Earlier this month, filmmaker Thom Andersen made an appearance at the Egyptian Theatre after a screening of his seminal documentary “Los Angeles Plays Itself.” Can’t remember the last time I saw his film essay in its 169-minutes entirety, but I was curious to watch it through 2025 eyes.
From film critic Kenneth Turan’s review in the 2005 Los Angeles Times:
“The film is Thom Andersen’s 2-hour, 49-minute ‘Los Angeles Plays Itself,’ a cinematic essay/meditation and labor of love on how this city has been depicted on the screen. Smart, insightful, unapologetically idiosyncratic and bristling with provocative ideas, it’s as sprawling and multi-faceted, fascinating and frustrating as L.A. (an abbreviation Andersen despises) itself.”
I’ve seen this film many times, and even bought the DVD off Andersen during a screening years ago. But I was eager to see it in this historic 1922 theatre that played an important role in Hollywood history. It felt a bit meta to be watching a film that critiques Hollywood’s treatment of Los Angeles in a theatre that was critical to the industry’s history. Also, fun to see the younger generation experience this film for the first time. Overhead two young Gen Z’ers wonder out loud, “Is Bunker Hill even a part of downtown?”
In the Q&A afterwards, Thom Andersen spoke about a number of details regarding his film — positioning present-day views of LA next to old film clips, his friendship with the film’s narrator Encke King, the copyright issues that plagued his film (resolved in 2013) and his disdain for the abbreviation “LA.”
But the one answer I was eager to hear was his reply to the question about whether or not he would add new films (well, ‘new’ since 2003) to his landmark documentary. He chuckled a bit when he replied, “No…the film is long enough as it is.”
He explained that once it was remastered, he was pretty much satisfied with his cinematic essay. He did mention two LA movies that had inspired him — “Licorice Pizza” and “Mosquita y Mari.” I’m guessing his reply should be taken with a bit of skepticism as it’s hard to to believe that in the last 22 years, there have been ONLY two Los Angeles films that moved him (…thankfully other film experts have weighed in with suggestions). Either way, I’m adding these two to my Los-Angeles-Plays-Itself-Films-To-Watch list (organized in this handy IMDB site -> https://www.imdb.com/list/ls058657188/).
Also, forgot that Andersen dedicated his film to Art Laboe and Johnny Otis as “guardians of our history.” RIP to these legends!
Victoria Bernal 
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