Text/Ho From
"New York, I Love You", a film of twelve pieces, is full of Chinese elements. Shu Qi, a Chinese female clerk at a Chinese medicine store, Li Meiqi, an Asian-American street woman on the street in New York, Zhou Xuan's singing voice floating in a Chinese restaurant, a bar echoing Cui Jian's "Flower Room Girl", even thieves will carefully read out the lyrics of this song in English to seduce their sisters, and even Indian men and Jewish girls do not forget to take China with them in small talk and ridicule.
In the second episode of the film, the crowds of people on Forty-Seven Avenue in New York, the Indian jeweler played by Irfan Khan, and the middleman played by Natalie Portman, the topic of eating taboos in each other's denominations, the two sects have a variety of different dietary taboos, they joke that they eat everything Chinese never bother to find a restaurant, Chinese accidentally lie down with a gun. In order to promote a diamond business, indian businessmen deliberately added, you can't believe people who eat everything, right?
Diet indirectly reflects people's behavior. People who eat everything without taboos on diet cannot arbitrarily say that they can do anything, but unlike people who are bound by canons, they are in awe and do nothing in some aspects. Man needs a little faith, a little bottom line, and not to deviate in the face of established rules, not to exceed the rules, not to do as he pleases, not only is it forbidden by some canons, but also the principle of being a human being.
However, in the midst of ridicule Chinese, Indian businessmen and Jewish girls also realized helplessly that in New York, a smorgasbord of all kinds of people, those ancient doctrines and rules were inevitably slandered by young people. Beautiful Jewish girls complain about having to shave off a haircut before getting married and living with a hair cover for the rest of their lives. The Indian businessman was also frustrated that his wife had strictly adhered to the doctrine of ordination, because his wife believed that marriage was against the doctrine.
The next scene is the most moving. Portman took off a hair cover that was probably made of Irfan's wife's hair to reveal his bald head, Ilfan couldn't help but approach and hold it gently, Portman had a look of anticipation in his eyes, a beautiful face radiated a holy glow, and Irfan couldn't help but whisper a prayer, in the name of the two sects. He just kissed her beautiful head lightly, as if he could not bear to blaspheme this beauty. This moment crossed races, crossed doctrines.
This slight excess, this ambiguity as beautiful as a rainbow, took place in a jewelry store on Forty-Seventh Avenue in New York, between two men and women of different faiths, but it made people feel beautiful and warm, even though two minutes ago they were bargaining between buyers and sellers, and even physical contact such as shaking hands was not allowed.
Law is nothing more than human feelings. Human nature is the source of power to break through ideological barriers and invisible shackles. The extreme dogmas and rules that imprison human nature and stifle good things are increasingly challenged by modern values. In the busy and crowded metropolis, leave yourself a small corner in the depths of your soul to place beautiful things, and when you think about it when you are tired, you will feel warm and comfort from the bottom of your heart. At some point, people need a warm hug and a soothing light kiss, regardless of etiquette, regardless of rules. The cold reinforced concrete city thus has a touch of warmth and inclusiveness.
At the end of the film, at the lively Jewish family wedding, portman imagines the bridegroom at the wedding as Irfan, and when Irfan drives through the rolling traffic of New York, he sees himself and Portman finally becoming a family in the fantasy. At this moment, they will all smile.