Los Angeles: The City In Cinema
February 22, 2015 10:08 PM   Subscribe

 
and more, from Colin Marshall
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:09 PM on February 22, 2015


This is a great series.

I watched Her on a flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai. I recognized a lot of the Shanghai stuff and figured the less recognizable parts were filmed in LA merely as a cost or time saving measure...to find out that the mashups were intentional? That's pretty cool.
posted by Doleful Creature at 12:48 AM on February 23, 2015


I'm assuming this guy will get around to adding Drive and especially Nightcrawler ASAP.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:47 AM on February 23, 2015 [3 favorites]


In the very beginning of the Her video, he pronounces "primer" to rhyme with "slimmer" instead of "timer", which sounds really odd to me, is that some sort of regional pronounciation?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:50 AM on February 23, 2015


Derail: "Primer" like "slimmer" is the pronunciation I was taught to use when referring to the Dick and Jane Go to School sort of "child's first reading book." "Primer" like "timer" was for all the other things called "primers," like the pre-coating before painting a car or the stuff you put on your face before makeup.

From looking at a smattering of dictionaries, apparently this was the case in general, though both pronunciations were used. I'd guess the distinction is vanishing/will soon vanish, however, with the "long i" pronunciation becoming dominant.
posted by kewb at 3:17 AM on February 23, 2015


And here we go regarding "primer."

As to the films...boy do I love Kiss Me Deadly, the sort of adaptation Mickey Spillane deserved but rarely ever got. The movie also does a wonderful job of showing a diverse, richly textured Los Angeles as a counterpoint to the brutality and dehumanization indulged in by both the villains and the protagonist.
posted by kewb at 3:21 AM on February 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


I can confirm that "primer" rhyming with "slimmer" is completely unknown in the UK (and until this thread, I had no suspicion it was even an option). That pronunciation is reserved for "primmer", meaning "more prim".

And now back to our scheduled program(me): The City Of Angels, Not A Prim Place At All.
posted by Devonian at 4:35 AM on February 23, 2015


Yep. Kiss Me Deadly is a 100% classic, and way underrated too.
posted by blucevalo at 5:28 AM on February 23, 2015


The Crimson Kimono is a hell of a film. I especially enjoyed the character Chris, to me she represents the Artist Loft District just to the east of Little Tokyo. I lived there and watching the film was like a walk through my neighborhood. I even recognized some of the interiors, there's one scene with the detectives pursuing someone through back rooms, and I recognized the place, it was converted to a diner a half-block from my loft. And yeah, I shopped at Bunka-do too.

This particular review almost touches on one of my pet theories about Angelenos, I call it "media schizophrenia." You frequently encounter scenes in movies that take occurred in places you frequently encounter in real life. I used to feel this particularly acutely since I worked in prepress and I would often see billboards, movie and music posters, or even flyers in my mailbox that I was photoshopping the week before. LA is a strange place, it is as much constructed from myth, as from bricks and mortar. The myth is more durable than the city itself.
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:44 AM on February 23, 2015


A new, small, but fun movie set in L.A. in all its glorious weirdness: Stretch. Chris Pine has a major role, but is uncredited.
posted by doctor tough love at 6:11 AM on February 23, 2015


And then there's Thom Andersen’s 'cranky treasure': Los Angeles Plays Itself
posted by Mister Bijou at 6:54 AM on February 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm assuming this guy will get around to adding Drive and especially Nightcrawler ASAP.

Drive is already there.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:57 AM on February 23, 2015


Stephen Frears' The Grifters (1990) is set in Los Angeles.

Twenty five years later, I can still hear Anjelica Huston's East Coast character pronouncing it Loss AN-guh-leeze.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 7:40 AM on February 23, 2015


And then there's Thom Andersen’s 'cranky treasure': Los Angeles Plays Itself

Saw Coliin present the LA videos and an early draft of his Portland work and he readily cited this as the major influence for his similar projects.
posted by trackofalljades at 7:48 AM on February 23, 2015


A new, small, but fun movie set in L.A. in all its glorious weirdness: Stretch.

Yes. This was one of those films that, on paper, looked pretty run of the mill, but managed to capture a special kind of wonderful madness that elevated it way beyond expectations.

Strange Days remains one of my wife and I's favorite films. It was such a weirdly bold move to stage the film, with all sorts of small but important sci-fi technology advancements, just a few years from when the movie came out. Also, Angela Bassett.

And I still don't know how I feel about Southland Tales. I enjoyed it, I think. But it was sort of like seeing something when you are really drunk or stoned, and trying to remember it the next day, and none of the pieces really fit. Only you are sober, and it is happening as you watch the film.

Los Angeles really does make a fantastic backdrop for so many movies. Like a few other special cities, It's its own character.
posted by quin at 9:42 AM on February 23, 2015


"Late afternoon on the West Coast ends with the sky doing all its brilliant stuff."

-Joan Didion
posted by clavdivs at 5:49 PM on February 23, 2015


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