Los Angeles plays itself (Anderson [2003] 2014)

Mon, 04/10/2017 - 12:11pm by henrymo@umich.edu

Maybe we live in Ann Arbor, a semi-dense municipality with a population of 118,000 and ranked as the most educated city in the U.S., so why would we be interested in a film about L.A., the sprawling concrete jungle that is home to 3.9 million and the interstices of Hollywood? Well for starters, this essay-film/documentary offers a fascinating analysis of the city behind the facade. It is a critique of the decay of Los Angeles in and through cinema.

Accordingly, director, Thom Anderson (professor at the California Institute of Arts) presents a study of how the city has been interpreted, represented, and obliterated through the movies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the critique reveals the failings of cinema to capture the true essence of a place as experienced by residents far removed from the screen. The film seeks to reclaim the city from cinema, and in so doing seeks to save cinema in itself.

Los Angeles plays itself (2003) was not released commercially and was originally only seen in film festival screenings and through file-sharing. Since garnering a larger audience, the film has won critical acclaim and was recently remastered in 2014.

Professor Anderson uses footage from what seems to be hundreds of films (and television shows) spanning from the 1920s to 2001, which are reassembled with his own shots of Los Angeles into a comprehensive, inside, and cinephilic perspective. The film is organized into two parts covering numerous themed essays around brilliant and lucid analyses of the city. These include the city as backdrop and character, past and future, high and low tourism, and modernist architecture and simulacrum that reveal the socio-economic conditions of the times. Although part one of the film at times drags on - when dealing with architecture - the second part is where it all comes together - when addressing urban planning.

In part two, Anderson's critiques become a fascinating historical recount of Los Angeles' public transportation system and the automobile, aqueducts and infrastructure, and working class and non-white neighborhoods. He takes the viewer from a Singing in the Rain Los Angeles to a Boyz in the Hood Los Angeles (see Mike Davis 2014).

In the finale, it is evident that Los Angeles plays itself is a celebration of cinema born of the city and not the other way around. Although the film is a few notches below the poetics of Italo Calvino, it seemingly serves as a tribute to his novel Invisible Cities (1978).

Here are a handful of the prominently featured and celebrated works in Los Angeles plays itself that are well worth brushing up on:

Dragnet (television series: 1951-1959)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (2003)
Blade Runner (2007)
Chinatown (1974)
Killer of Sheep (1977)

Suggest a Title For Washtenaw Reads 2018

Tue, 04/04/2017 - 4:08pm by TimG

Read a good book lately? Suggest it for Washtenaw Reads 2018!

The Washtenaw Reads screening team is meeting throughout the summer to select finalist titles for the Read and they want your ideas!

The Washtenaw Reads program is a community initiative to promote reading and civic dialogue through the shared experience of reading and discussing a common book. Participating libraries and communities include Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Milan, Northfield Township, Saline, and Ypsilanti.

To suggest a title visit Washtenaw Reads or the Washtenaw Reads Facebook page. Washtenaw Reads 2018 will take place January - February 2018.

Thanks for your suggestions!

2 or 3 things I know about her : 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (Godard 1967)

Sun, 04/02/2017 - 3:51pm by henrymo@umich.edu

This 1967 French film by Jean-Luc Godard is part of the Criterion Collection and asserted by film critic Amy Taubin to be one of the greatest achievements in cinema. The film is largely a critique of Charles De Gaulle's Politics of Granduer, an economic infrastructure project in the mid-1960s in Paris that tore up the inner city with highways relocating the upper-middle-class into monstrous housing complexes in the outer arrondissements. In particular, Godard captures a social phenomenon of the time in which one in two housewives living in these high-rises had turned to part-time prostitution in order to maintain the self-necessitated class status.

2 or 3 things I know about her captures the banality and alienation of the bourgeoisie by following 24-hours in the life of Juliete Jeanson (Marina Vlady), a mother and housewife who traverses her own violation through that of Paris and the Vietnam War. Ultimately, the film is a critique of the fragmentation of capitalist society, as expressed through the indifference of "objects" such as cleaning products, magazine advertisements, fashion shopping, finger nail polish, children, and especially sex with strangers.

The film is perhaps most notable for its radical departures from narrative form through its documentary-essayist style, 360-degree camera pans, non-synchronous sound, seemingly random dialogue, and percussive editing. Godard's own voice is in the film, whispering in first-person to the viewer and off-screen to the actors via earpieces who are responding directly, often breaking the fourth-wall.

For those interested in urban planning this film gives a rare window into De Gaulle's Paris, which conjures urban histories from Haussmann's Paris (1850s-1870s), Robert Moses' New York City (1920s-1960s), and Lúcio Costa's and Oscar Niemeyer's Brasilia (1950s-1960s; excerpt from The Shock of the New narrated by Robert Hughes). The preface to David Harvey's book Rebel Cities offers a good setup for this film and even mentions it! (here is a link to an interview with Harvey).

