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Reviews
Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
Uneven but very nostalgic for older Angelenos
As a film, this one is very uneven. It definitely deserved better writing and structure. More actual facts, less subjective opinion presented as fact, and better balance and clarity between fact and fiction also would have benefited it.
That being said, as a native Angeleno who grew up in L.A. in the '50s-mid '70s, I looked past the industry vs. "great unwashed" residents comments (spurious at best), and focused on enjoying the locations and sights of my younger days, most of which are long gone. I'm also a fan of '30s-'70s movies, laughably considered too obscure by several short-attention-span reviewers, and those films showed many important L.A. locations that are historical treasures to older Angelenos, and that have fallen before the bulldozers of L.A. developers, often for good reasons I might add. But why an extended segment on Roger Rabbit (for one) instead of, well, any number of more relevant clips? Weird.
The segment that attempted to portray the ethnic and cultural diversity of Los Angeles was also out of whack. Too little mention of L.A.'s thriving Mexican-American population, virtually no mention of its Asian-Americans, and though at least attempted, an highly over-simplified overview of the Watts riots. Not one mayor (Sam Yorty? Tom Bradley?) was mentioned; no natural catastrophe or criminal activity, either. Not even Olvera Street or the early history of Los Angeles. As a history, this film deserves not just an "Incomplete," but a "D" grade because too many relevant facts about people, politics, local culture, steps of progress, etc. were either missing, inaccurate or made more or less important than they actually were.
Still, as a visual record of L.A. in years gone by, this was great fun. I enjoyed the accurate and salient comments that were made, and especially the many nostalgic images and the memories they brought to mind.