Los Angeles Plays Itself

Los Angeles Plays Itself, directed by Thom Andersen and released in 2003, is a genre-defying exploration of the city's multifaceted representation in cinema, creatively compiled and dissected through an assortment of film clips.

Los Angeles Plays Itself is unique as it is not a traditional form of cinema, rather it's a distinctive blend of documentary and video essay. The entirety of the film showcases the director’s meticulous cinematic analysis and unravels how the city of Los Angeles has been represented in movies over the decades.

The film is narrated by Encke King, whose gravelly, somewhat haunted voice serves as the guide through the labyrinth of Los Angeles’ cinematic past. Ben Alexander, Jim Backus, and a string of other artists appear on screen, not in live roles, but through clips selected from their films that showcase various aspects of the city.

In this groundbreaking work, the city of Los Angeles shifts from its common portrayal as just a backdrop to stories, emerging as a central character. Its streets, neighborhoods, landmarks, and even its often-overlooked corners come to life through the lens of many filmmakers, ranging from Hollywood's top directors to independent and even amateur auteurs. Andersen unearths insightful narrative connections, creating a sensational movie tapestry that’s at once a grand homage and a poignant critique.

Throughout Los Angeles Plays Itself, Andersen encounters films that conceal the city’s identity, films that spotlight its individual features, and those that challenge its stereotypes. His analysis is both poignant and critical. Filmmakers' perspectives between reality and representation is probed, laying bare intricate dynamics where urban design intersects with cinema, politics, and societal beliefs.

The film dissects cinematic conventions within a vast range of genres - film noir, disaster movies, science fiction, and even musicals – and scrutinizes how each has used and, at times, misused Los Angeles as a character. The film also considers key historical periods of Los Angeles, capturing the fraught relationship between the industry snugly rooted in Hollywood’s hills and the city sprawling at its feet.

One of the joys of watching Los Angeles Plays Itself comes through its delightful exploration of geography and architecture as metaphors. The film unfolds as a wonderful sensual object replete with rich imagery and multilayered meanings. This is thanks to the city's fluid identity, constantly taking on new facades in the world of movies. Andersen’s measured yet ultimately unflinching narration accompanied by King’s hypnotic voice pays homage to this idea, presenting the true LA, an ambivalent character onto which generations of filmmakers have projected their dreams, desires and despairs.

In essence, Los Angeles Plays Itself is about walls and surfaces, where reality and fiction overlap and lurch apart. It’s an exploration of the aesthetics of urban spaces, an investigation of how physical environments shape stories, and a chronicle of how movies, in turn, shape our understanding of those spaces. Beyond being an essay on film, it is just as thoughtfully about the city of Los Angeles and offers a beautiful mosaic of its cinematic portrayal.

Los Angeles Plays Itself isn’t bound by traditional plotlines or character arcs. Its essential strength lies in Andersen's dissection and commentary, the brilliance of the film clips selected, and the newfound appreciation it instils both for the unseen depths of Los Angeles and the art of filmmaking.

Covering over a hundred different movies, from widely acknowledged classics to little-known treasures and everything in between, Los Angeles Plays Itself is an ode to film lovers and urban enthusiasts alike. It underscores the enduring fascination of cinema and how deeply we are influenced by the-world-as-seen-in-movies.

As a final note, Los Angeles Plays Itself isn’t just a film about a city, or about films, but also a meditation on perception and the politics of representation. It challenges viewers' understanding of Los Angeles beyond Hollywood’s stereotypes, pushing them to rethink how they perceive the world of cinema and the role of location within it.

An ambitious, obsessively detailed, and enlightening journey into the heart of a city too often caricatured on screen, Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself is a hypnotic homage to both Hollywood and the city that nurtured it. A must-watch for cinephiles and urban explorers alike.