No.4165
I've been watching old "city movies" recently, by which I mean movies (preferably documentary) that focus on the daily life of a city. Some favorites so far have been Duoro Faina Fluvial, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, and A Propos de Nice. Any recommendations of similar films would be appreciated, maybe we could even work on a city-core chart
No.4167
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
I like the term "city symphony" for an early version of this. Some related titles are mentioned here … a few are a bit off-topic but could be interesting anyway.
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2003/1/03.01.11.x.htmlManhatta (1921)
Rien que les heures (1926)
The Bridge (1927),
Rain (1929)
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Moving Image Materials (1988)
Berlin Symphony (2002)
I also thought of
Belfast, Maine (1999) by Frederick Wiseman. I haven't seen it but I'm sure it's worth watching.
No.4183
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
http://www.ubu.com/film/harris_organism.htmlBefore KOYAANISQATSI, there was ORGANISM. Hilary Harris actually contributed some of his innovative time-lapse footage to Godfrey Reggio’s art-house blockbuster but his ORGANISM remains a singular achievement. Shot over the course of fifteen years, the film deepens its splendid visual investigations of how New York works by likening the city’s complex systems to those of a single biological organism. Harris is hardly the first to suggest this metaphor but it registers with fresh life in his canny montage: the flickering lights of the skyline at night correspond with descriptions of neurons firing and the flow of traffic is brilliantly juxtaposed with the microscopic movement of blood cells. Within the time-lapse frame, Harris carefully engineers continuous zooms and layers the composition so as to realize several concurrent elements of circulation. Time itself registers in many guises here: the routinized movements of a cafeteria at lunch, the precise intervals of planes touching down at LaGuardia and the long haul of a construction site. The wondrous view may be technologically enhanced but ORGANISM is unmistakably cinema with a human touch. - Max Goldberg
No.4245
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
>>4165Here's one made for Edinburgh
Waverley Steps (1948)
No.4425
Jean Vigo's À propos de Nice really impressed me. It differs from the other city symphonies that I've seen of that time as it attempts to display the seedy undercurrent of the city rather than a modernist celebration of it, showing it in a subversive manner the hedonistic livelihood of the bourgeois in contrast with the workers holding it all up.
There's also a distinct blending of the real and surreal characteristic of Vigo that I've never seen replicated before in documentary form. a mix of capturing the immediate and gags and smart use of cuts to create second meanings.
No.4427
21-87
No.4430
>>4425Thanks for the review. I still need to see Vigo's earlier works.
No.6221
>>4165
> maybe we could even work on a city-core chart
I will try to make one. So speak up if you have more ideas!
No.6233
Shame? I really love everything that takes place in NY or New Orleans. The jogging and restaurant scenes in Shame were heart
No.6236
>>6233
Do you mean the Steve McQueen movie? Too much fiction. For the most part these city movies are documentaries with some experimentation.
I collected 25-30 for a list. I might not include these two shorts but you can still watch them...
Reflection (2012) https://www.nfb.ca/film/reflection_2012
>>4427 21-87 (1964) https://www.nfb.ca/film/21-87
No.6248
No.6959
I want to update with more... at least 2 for a new row of 5
Any ideas?
>>6248
not close enough to documentary, sir
watch the titles mentioned in OP