Domingo Rodrigez (2012) ranges over many years, Julie Delpy's independent film 2 Days in New York (2012) telescopes time via a brief visit from her father, sister and ex-boyfriend to New York City to see Delpy's character Marion, her current boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock) and their kids by other parents, yet they achieve the same results: insight into family dynamics and social situations via mismatched culture and manners. Both have ribald and raunchy moments. Both are entertaining and revealing.
2 Days in New York is a natural sequel to Delpy's 2 Days in Paris (2007), with cultural-linguistic misunderstandings highlighted in both films. Both of these movies are energetic and fresh in all senses of the word. In 2 Days in New York, Marion has a photography exhibit and plans a special conceptual happening: salling her soul to the highest bidder. Chris Rock's character is an intellectual jazz-dude writer for the Village Voice, a modest and moderate hepcat who is shocked and roiled by the wild behavior of Marion's French visitors.
As Chris Rock puts it in an interview extra on the Magnolia DVD, Julie Delpy's father Albert Delpy (playing Marion's father Jeannot) carries several scenes like a comic Tasmanian Devil. Rock also notes that 2 Days in New York may be as close to a Woody Allen film as he will be able to get. (Hopefully, he will be cast in an actual Woody Allen film, too -- a perfect fit).
Both 2 Days in New York and 2 Days in Paris are thoughtfully fun indie films tailor-made for open-minded, cosmopolitan adults. I dig 'em both.
Today's Rune: Joy.
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