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I heard about Los Angeles Plays Itself from some fellow movie fans who gave it great praises and said that it must be seen. So when I saw that it was playing at the Aero theater in Santa Monica, I got my sister to go with me. After surviving being tailed by a crazy man with road rage on the freeway, we settled in with a full house - and when I say full, I mean full. This thing is a phenomenon.

The basic idea of the movie is that it's a documentary about Los Angeles and how its history can be seen by watching movies themselves. There are parts of the city that don't even exist anymore that can be seen if one goes through a ton of movies, both popular and obscure. And that's exactly what director Thom Anderson did.

Anderson seems to have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles, or perhaps it's a love/hate relationship with the movie industry. At any rate, a la Michael Bluth, don't call Los Angeles L.A. in front of this man. I've never head someone make a complaint about referring to it as LA; my strongest geographical abbreviation is people who call California "Cali", but I'm getting used to it since it seems here to stay. Anderson examines the relationship between the city and the movies, as well as shows the history of buildings, transportation, and trends. There are clips upon clips from movies used, and that alone makes it rather impressive.

There are some really interesting tidbits throughout the movie, which runs over two and a half hours long. Unfortunately towards the end, Anderson's already opinionated personality grows a little too strong and a little too judgmental, so it ends on a bit of a low note for my tastes. Some people in the audience were also irked by the use of some really obscure movies, but if those are the only movies that show what he's trying to highlight, I have no problem with that.

Really, it's just astounding how much work must have gone into compiling the bits and constructing the movie, so I'm willing to forgive any faults in favor of remembering how many interesting things I learned. Now I find myself driving through greater Los Angeles taking notice of sites advertising filming opportunities, signs for movie crews, and interesting buildings. Great watch.