This is the second short film in a series on cities around the world for Louis Vuitton, using gender as a lens to interpret each city's identity.
above: stills from Jean-Claude Thibaut's When L.A. Is A Man
Directed and written by Jean-Claude Thibaut, the film has some very beautiful scenes of Los Angeles (as in the stills above), despite being accompanied by a voice over of which I am not a big fan (excerpt shown below).
“From the hill, suspended above the starry skyline, L.A. appeared to me as a whole.
He’s a lonely and secretive player, blazing and unrefined, dedicating himself to his dreams - and incidentally ours - with a disconcerting ease.
He has the nerve and imagination of one who has nothing to lose, always walking a tightrope. His weaknesses are concealed.
Untouched by criticism, L.A. works in faith and finds his way to a new era, the one he imagines being his own future. The burning ease of his achievements has something of prodigality and childishness. Each scene of his life is the most important. L.A. is fated to be young forever, eternal. He walks through the night, striding along, indolent while unrestrained, with the style of a gifted kid.
In my mind a far-fetched idea is growing slowly: it seems L.A. gave me this blind confidence to turn things into art, without ever looking back. L.A. drove me where I have never been before.”
I do think the direction is wonderful, even though I exactly don't love the casting and the copy. But it's a lovely look at LA. What do you think?
info and video courtesy of Louis Vuitton
