Synopsis
From its distinctive neighborhoods to its architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. In this dazzling work, Andersen takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis' real and cinematic history, investigating the myriad stories and legends that have come to define it, and meticulously, judiciously revealing the real city that lives beneath.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Encke KingNarrator (voice)
- Ben AlexanderOfficer Frank Smith in Dragnet (archive footage)
- Jim BackusFrank Stark in Rebel Without A Cause (archive footage)
- Brenda BakkeLana Turner in L.A. Confidential (archive footage)
- Barbara O. JonesDorothy in Bush Mama (archive footage)
- Gene BarryDr. Clayton Forrester in The War of The Worlds (archive footage)
- Richard BasehartRoy Morgan/Roy Martin in He Walked By Night (archive footage)
- Hugh BeaumontGeorge Copeland in The Blue Dahlia (archive footage)
- William BendixBuzz Wanchek in The Blue Dahlia (archive footage)
- Ann BlythVeda Pierce in Mildred Pierce (archive footage)
Recommendations
- 100
Christian Science Monitor
Smart, funny, stimulating. - 91
Entertainment Weekly
Gliding from the physical to the metaphysical, Andersen reveals how films like ''Chinatown'' effectively remade the reality of Los Angeles, replacing history with myth in a way that now anchors the city more than that history itself does. - 90
Variety
Los Angeles may be the most photographed city in the world, but it has never have been captured with such complex layers of meaning and fascination as in Thom Andersen's remarkable Los Angeles Plays Itself. - 90
The A.V. Club
Dazzling cinema-essay. - 90
TV Guide Magazine
Thom Andersen's idiosyncratic, three-hour masterpiece is both a dazzling work of film criticism and a fascinating piece of urban anthropology. - 88
New York Post
So terrifically entertaining, it would be a shame if it didn't inspire a companion piece on New York. - 80
New York Magazine (Vulture)
What gives Los Angeles Plays Itself its extraordinary density is the way Andersen transforms a cliché into a metaphysical truth that encompasses far more than L.A. - 80
Village Voice
It is an essay in film form with near-universal interest and a remarkable degree of synthesis.
