Los Angeles Plays Itself

2003, dir. Thom Andersen. A must-see for LA history buffs and cinema enthusiastics. Hundreds of archival and film clips reveal an almost secret history of the City of Angels. This cinematic essey focuses on the discrepancy between the lived-in urban reality of Los Angeles and its various centery-deep cinematic mythologies... It''s about the way the imaginary space of cinema... becomes a kind of separate urban reality unto itself.


In this documentary, Thom Andersen examines in detail the ways Los Angeles has been depicted, both when it is meant to be anonymous and when itself is the focus.�Andersen�s idiosyncratic, three-hour masterpiece is both a dazzling work of film criticism and a fascinating piece of urban anthropology centered on the one city on earth where one could be mistaken for the other.�

Ken Fox, TV Guide�s Movie Guid.


Thom Andersen''s film kicks off with a rousing big-band sound, hyping a sumptuous panorama of the city of Los Angeles at night, lights twinkling across its huge urban sprawl. Cut to a thrilling full-frontal shot of the vintage chrome of a Barbara Stanwyck-worthy limo as it makes its way past the glitzy marquees of the burlesque houses, which line both sides of the street. Suddenly a gunshot and Sugar Torch, the distraught, half-dressed stripper in Sam Fuller''s The Crimson Kimono (1959), bursts from her dressing room running down the street before flinging herself into oncoming traffic. Taking the bait, we settle in, suspending our disbelief along with our cell-phone ringers, and prepare to be swept away for a few "Hooray for Hollywood" hours, fully expecting Los Angeles Plays Itself will be something along the lines of a That''s Entertainment!

Or maybe not.

Andersen credits Roman Polanski''s Chinatown (1974) as the first to turn L.A. into a subject that a film could be about. He blames that film and L.A. Confidential (1997) for the real-life consequences � political cynicism and defeatism � that flow from buying into their fictional representations of a secret city history, where threshold decisions affecting consequential civic issues � water, transportation, public housing, and the inner-workings of the Los Angeles Police Department � were made backroom by powerful, invisible cliques. At great length, Andersen debunks these movie-made myths, detailing how the corrupt handling of these civic issues were, in fact, matters of public record and often ratified by the voters.




FOREVER HOLLYWOOD (55 min.), a permanent attraction film which screens exclusively at the Egyptian Theatre. Produced by the American Cinematheque, the film celebrates a century of movie-making history and the eternal allure of Hollywood glamour. The unique story of Hollywood, the bountiful farming suburb, turned movie capital of the world, is told through interviews with some of today�s best known stars and filmmakers

IMBD
AFS Documentary tour
Thom Andersen sets the story straight on the city he loves
About the film
Forever Hollywood