All the Places I Have Ever Lived
A noir tour with film clips
Using the language of film noir. All The Places I Have Ever Lived traces the westward migration of upward mobility in Los Angeles through the post-war years and explore the social and political climate that informed it. The chartered tour departs from the Schindler House and includes on-site discussions and film excerpts. Selwood explores an understanding of L.A. as a subjective landscape whose geography is expressed by shifting sets of motives and values.
Sites include:
The Hollywood Athletic Club, Bullocks Wilshire, the Bradbury Building, and Bunker Hill
July 21, 2001
MAK Center for Art and Architecture
Mistaken Identity
Duration: 28:15
All night, I walk the city, watching the people go by.
I try to sing a little ditty, but all that comes out is a sigh.
The street looks very frightening, the rain begins and then comes lightning.
It seems love’s gone to pot, I’d rather have the blues than what I’ve got…
Mistaken Identity revisits the forgotten characters and deserted landscapes of Robert Aldrich’s classic film noir, Kiss Me Deadly, (1955), Broken steps, the ocean pier at night, and the expressways are just some of the scenes rephotographed and then drawn over to produce a commentary on the artifice of cinema and memory. The film takes a feminist perspective on the role of the detective’s “moll” who as a temptress shows us film noir’s need to portray women in polarized roles of temptress versus victim. Women are sexually liberated and not struck down for it yet how this story fits into a contemporary setting in Los Angeles today is another question.
Directed by
Maureen Selwood
Voiceover
Marissa Chibas
Camera
Nancy Jean Tucker