The Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
17 th annual Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival
“Cinematic Cities”
Screening date: Wednesday March 10th, 2010 - 7:30 pm
137 Isenberg SOM
Synopsis
1. "Los Angeles Plays Itself - synopsis -." Hebden Bridge Picture House . Web. 01 Mar. 2010
<http://www.hebdenbridge-picturehouse.co.uk/films/lapi.fhtml>.
A brief synopsis of Andersen’s portrayal of Los Angeles and how he brings it to life.
Information on Thom Andersen
1 .
Thom Andersen’s Filmography. Imdb.com http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0026263/
A brief overview of Thom Andersen’s filmography.
2. "Thom Andersen | California Institute of the Arts." CalArts | California Institute of the Arts .
Web. 01 Mar. 2010.
<http://calarts.edu/faculty_bios/film/video/faculty/thomandersen/thomandersen>.
A short biography of Thom Andersen’s film career, beginning with his short films of the 1960s and ending with Los Angeles Plays Itself.
Reviews of Los Angeles Plays Itself
1. Gleiberman, Owen. “
Los Angeles Plays Itself Review.” Entertainment Weekly . August 11,
2004.
<http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,680184,00.html>
Gleiberman awards an “A-“ rating to the film, “It at once celebrates and protests the very act of turning the boulevards and stucco homes, the rococo landmarks and smoggy hills of Los Angeles into the stuff of fiction and even legend. Andersen worships his city so much that he yearns to see it represented – but never misrepresented.” He notes the themes of architectural transformation and its depictions on celluloid, “Gliding from the physical to the metaphysical,
Andersen reveals how films like Chinatown effectively remade the reality of Los Angeles, replacing history with myth in a way that now anchors the city more than that history itself does.”
2. Koehler, Robert. “
Los Angeles Plays Itself
.”
Variety . September 9, 2003.
<http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_review&reviewid=VE1117921805&categoryid
=31>
Koehler insists that Andersen’s Los Angeles Plays Itself is a wonderful film that should be seen by Los Angeles residents and moviegoers worldwide. Andersen critiques the depictions of Los
Angeles that are distorted. He is much more interested in “literal” representations of the city that
“obey the local geography.” Andersen separates filmmakers into two groups: low tourists and high tourists. Low tourists tend to depict Los Angeles in a negative or unrealistic, Hollywoodtype way. High tourists, however, are much more expressive and Andersen respects their work for its beauty. Also, in his many clips, Andersen displays how films depicting Los Angeles usually overlook the people who actual residents such as minorities and non-entertainment industry personnel.

3. Scott, A.O. “Looking for Reality Where They Manufacture Make Believe.”
New York Times .
July 28, 2004.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/28/movies/film-review-looking-for-reality-where-theymanufacture-make-believe.html?pagewanted=print>
This review labels Andersen’s new documentary as sober and indignant. The author describes the film as an attempt to defend Los Angeles against the cultural imperialism of Hollywood.
Within the article are specific examples from the film in which Andersen proposes public history that has been forgotten. The author then leaves the reader with thoughts on the director’s intentions of challenging the audience’s acceptance of what the films within the documentary depict.
4. Strong, Benjamin. “Urban Renewal – The Dreamlife of Angeles: A Film Professor Reclaims
His City.”
Village Voice . July 20, 2004.
<http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/184966>
Though a very personal documentary, Andersen never appears onscreen and does not narrate.
Strong believes, “Andersen intends to snap us out of our lazy habits as moviegoers, our predilection for passive rather than ‘voluntary watching.’” With
Los Angeles Plays Itself ,
Andersen has once again called attention to independent filmmakers working outside the
Hollywood block, “There’s another kind of realist cinema that we need more of that represents the way people actually live.”
5. Turan, Kenneth. “
Los Angeles Plays Itself
.”
Los Angeles Times . May 5, 2005.
<http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-wk-itself5may05,1,7076921.story?coll=clmreview>
Turan calls Los Angeles Plays Itself
, “a remarkable work, quite likely the best documentary on the City of Angels ever made.” Turan also notes Andersen’s penchant, a “constitutional aversion to conventional thinking.” The review divides the documentary into three parts, covering themes of visual connotation and convention through architecture as well as the negotiation of city identity.
Director’s Thoughts
1. Andersen, Thom. “Collateral Damage: Los Angeles Continues Playing Itself.”
Cinema Scope .
< http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs20/ar_andersen_collat.htm>
Thom Anderson reviews his film Los Angeles Plays Itself and offers new commentary about the film. He reflects his surprise at how well received the film was, and talks specifically about his exclusion of Mullholland Drive and Collateral .
Interviews With Thom Andersen
1. Erickson, Steve. “The Reality of Film; Thom Andersen on
Los Angeles Plays Itself
.”
Indiewire .
<http://web.archive.org/web/20080209232154/www.indiewire.com/people/people_040727laplay s.html>
Erickson praises Los Angeles Plays Itself as a wonderful critique on film. He points out
Andersen’s “love/hate relationship with film” and the representation of his city. Even though the film is quite lengthy, Erickson finds enjoyment in the inspiring and funny tone of Andersen’s film. In an interview with Andersen, he admits that Los Angeles Plays Itself is almost two films in one. The part before the intermission has a much different tone than the one following it.

