Los Angeles Plays Itself [Blu-ray]

I highly recommend this intelligent, insightful and tremendously entertaining documentary. For years this has been on many "100 best documentariesever made" type lists, (e.g. it's #37 on Sight and Sound's 2012 "50 Greatest Documentaries Ever Made" critics Poll) and yet it's very nature (it's made entirelyhundreds of clips from almost as many different feature films) made getting the rights to release this a gargantuan task. I'm amazed they pulled it off.(I hope the story of that part of the film's history is covered in commentary or extra features)In the meantime, this terrific, unique film has been relegated to occasional museum and classroom screenings, and low quality bootleg copies.Indeed often those classroom screenings were often still off VHS tapes. The blu-ray, while far from perfect visually, is a huge step up in quality.Obviously the quality of the clips themselves is very variable, depending on their age and source, they range from some that look they were takenfrom VHS sources, to many that are quite gorgeous - probably sourced from blu-ray masters. There also an occasional odd jumpiness in a fewof the clips that looks like there were issues in transfers and frame rates. This occasional stutter is annoying, but rare enough that it's far froma deal breaker. This is probably still the best "Los Angeles Plays Itself" has ever looked.The film is a remarkable documentary, charting the history of how Los Angeles is portrayed in the movies. In the process itreveals much about the L.A.'s real history, it's politics, its architecture, its culture. It shows us how how movies distort andeven create reality, the cities sense of itself altered by its on screen persona.Smart, and never boring despite it's 2:49 running time. Often funny, with a dead-pan, witty narration constantly helping us see both films and the city in new ways.If you love films, or have an interest in how cinema intersects with real life -- each effecting the other, this is a can't miss experience.Update: Cinema Guild, which put out this film now has announced it will also distribute Anderson's almost equally effective"Red Hollywood" (made in a similar way - full of clips - so never before available). That too is a terrific, if slightly less heralded film,and is now available for pre-order here on Amazon, or directly from the Cinema Guild web site.

A collection of movie clips of Los Angeles. It seems Thom Anderson wants to have it both ways. Los Angeles is not all it's cracked up to be...and to show that it isn't, let's watch 3 hours that prove fantasy Los Angeles is more interesting than real Los Angeles. While the tone of the narration is as flat as a heart monitor in a hospital movie, one thing that stands out is that the narrator seems a little angry that Los Angeles has been made to look more attractive, more sinister, more exciting than it really is.Another ambiguity is that although Los Angeles is a smoggy congested mess of bland suburbs with people who don't work in the movie business, it's home (his; not mine.) So much so that calling it "L.A." is an insult.Ok, so what about the movies shown? They're wonderfully chosen but he relies pretty heavily on films you've most likely seen. Blade Runner, Chinatown, Kiss Me Deadly. Great choices and they all fit the mood. The movie most people won't be familiar with, The Exiles, is a fascinating, if slow moving, documentary about displaced native Americans living on Bunker Hill. It’s a real work of art and the best record that exists of Los Angeles’ lost Bunker Hill neighborhood.Los Angeles Plays Itself is in two parts. The first focuses on buildings and places (again, likely to be familiar, like the Ennis House and of course the Bradbury building.) Part two seems to pivot towards social justice and the lack thereof in the movies.It’s definitely worth a look and if you can get past the tone of needing to set the record straight, pretty entertaining as well.

This film should be a slam dunk to be a fun watch as it is a documentary purportedly about films using Los Angeles locations and about those locations. The only really good thing about this film is that it broadly covers a lot of films in a variety of genres, and some of these may pique your interest enough to want to watch them. I am always on the lookout for a good film (especially film noir) I have not seen and I found a couple by watching this. Moving on to the bad, the narration by Thorn Andersen is so laconic that he actually challenges the viewer to enjoy the film. Hey, silly me, but I thought this was supposed to be a fun watch. Moving on to the ugly, what makes this film unwatchable is the practically nonstop hard left wing diatribe. Andersen gleefully tells us that Neutra's masterpiece The Lovell Health House (used in LA Confidential as Pierce Patchett's residence) was used in the 1930s for meetings of socialists, but does not seem to comprehend that socialist societies are incapable of producing such masterpieces as The Lovell Health House. Andersen also ineptly revisits the well trodden field of McCarthyism and the blacklist without admitting that while McCarthy was an opportunistic slug, there really was a red scare, a cold war, and that many of the people blacklisted were in fact communists. Near the conclusion of the film are several vignettes of an abandoned Goodyear tire factory. The narration accompanying the scenes is centered around the concept that the factory was abandoned for the purpose of depriving workers of jobs. Obviously this man has no concept of obsolescence. That should not be surprising because by any reasonable standard of accomplishments, socialism is obsolete and has been for many years now. The hard left wing bias is so overwhelming (and so overwhelmingly idiotic) that it left me thinking that the purported subject of the film is secondary to the propaganda aspect. I would give it 0 stars if I could because of the incessant, stupid propaganda. Now someone needs to make a GOOD film about movies shot using Los Angeles locations. The subject matter is out there for a qualified, objective filmmaker to compile.

I have watched the first hour of the documentary and I find it fantastic.As a true lover of the City of Los Angeles and of the art of cinema, I am thrilled with my purchase.Highly recommended !

A wonderful tale about Losa Angeles thorogh motin picture images and real footage.A real masterpiece

Fantastic doc on a fascinating city. Additionally, my disc arrived sealed but with an empty box, but seller responded immediately and sent replacement disc by fast mail - much appreciated!

Wonderful collection of film noir clips of parts of LA now demolished. And loved the Frank Lloyd Wright houses shown in movies at the time. Have only viewed the first half

La livraison a été rapide compte tenu du fait qu'il s'agissait d'un import et le documentaire est passionnant. Realisé par un cinéphile qui a mis bout à bout quantité d'extraits de films, Los Angeles Plays Itself offre un regard unique sur une ville souvent magnifiée par les productions hollywoodiennes qui y situent par ailleurs nombre de films dont l'action est censée se dérouler dans une autre ville. Longtemps passé sous le manteau pour des raisons de copyright, Los Angeles Plays Itself est désormais accessible au tout-venant. Fair use. A voir.