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Plot Summary
Newly remastered and finally available to own, Thom Andersen's landmark documentary LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF explores the tangled relationship between the movies and their fabled hometown – as seen entirely through the films themselves. 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 revealing the real city that lives beneath. LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF is an extraordinary documentary, unlike any that has come before or since.
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
95%- Reviews Counted: 41
- Fresh: 39
- Rotten: 2
- Average Rating: 8.2/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: I think [Andersen's] attitude is prudish, even a bit loopy, yet maybe it took a cracked Los Angeles fetishist to make a chronicle of pop geography as obsessively entertaining as this one.
Fresh: Andersen's key accomplishment is to profoundly alter the viewer's assumptions of what is good in movies.
Fresh: Brilliantly discursive, filled with intriguing detours that follow connections only the director's mind could make, Los Angeles Plays Itself, will please natives of this city more than any other.
Fresh: A terrific cinematic essay that will have a very, very long shelf life.