Andersen also comments on films that he regrets not including in his critique. He talks about his inspirations, the use of a first person narrator, and his interest in architecture.
2. Gabel, J.C. and James Hughes. “ Blade Runner
Is a City Planner’s Dream: An Interview with
Thom Andersen.”
Stop Smiling . October 29, 2007.
< http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_print.php?id=909>
The interview covers Andersen’s almost improvised entry into the film industry through the
University of Southern California as well as his critiques of the collegiate education system.
3. Lopate, Leonard. “Thom Andersen Interview.” WYNC. July 23, 2004.
< http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2004/07/23 >
An audio interview with director Thom Andersen.
4.Tracy, Andrew. “Bringing It Back: An Interview With Thom Andersen.”
Reverse Shot .
< http://www.reverseshot.com/legacy/summer04/andersen.html>
Tracy questions Andersen about the influence his film teaching has had on making this film. He is also proud that his compilation of films has brought some of them back to life as they have been rediscovered. Andersen expresses the overuse of the entertainment side of Los Angeles in so many films. Very often, films do not represent the many people and groups of people who live in the city. Within his film. Andersen focuses on the public sphere and critiques the defeat of public housing and transportation. Lastly, Andersen elaborates on his inclusion of cops, and their abuse of power in Los Angeles Plays Itself . He ends by telling Tracy about his personal inspirations.
Synopsis of Bunker Hill
1. "The Exiles Series Details." Welcome to the UCLA Film & Television Archive! http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/calendar/calendardetails.aspx?details_type=2&id=293
A brief synopsis of Mackenzie’s graduate short film produced during his time at the University of Southern California.
Information on Kent Mackenzie
1. "Kent Mackenzie: Writer, Producer, and Director (1930-1980)." The Exiles - A Film by Kent
Mackenzie - Home . Milestone Films. http://www.exilesfilm.com/filmmaker.html
A biography of the director Mackenzie, major pivots in his life include the beginning interests in film at Dartmouth College under the supervision of an English Drama professor. Later,
Mackenzie formed a fateful friendship with an Onondaga Indian while serving as a tennis counselor in Maine. Following his military service in the early 1950s, Mackenzie utilized the
G.I. Bill to attend classes at the University of Southern California. There, under the tutelage of film professor Andries Deinum, Mackenzie fashioned himself to be a “film author.” He accomplished his graduate short film, Bunker Hill in 1956.
Information on Kent Mackenzie’s The Exiles
1. Edelstein, David. "The Exiles (1961) - Movie Review and Showtimes - New York Magazine."
New York Magazine -- NYC Guide to Restaurants, Fashion, Nightlife, Shopping, Politics,
Movies . New York Media LLC. http://nymag.com/listings/movie/the-exiles-1961/
An almost fatalistic synopsis of the Bunker Hill universe, Edelstein believes, “You can only brood on the near half-century since The Exiles was shot – and be grateful that someone went to that place and captured it all.”

2. "Milestone Films - Movie Details - Exiles, The - By: Kent Mackenzie." Milestone Films -
Welcome to Milestone Films!
Milestone Films http://www.milestonefilms.com/movie.php/exiles/
A synopsis and review, the article notes the seemingly ironic happening of Mackenzie, “a wellto-do white man from the East coast amongst Native Americans, Mexicans, and Filipinos in a low-income L.A. community,” in essence, an outsider filming the urban fringe and forgotten.
However, Mackenzie’s vision and presentation are hailed, “Regardless, his sensitivity and his genuinely penetrating interest in attempting to understand the people in his film via filming them shines through, curbing the tendencies towards sentimentalism and fetishization that often emerge in attempts to represent ‘the other.’”
3. "The Exiles - A Film by Kent Mackenzie - About The Film." The Exiles - A Film by Kent
Mackenzie - Home . Milestone Films. http://www.exilesfilm.com/about.html
The Exiles is hailed as a “precious artifact of a lost time and place.” Mackenzie employed the unorthodox approach of enlisting ongoing creative input and collaboration from the residents he filmed. Overall, the film stands as a landmark piece that helped spark the “cultural renaissance of
American Indian fiction, poetry, filmmaking and theater starting in the 1970s.”
About Los Angeles
Hise, Greg. “Border City: Race and Social Distance in Los Angeles.” American Quarterly , Vol.
56.3 (2004): 545-558. http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40068233.pdf
This abridge account captures the narrative arc of Los Angeles and California studies. The author discusses Los Angeles, the border city, with its specific location in and relation to the nation-state, with the particular nature and timing of its economical development, and with its precise patterns of immigration and the particular constitution of its demographic diversity.
Loukaitou-Sider, Anastasia, and Gail Sansbury. “Lost Streets of Bunker Hill.”
California History , Vol. 74.4 (1996): 394-407.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/25177534.pdf>
This article examines the history and reconstructs visual images of three Los Angeles streets,
Cinnabar Street, Bunker Hill Avenue, and Clay Street, which have fallen pretty to the whims of urban redevelopment in postwar Los Angeles. The authors hope to illustrate that these “premodern” streetscapes, once condemned and terminated, an serve as environmental design precedents for “post-modern” streets.
Schmelzer, Randi. “With Facelift, Hollywood Prepares For a Close-up.” AdWeek.
August 1,
2005.
<http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/914393_731196605_917123834.pdf>
The article covers various “revitalization” campaigns launched by Los Angeles ad and marketing agencies in order to bring new life and vigor to areas perceived as stagnant. The article expresses some skepticism at the effectiveness of these campaigns, noting the long time differential in launching ideas and measuring results.
Information Compiled by:
Ken Wong, Kristin Vaselacopoulos, Allison Mulvey, Anthony Putvinski, Sarah Mias, and Mindi Harris