los angeles plays itself.

Well, hello. It's good to see you again. Let's get right to business.

Last week, I finally got to see Los Angeles Plays Itself, a documentary as sprawling as the city itself, during its run at Cinefamily. Three hours of L.A. in the movies...intense.

I've always been fascinated by how L.A. is portrayed in film, especially when the city itself serves as a character. I think it's even more interesting than New York on film--IMHO.

So, I was poking around on Google, and of course, I came across quite a few Best Los Angeles Films lists, and God knows I'm a sucker for any "Best Of..." list. This is a pretty good one. So is this. But this might be my favorite. And all of them include films that, despite its vast scope and three-hour running time, didn't make it into Los Angeles Plays Itself.

And because I am such a sucker, here is my own top 10 list of the best Los Angeles movies, along with a couple that are on my must-see list.

1. The Big Sleep. Take a novel by an drunk, have it adapted into a screenplay by another drunk, and what do you get? A plot nobody--not even the director--can figure out. For realz.

I mean, who in God's name thought to have William Faulkner rewrite a work by Raymond Chandler? What's interesting about both is that while much of their writing is inscrutable, a passage (or a scene) will come along and blow your mind. I live for those passages. Somehow, it makes all the muddle worth it. Yea drunk writers!

2. Sunset Boulevard. This and All About Eve are my favorite classic films, in case you were wondering. Also? I hunger for anything about the dark underbelly of Hollywood. And the setting (which as not on Sunset Boulevard but Wilshire Boulevard and has since been torn down) is inspirational of my favorite Facebook site (and the only Facebook site I know of that has spawned a book and tv deal), Decaying Hollywood Mansions.

3. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, aka The Greatest Movie Ever Made. If you have never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it tonight with someone you love. Directed by Russ Meyer, with a screenplay by Roger Ebert, it's completely magical---so much more than camp. Check out the tagline at the bottom of the poster to see what I mean.

4. L.A. Confidential. I loved Russell Crowe back when he was still hot, before he became bloated and creepy. He plays that rare kind of man who will kick the shit out of any guy who dares hurt a woman. And Kim Basinger, with her wavy hair and red, red lip, out-Veronica Lake's Veronica Lake.

5. Boogie Nights. It's the Nashville of the San Fernando Valley, and the soundtrack is off the hook. The longer you live in L.A., the more you come to love the Valley. I live there and love it (and thank God that whole renaming it "Camelot" was voted down). I still can't believe P.T. Anderson wrote and directed this when he was only 26. I'll see anything he does, but none of it will ever compare to Boogie Nights.

6. Heat. This could fall just behind Behind the Valley of the Dolls as the greatest film ever. Al Pacino is at his out-of-control finest, and Robert DeNiro, pre-Fockers nonsense, is still hot and mysterious.

And you'd think that when the two reigning icons of the American screen finally share a scene together, the expectations are so high that it has to be a letdown. It's not. It's fucking awesome.

7. Collateral. Michael Mann gets two nods on this list--one, because he's one of my favorite directors and two--because he plays L.A. like no one else. I saw him once at my doctor's office and almost passed out. He's handsome enough to be in front of the camera. And it was fun to see Tom Cruise all silver fox-ed out as a ruthless baddie.




8. The Loved One. I did a post on a special screening of this at the Egyptian Theater. Based on the novella by Evelyn Waugh, it's a parody of the Forest Lawn Cemetery...yes a parody of a cemetery. Penned by Terry Southern with amazing performances by Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger and Robert Morse, and cinematography by Haskell Wexler.

I don't know if Cinespia has ever shown this at Hollywood Forever, but it would be fun if they screened a movie about a cemetery at a cemetery. Right? Maybe? Oh...let's move on.

9. A Single Man. Oh, how I wanted to hate this. Oh, how I wanted to see Tom Ford go down in flames after his abomination of the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue. Oh, how I was put in my place. Another of my all-time favorite films--so achingly beautiful, yet its gorgeous veneer serves only to mask the unbearable pain of a gay man who must grieve his lover's death in secret.

10. Honorable mention goes to: The Dogwalker, an indie so little-seen that that I couldn't really find a decent image to post. But I have seen and highly recommend it, a portrait of one of the millions of broken souls who flees to L.A., yet must face the pain she tried to escape.

Want to see: Jacques Demy's Model Shop from 1969 starring Anouk Aimee. Who wouldn't want to see how the director of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg paints L.A.?

Dying to see: Maps of the Stars. You'll notice Julianne Moore makes this list three times, and it's probably no coincidence, as I love her lots. (That's not her in the photo--it's Mia Wasikowska. Coincidentally they starred together in one of my least-favorite L.A. movies The Kids Are Alright.)

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon. Love, Lexa.