| Los Angeles Plays Itself | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Thom Andersen |
| Written by | Thom Andersen |
| Starring | Encke King (narrator) |
| Cinematography | Deborah Stratman |
| Edited by | Seung-Hyun Yoo |
Release date |
|
Running time | 169 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Los Angeles Plays Itself is an Americanessay film byThom Andersen, finished in 2003, exploring the wayLos Angeles has been presented in movies.[2][3]
In the film, Andersen argues that the influence of Hollywood overshadows Los Angeles, and is one of the reasons the city's name is frequently abbreviated.[4] He makes the case that directors have a distaste formodernist architecture, which is regularly used for villains' homes.[4]
The documentary also explores the early history of Los Angeles in film,[5] often as a stand in for other cities like Chicago that were bigger in the 1930s, as well as how cinema managed to capture long-gone immigrant enclaves that were razed to make room for downtown skyscrapers in the 1960s and 70s.
Andersen stated that the film idea occurred to him after a lecture he gave at the California Institute of the Arts, where he talked about his objections toL.A. Confidential,Curtis Hanson's 1997Academy Award-winningneo-noir adapted fromJames Ellroy's novel about Los Angelesin the 1950s.[4]
Consisting almost entirely of clips from other films with narration, the film was not initially released commercially as it was only seen in screenings presented by Andersen, occasional presentations atAmerican Cinematheque and copies distributed via filesharing and other person-to-person methods. In 2014, it was announced that the film would finally be released officially byCinema Guild.[6][7][8][9][10]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A treat for cinephiles, this documentary is a comprehensive, academic, and enlightening film essay concerning Los Angeles and its depiction in the movies."[11] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[12]
Robert Koehler ofVariety wrote: "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 remarkableLos Angeles Plays Itself."[13]Frank Scheck ofThe Hollywood Reporter called it: "A terrific cinematic essay that will have a very, very long shelf life."[14]
The film won theNational Film Board Award for Best Documentary at the 2003Vancouver International Film Festival, and was voted best documentary of 2004 by the Village Voice Critic's Poll.[15]