Autumn in New York is a by-the-numbers love story, right down to its opening shot of, yes, autumn in New York. Richard Gere stars as restaurateur/lady's man Will, while Winona Ryder plays the airy-fairy, oh-too-delicate-for-this-world Charlotte. Will is 48, Charlotte is 22, and it just keeps getting creepier: Will actually used to hang out with Charlotte's mom. She plays artily with beads and sparkly things, he notices how elfin and different she is (inspiring such stomach-churning dialogue as "I find you completely unprecedented and therefore utterly unpredictable"), and soon they're in love. Ah, but it's doomed: she has a tumor in her heart (just in case you missed the significance, Charlotte says "I'm sick in my heart"). Does Charlotte have enough time left to teach Will to truly love? While Gere does a stoic job, Ryder spends a lot of time being darling and winsome, aided by the fact that Charlotte has managed to catch one of those special movie diseases where you never look bad or get tubes stuck up your nose. Director Joan Chen doesn't have much of a script to work with, but at least she knows how to pick a cinematographer; the whole movie is shot in gorgeous autumnal colours. Several excellent supporting actors are trapped in this movie: Jill Hennessey and Anthony LaPaglia do their very best, but what can they do in the face of such a sweeping, creepy love? Autumn in New York is nothing if not an earnest movie, and it certainly means well. Much like Charlotte, it seems to cry, "Can you let me love you? Please?". The answer is an emphatic "No". --Ali Davis, Amazon.com
(25 votes)
2.
The passion and poignancy of classical romance take on a contemporary edge in Autumn in New York, the story of a once-in-a-lifetime love affair that unfolds in a single brief season. The pairing of an aging man who doesn't believe in forever with a younger woman who has only a moment to give produces a resonant story about the risks that must be taken to truly live and love.
Autumn in New York follows the sexual exploits of Will Keane (Richard Gere) - New York restaurateur, infamous verging-on-50 playboy, master of the no-commitment seduction -- until he runs into an unexpected dead end when he meets Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder). Charlotte is half Will's age and twice his match, a 21-year-old free spirit yearning to get out and taste the excitement of adult life.
Will indulges his interest in Charlotte, expecting yet another quick and easy romance. But nothing about Will and Charlotte's encounters are quick or easy; instead they are rife with intergenerational clashes, differing philosophies and an inexplicably urgent sense of sensuality and connection. Then, just as Will attempts to escape from the relationship with his usual line about "not promising forever," Charlotte provides a surprise response: she has her own reasons to believe things absolutely can't last.
Freed for a moment from the confines of time, Will and Charlotte pursue an affair unlike any other. It is a season-long encounter that will shatter Will's preconceptions about women, sex and responsibility as real love -- exhilarating, heartbreaking, enduring love -- changes everything.
Love, in all its most delicious and devastating, frightening and challenging qualities, is a theme that runs throughout Autumn in New York, becoming the hidden fuel that lights up the rushing city. Chinese-born director Joan Chen brings a lush, unique perspective to Manhattan, rediscovering the city as the center of luminous romance after decades of gritty realism in cinema.
Chen, who made her directorial debut with the award-winning Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl -- a wondrously unsentimental story of a girl's heart-wrenching betrayal -- felt drawn to Allison Burnett's gripping screenplay, which seemed to bring the exquisite, aching quality of Hollywood's classic 1940s romantic dramas to the modern era. Whereas Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl had the power of a mythic fable, Chen saw Autumn in New York as having the bittersweet enchantment of an old-fashioned love story set in today's hyper-fast world of celebrity chefs, commitment-phobic bachelors, frequent May-December romances and independent young women. The screenplay seemed to emphasize the primacy -- no matter what age, lifestyle or beliefs -- of being loved.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents in association with Lakeshore Entertainment, Autumn in New York, directed by Joan Chen and produced by Amy Robinson, Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg. Executive producers are Ted Tannebaum and Ron Bozman. The film stars Richard Gere and two-time Academy Award® nominee Winona Ryder. The cast also includes Emmy Award winner Elaine Stritch, Tony Award winner Anthony LaPaglia, Emmy nominee Sherry Stringfield, Tony Award nominee Mary Beth Hurt, Jill Hennessy and Vera Farmiga.
(23 votes)
3.
"An All-Stops-Out Love StoryÂ…With Uncommon Intelligence And Honesty!" -Los Angeles Times
Before he met her, he was convinced that no love could last forever. Now, he'd give anything to prove himself wrong. Richard Gere (Runaway Bride) and Golden Globe winner Winona Ryder (Girl, Interrupted) star in this tender, compelling love story that will stir your soul and touch your heart.
At 48 years-old, Manhattan restaurateur Will Keane (Gere) is handsome, successful, single and determined to keep it that way. A consummate playboy who's perfected the art of casual romance, Will adores women, but has never thought seriously about marriage or commitmentÂ…until he meets Charlotte Fielding (Ryder). Charming, vivacious and radiantly beautiful, Charlotte is unlike anyone Will's ever known before, and as their relationship blossoms from a heated one-night-stand into something rare and wonderful, they both realize that this love will last a lifetime. But, for Charlotte, a lifetime may be much shorter than either of them are prepared to accept.
(21 votes)
4.
New York restaurateur Will Keane (Richard Gere) is an infamous verging-on-50 playboy, master of the no-commitment seduction - until he runs into an unexpected dead end when he meets Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder). Charlotte is half Will's age and twice his match, a free spirit yearning to get out and taste the excitement of adult life. Indulging his interest in Charlotte, Will expects another quick and easy romance. But nothing about Will and Charlotte's encounters are quick and easy; instead they are rife with intergenerational clashes, differing philosophies and an inexplicable urgent sense of sensuality and connection.
Then just as Will attempts to escape from the relationship with his usual line of "not promising forever", Charlotte provides a surprise response: she has her own reasons to believe things won't last. Shattering Will's preconceptions about women, sex and responsibility, real love - exhilarating, heartbreaking, enduring love - changes everything...
(20 votes)
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