Los Angeles Plays Itself (2004) January 9, 2008

This film is an epic meditation on the role of Los Angeles ("the most photographed city in the world") in the movies and the impact of the movie industry upon its own capital city - as well as a fascinating deconstruction of both movie-making and movie-going. Filmmaker Thom Andersen, a life-long Angelino, mixes together clips from LA movies, both famous ('LA Confidential,' 'Blade Runner,' 'Chinatown') and rare ('Killer of Sheep,' 'The Exiles'). His essay investigates !50s B-movies that use Los Angeles as the epitome of urban sleaze, science fiction classics that revel in destroying its tallest buildings, and films noir that paint it the nation's capital for adultery and murder. It's a movie for anyone who loves (or hates) Los Angeles and who wonders what they may have missed by not spending more hours in the dark.