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Love Story, Movie

Love Story 2011

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Florian Habicht's (Kaikohe Demolition) award-winning documentary (kind of, it's also a drama and a comedy and a romance) about love, cake and New York City, which brought the house down on the opening night of the New Zealand International Film Festival. More

"Habicht and Masha Yakovenko make a gorgeous duo in Love Story, in which the director-actor plays himself, a Kiwi Film-maker in New York, who meets a Russian woman (Yakovenko) on the subway, falls in love, and convinces her to make a movie about their blossoming romance. Although how much of it is real is for the audience to decide... what ever the case, the movie looks to catapult the eccentric filmmaker to new heights." -Scott Kara, Canvas Magazine.

"It follows Florian, in New York, as he pursues Masha - a beauty he spies on the subway one day, carrying a single slice of cake on a plate. Infatuated, Florian asks the people of New York, a psychic and his dad (via Skype) for advice on love and also "What should happen next in the movie?" You've never seen a film like this." -Flicks.co.nz NZIFF 2011 Review. Hide

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281 votes / 43 comments The Talk

  • 49 %

    Want to See it

    What say you?

    • Yo Vox Pop

      A vox pop bore

    • Mini me

      truly hilarious and moving film

    • Ken-Burns

      I'll have to see it to believe it's any good. The shorts on flicks are rubbish

    • Mia

      Saw this at the film festival - so original, charming and romantic.

    • donna

      loved it too

    • @Ken-Burns

      ...yet you are still watching shorts on flicks...hmmmm

    • dan

      this could be okay..

    • Ben

      Highly recommended!

    • Juergen

      Possibly the tiredest premise in cinema. The congealed whimsy of this trailer confirms everything I've heard - one to miss.

    • Ava

      My favourite film at the festival this year

    • Juliet

      Saw it too. Gorgeous, insane, sweet, demented... impossible to judge from the trailer, get to the cinema!

    • Dubwah

      Painful

    • George

      Loved it so so much.

    • Rachel

      my face hurt afterwards from smiling to much

    • puck

      it's awesome ... i recommend it!

    • Dan@Matakana

      Love this film and all it's weird craziness. Florian will be at Matakana Cinemas on Sunday 4th Sept for an intro, screening and Q&A.

    • Erin

      So great, so unique. Funny and heartfelt.

    • jennifer

      Oh my god, wow, saw this last night, am very blown away and wanna go to nyc now

    • Gaby

      Great film! To me a film about falling in love with a place and with life.

    • tee

      ooo big call , but possibly best nz film i've ever seen! so very funny and slightly unexpected

    • andy

      I keep spotting glimpses of the young eagle in Florian Habichts work.

    • Jo K

      its Florian style but in NY...funny, gorgeous people as always. Go see it!

    • Rochelle

      What got me about this film, was that it captured the people of NYC so beautifully. Infusing them with a love story, f'n genius!

    • Portia

      Amazing film, funny, smart, and beautifully made, a rare thing today!!

    • Sebastiano

      A first class gem.

    • PiX

      a complete gem. funny, really funny. and beautiful to watch - with a gorgeous sountrack

    • Tom

      It you only see 1 movie this year, make Love Story that movie. Superb!

    • Anna

      A fun ride around NYC. Gorgeous characters and some interesting takes on the art of love! See this.

    • Carla

      A very good film. A must see for its humour, quirkiness and fascinating characters very ably brought to the screen

    • Sarah

      Completely charming. Funny and touching. Loved it.

    • Walker

      Utter Magic! One of the best films I've ever seen.

    • Joseph

      Best arts film I have seen in a while

    • immy

      love it, music is great.. nice and fresh. Definite a step up for nz film

    • Samuel

      This is a real must see! Another gem from Florian Habicht..it makes you wonder what he's gonna to do next.

    • Heather

      I went alone to the cinema, but certainly didn't feel alone while watching it. Good stuff.

    • Deano

      Not what I expected. Fell asleep. Great little window on NYC & its people. I wanna go there now.

    • Gemma & Dan

      Genius!

    • rach

      it sounds quite good.(:

    • Sophie

      I really really want to see this movie!!!!!! Go Florian!!

    • ninja

      Magic film!

    • Win

      Too stupid, contrived and boring for words!

    • Fritz

      Now screening at the Roxy in Wellington!

