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An urban comedy anthology that takes place over a 24 hour period on the hottest day of the year, with interconnecting stories from each of the five boroughs of New York City. In Queens, Romanian butcher's apprentice Josif dreams of a house in the suburbs for himself and his wife. In the Bronx Puerto Rican Marisol sees her boyfriend as a way to a life of glamour, but is mistaken. In Manhattan, fashion designer Sylvie is facing eviction from her SoHo apartment, and latches onto a Japanese department store buyer in an attempt to get her career moving. In Staten Island, Chandra is fed up with her husband's brother, a faded Bollywood star who has come to visit. And in Brooklyn, a West Indian couple's marriage comes under strain when Errol buys a too-expensive new car.
Tony Gerber made his directorial debut with this anthology film, a comedy-drama that opens with a 1950s black-and-white newsreel focusing on the ethnic diversity of New York City. This multicultural mix is dramatized in five interlinked tales set in each of NYC's five boroughs on a hot summer day: In Manhattan, a Soho fashion designer on the brink of eviction begins a relationship with a Japanese department store buyer. In the Bronx, the daughter of a Puerto Rican baker thinks her lover can provide a portal to a glamorous, successful life. For the Queens segment, Gerber expanded his 1995 short film, A Small Taste of Heaven, about a gambling Romanian butcher's apprentice who dreams of someday purchasing a nice suburban house for his wife. On Staten Island, the wife of an Indian limousine driver is treated like a servant by her husband's visiting brother. In Brooklyn, a West Indian man makes the mistake of pawning his wife's family heirlooms to buy a Cadillac. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
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