Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 14 January
Los Angeles Plays Itself (Anderson, 2003)
I first recommended this film here back in September 2023 but recent events in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena and the rest have brought it back to me.
It’s a psychogeographic history of Hollywood and Los Angeles in two parts. The first is about how Los Angeles has been used to play other places in the movies (often to hilarious effect) and the second is about how the city itself has been portrayed in cinema.
There are some eye-opening sequences about iconic buildings like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House – most famous perhaps as a location for Blade Runner but in fact used dozens of times.
This section is sometimes very funny, helped by Encke King’s sardonic narration of filmmaker Thom Anderson’s script. It’s as if Philip Marlowe himself is investigating the history of Hollywood, stumbling across loose ends everywhere.
But then Part Two – I think there was even an interval at the festival screening – takes a deep dive into cinematic portrayals of the city itself and whether Los Angelenos can even recognise themselves and their city in those portrayals.
From European imports like Jacques Demy trying to understand alien California culture in the 1960s (Model Shop) to Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s rewriting of LA public transport history and on to Michael Mann’s alienating downtown in Heat, a shiny downtown that had been constructed on the ruins of displaced working class lives.
Why is modern California architecture always occupied by the villains? Why do cops in LA always seem to live beside working oil derricks?
Watching Den of Thieves the other night and learning that most of the supposedly LA locations were actually Atlanta also made me feel for the way the real Los Angeles has had the dirty done on it over and over again by the movies.
I’ve lifted the paywall on the original post so everyone can read it.
Where to watch Los Angeles Plays Itself
Worldwide: Streaming on YouTube* or on Blu-ray physical media
Aotearoa: Not currently available
Australia: Not currently available
Canada: Digital rental from Apple
Ireland: Not currently available
India: Not currently available
USA: Streaming on Kanopy or digital rental
UK: Not currently available
* I’m pretty sure that this YouTube upload is not legit – Persian subtitles and a not-great aspect ratio? – but if the rights holder has left it up this long, maybe we turn a blind eye to piracy for a change: