USA – 2004 – 163 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY THOM ANDERSEN
A film by Thom Andersen. Available Sept. 30 on iTunes ►https://itun.es/i6gw4CT Oct. 21 on DVD & blu-ray ► http://cinemaguild.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HE&Product_Code=5208& Never before released on home video, Thom Andersen's landmark documentary "Los Angeles Plays Itself," a fascinating look at the tangled relationship between the movies and their fabled hometown - as seen entirely through the films themselves - is finally available to own in a new remastered edition.
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF is an essay on how the movies have depicted Los Angeles a city symphony in reverse — a symphony with many directions and speeds. A critical history — and counter-history — of Los Angeles via clips from an eclectic list of movies. Many of them are well known (Chinatown, Blade Runner, L.A. Confidential); others are rarer finds (The Exiles, Bush Mama, Killer of Sheep).
The film tracks the various roles that specific landmarks and districts — the Bradbury Building, Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis house, Bunker Hill — have played through the years, with insights on movies, architecture, transportation, racism, class and public space.