    • News:

      25 January 2012 - Now Screening at the Film Archive Cinema Wellington!

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Flicks.co.nz Review

Rating:

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

  • Chris Martin

    Unique and very cute. The audience and the accidental participants become involved. Good entertainment.

comment / reply
Steve Newall Flicks Writer

It was brilliant to see Florian Habicht, his candypants and his ever-unpredictable demeanour stride on stage at the Civic to open this year’s International Film Festival and even more so to see all of the above onscreen in Love Story. The film encompasses a number of journeys: the personal one of a new filmmaker gaining a confident voice, the literal and cultural trip from New Zealand to New York, and the onscreen missions from Habicht’s apartment home base to all sorts of spots around the Big Apple as he seeks guidance on where his film should go. This conceit, that the people Habicht meets drive the narrative component of Love Story, is realised brilliantly and provides the perfect opportunity for his personality to win strangers over as we’ve come to see in his excellent documentary work. More

It may be his first time in front of the camera, and with this comes some endearing awkwardness, but Habicht has always had a strong presence in his films. In Kaikohe Demolition and Land of the Long White Cloud, for instance, we became almost as familiar with his personality as those of his subjects. Love Story shows he’s just as good as getting New Yorkers to open up as he is New Zealanders and, in blending a revealing and often surreal story (yep, a love story) with vox pops, he’s come up with a unique film that will have no problem winning audiences over with it’s singular take on New York and a new romance. Hide

The People's Reviews

Rating:

4 ratings and 5 reviews

All reviews (5)

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  • Suze

    Amazing, quite possibly the best New Zealand film I have ever seen.

  • trace

    Marvelous. Hilarious, beautiful, fresh and clever. Total delight.

comment / reply

DISARMING LOVE

samtrubridge Nobody (?)

Florian Habicht has a masterful way of extracting the magic from any given subject: his open heart and big smile disarms even the most tired soul and makes them open up in ways that surprise both us and them. So a collaboration between this film-maker and the crazy city of New York is already set to produce fabulous fireworks and intimate magic. In 'Love Story' Habicht embarks on a perilous journey with his camera, with no script and uncertain of the path that lies ahead of him as he approaches a stranger on the street in search of love. What follows is a beautiful development of the concerns examined in 'Rubbings From A Live Man': his stunning documentary on the life of NZ theatre director Warwick Broadhead. However, in 'Love Story' Habicht becomes the subject alongside his stunning co-star, Masha Yakovenko, who, after the chance encounter on the subway becomes involved in the film and the romance that follows. The people of New York play a significant role in deciding the course of this romance/narrative, love/story as Florian approaches them for relationship advice and/or scriptwriting tips. It is such a treat in film-making today to have the ability as an audience to play willingly between the imagined and the real, and this film does just that. With the preference for either contrived Hollywood plots or dry factual documentaries it is so refreshing to encounter something in-between: something that is both so imaginative and whimsical yet at the same time feels so honest, unequivocal, and brave. Habicht's love for the city and love for people is what shines through in this ebullient film - it is this same love that disarms his subjects, allowing the people of New York City to open up on screen in beautiful new ways. And in the auditorium too, the guffaws, random applause, and belly laughs indicate that we too are being disarmed by this man with a movie camera, and that we too are falling love...

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  • chloe

    seen it three times. had to show my friends. big smile woman my fav. hope she gets to see it.

  • Jeeez

    dont think ive ever laughed and smiled so much. most original and favourite nz film. and Masha....

  • Richard

    It made me laugh. Was it my kiwi sense of humour. A wonderful glimse of a few of the weird and wonderful characters of New York.

comment / reply

I Love "Love Story"

TRB Nobody (?)

So funny, sweet, weird and interesting!! Awesome to see New York and meet the people too.

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  • Prue

    I enjoyed it too! Florian's goofy lovableness is infectious.

comment / reply

loved it

alimil Nobody (?)

Just brilliant. I enjoyed the movie and the random introduction given before the screening.

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  • bob

    so so awesome!! easily in my top ten films of all time.

comment / reply

Made me smile inside

Deano Nobody (?)

Even though I fell asleep briefly, I left with a warm feeling. Initially I was underwhelmed, but loved the feel of NYC & the real NYC people woven into the story.

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comment / reply

hey that movie is awesome.

davidcarman Nobody (?)

i really felt i was part of it just by watching. A high speed car chase of fascinating characters and delicious image making.

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Press Reviews

Admit One (Abby Stewart)

An eccentric, incredibly clever, improvisational documentary and my all time favourite New Zealand film: Love Story…almost as moving as Titanic. Full review.

Critic Magazine (Henry Feltham)

It winds itself into a charmingly neurotic confusion that seems to speak for the plight of lovers everywhere. A peon to the people on New York’s streets, an absurdist rom-com, a flawless comic subversion; I’m not sure what Love Story is. Possibly genius. Full review.

Lumiere Reader (Jacob Powell)

Habicht’s deft hand weaves together all of Love Story’s wayward strands into a single joyous, effusive tapestry, which graces the screen beautifully in its own riotous fashion. Full review.

No Magazine (Love Story)

It’s tempting to untangle fact from fiction through the film, but far more satisfying to be swept away by Love Story’s conceit. Full review.

NZ Herald (Peter Calder)

The film's charm has a slightly unsettling side too: at one point we sense that Masha and Florian may have different perceptions of what's happening - and our own may be one of theirs, or another perspective altogether. It's an entirely intentional bending of the rules and part of what you might call a dark playfulness that has distinguished everything this unique and original film-maker has done. This deserves to become a Kiwi classic... Full review.

ONFILM (Helen Martin)

Playful, fresh and surprising… a stunning film... Full review.