Finally, if you enjoy French essay films, you may also appreciate Chris Marker's works, such as his 1977 film A Grin without a cat. Amusez-vous bien!

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #633

Fri, 03/31/2017 - 11:18pm by muffy

An April 2017 LibraryReads, Kate Eberlen's engaging debut Miss You * brings to mind One Day by David Nicholls, where two souls that are meant to be, crisscross each other for years without connecting, after a chance meeting as 18 year-olds.

Tess and (An)Gus first met in a dim church in Florence and bumped into each other on the Ponte Vecchio while on holiday, before heading off to university in London.

Gus would read medicine, fulfilling the family wish. Tess never made it to university. Her mother's untimely death and the brute of a father meant she would stay home and raise her special-need younger sister, Hope.

Over the course of the next 16 years, as they individually fumbled through failed romances and marriage, balancing family and professional demands, the two narrowly missed one another several more times - while queuing up at Selfridge's one Christmas Eve; at a posh country wedding; at a frenzy Stones' concert where Gus, now a physician, attended to an unconscious Tess.

"Eberlen, who has written historical fiction and chick lit under the name Imogen Parker, excels in creating realistic characters whom readers will adore—including Tess’ unusual sister, Hope; Tess’ sassy best friend, Dolly; and Gus’ impulsive college pal, Nash. Eberlen also shines at keeping the story moving through 16 years of friendship, purpose, and love. Swoon-worthy." (Booklist)

Will appeal to fans of Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes.

* = Starred review

Need a Picture ID?

Fri, 03/24/2017 - 10:26am by Beth Manuel

If you've been asked for a picture ID and have been unable to produce it, you may likely be able to get a Washtenaw County ID Card. Applicants must appear in person at the Washtenaw County Vital Records Division. There are point values attributed to a broad range of documents that can serve as proof for applicants to get a picture ID card when they may have been unable to get ID in the past. The cost of the card is $25.00 and is for all ages. Check out the Washtenaw County ID Project on Facebook to find out about events to promote the ID card. Community members are encouraged to get a card in an effort to de-stigmatize it for those who have no other identification card options.

Free Radicals: a history of experimental film (Chodorov 2012)

Thu, 03/23/2017 - 10:57am by henrymo@umich.edu

[cover_image]|1424607[/cover_image] What is experimental film? How did it emerge? Who are the groundbreaking artists? What is the intention in the form? If you want to get polished up for the 55th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, then this gem of a film is an excellent refresher! Free Radicals: a history of experimental film summarily captures a bricolage of formats from non-film stop motion, to etching on film (and leader), to mixed-medium nonlinear performances.

In this documentary, Director, Pip Chodorov narrates a personal journey that retraces his childhood through first-hand exposure to the pivotal figures of the avant-garde film movement in Europe and America. The film - an homage to experimental form itself - showcases precious archival footage, as well as the filmmaker's home videos that feature a rare and insightful interview with Hans Richter. Chodorov masterfully weaves the story of experimental film together through biographical interviews with notables Jonas Mekas, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, Ken Jacobs, and Robert Breer amongst others. Chodorov, himself an experimental filmmaker, actively supports the marginal form by documenting his personal journey and participation throughout the piece.

Surprisingly, the Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF) - a key proponent of the experimental film scene - is not mentioned in this work. Perhaps this is because George Manupelli, founder of AAFF, had a different and less curatorial idea to supporting the art form. Rather than promote a certain taste, his vision was for a more inclusive venue to foster an emerging diversity of its form (see our interview with the festival's Executive Director, Leslie Raymond). Nonetheless, Free Radicals not only serves as a useful historical view into the genre but more so is able to stand on its own as a work of art.

I hope you enjoy watching this remarkable and informative 2012 documentary on the history of experimental filmmaking!

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #632 "(D)espite appearances, puzzling is not a solitary game: every move the puzzler makes, the puzzlemaker has made before..." ~ Georges Perec

Tue, 03/21/2017 - 10:57pm by muffy

Author Caite Dolan-Leach's clever title for her debut Dead Letters * references the obvious, but also its alternate definition.

Graduate student Ava Antipova made her way home to upstate New York when news of her estranged twin Zelda's death reached her in Paris. They have not spoken for 2 years after a bitter betrayal.

Arriving at Seneca Lake where the family's failing vineyard Silenus, was located, Ava immediately stepped into caring for their ailing mother and estranged father who long ago, abandoned them for a sunnier vineyard, wealthier wife, and a younger family in California. Almost immediately, even before the Police suspected foul play, Ava began receiving cryptic emails and social media messages from Zelda.

Arranged in 26 chapters, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet and recounting the games the twins played as children, Zelda led Ava on a scavenger-hunt, delivering "a lock-room mystery with flavors of Perec", which as it became increasingly obvious, was also a taunt for the Edgar Allan Poe scholar (subject of Ava's dissertation) and the OuLiPo Movement - writers obsessed with mysteries and literary games.

"In this, her startling debut novel, Dolan-Leach nimbly entwines the clever mystery of Agatha Christie, the wit of Dorothy Parker, and the inebriated Gothic of Eugene O’Neill." (Kirkus Reviews)

For readers who enjoyed Sister by Rosamund Lupton, and The Widow by Fiona Barton.

* = starred review

A Coming of Age Adventure

Mon, 03/20/2017 - 12:23pm by Lucy S

"The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley is one part Quentin Tarantino, one part Scheherazade, and twelve parts wild innovation.” Ann Patchett

Hannah Tinti’s notable, gritty, first novel, The Good Thief was very well received in 2008 and those who have been waiting for more from her will not be disappointed with her second accomplishment, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley.

Samuel Hawley is a lifetime criminal who realizes he needs to change his felonious ways when his daughter, Loo, reaches adolescence and starts acting the part of a delinquent as well. Though Loo is happy to follow her father in all he does, Samuel feels compelled to settle down for her sake. When Samuel and Loo move to Olympus, Massachusetts, the town where Loo’s mother lived, Loo becomes curious about how her mother died. All Loo knows of her mother are the relics that her father carries and sets up in a shrine wherever they relocate. Loo has trouble letting go of the old, peripatetic ways and adapting to life in Olympus. “She began to dread the moves but a part of her also itched for them, because it meant that she could stop trying to fit in and simply slip into the place where she belonged: the passenger seat of her father’s truck as they barreled down the highway.”

Instead of making friends in Olympus, Loo sets out to learn more about what really happened to her mother. As she unravels the mystery of her mother’s past she becomes more deeply involved in her father’s present. Loo starts to comprehend what the twelve scars on her father’s body truly indicate about who he is and the life he’s led.

Interspersed with the chapters that tell of Loo’s adolescence and adjustment to her new home, are chapters set in earlier times that tell us of the harrowing adventures that comprise “the twelve lives of Samuel Hawley,” one chapter for each bullet that has left its mark on his scarred body. The chapters alternate between past and present in a wide setting that spans the entire United States, from Alaska to Massachusetts.

In an interview at the end of the book, Tinti explains how she created Samuel Hawley. She imagined a man blemished by bullets, and as he appeared to her bullet hole by bullet hole she created her story. Each of the chapters describing one of Hawley's wounds contains similar thematic elements. Tinti was influenced by Greek mythology and builds for Hawley a set of Herculean tasks, essentially, twelve different ways of getting shot. Loo, as she matures, is also on an odyssey. Each “first” in her life lies in a chapter sandwiched between the details of her father’s escapades. Her experiences, from her first fight, to her first crime, bring her closer to her father and to understanding the intentions of the people around her. “Their hearts were all cycling through the same madness - the discovery, the bliss, the loss, the despair - like planets taking turns in orbit around the sun.”

Tinti interweaves violence and compassion in this book that is part mystery, part quest for truth, and part love story. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley is a gunslinging tale of adventure dovetailed with a powerful account of a father’s love as Samuel Hawley struggles with whether to teach his daughter by word or deed. “It was like they were one person, not two. When he thought, Loo acted.”

Amy Krouse Rosenthal - Children's Author

Fri, 03/17/2017 - 7:50am by potterbee

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, a popular author, filmmaker and speaker died on Monday, March 13, 2017. She is best known for her memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, her children's picture books, and the film project The Beckoning of Lovely. She was a prolific writer, publishing more than 30 books between 2005 and her death in 2017. She was a contributor to Chicago's NPR affiliate WBEZ, and to the TED conference.

Her first success was with the book Little Pea, about a pod denied his favorite dessert (spinach) until he finished all his candy (which he detested). She is the only author to have three children's books make the Best Children's Books for Family Literacy list in the same year for the titles Spoon (2009), Yes Day!, and Duck! Rabbit!, a clever take on the age-old optical illusion: Is it a duck or a rabbit? There's also a subtle lesson for kids who don't know when to let go of an argument. A smart, simple story that will make readers of all ages eager to take a side, Duck! Rabbit! makes it easy to agree on one thing, reading it again!

The follow up to her alphabetized memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (published in 2005), Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, is full of her distinct blend of nonlinear narrative, wistful reflections, and insightful wit. It sheds light on all the ordinary and extraordinary ways we are connected. A testament to the notion that books and technology don't have to be at odds, this part memoir, part art installation offers a series of vignettes (personal anecdotes, observations, drawings, and photographs) divided into different subjects reminiscent of a high school "textbook."

Her final contribution was published on March 3, 2017 in the New York Times, You May Want to Marry My Husband. In the piece, Rosenthal announced her illness, celebrated her family and sought a new partner for her husband, Jason. She finished the essay on Valentine's Day, and said, "the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins."