Madison Brookshire’s East Hollywood Street Series is a collection of short videos, all of which are different realizations of the same score, which is:
First Variation
for Lumiere&Co.
One shot
Still
Or
Almost
Alive
MB04
Brookshire compares the collection to a book of photos, where each video is a complete work, but viewed together they create a larger piece. As the score suggests, the videos are all simple at first glance — a single long take with a stationary camera, aimed at nothing in particular, overlooking a street in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. The score indicates a nod to the Lumière brothers, whose iconic single-take film of a train arriving at a station is well known to anyone who has studied film. Instead of focusing on action-packed events, Brookshire creates a framework that allows the natural rhythms and events that happen throughout the neighborhood to become the focus — events such as cars or clouds passing, people walking their dogs, or birds taking flight en masse. The complete series is on display for several months at the wulf. downtown, so I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to sit with the work several more times.
LACMA right now is having a series called Laughter in Paradise: The American Comedies of Ernst Lubitsch. I went to the first double feature, showing up just as it was scheduled to start. I was astonished to find the theater PACKED with people… there were very few open seats. Trouble in Paradise was the first film to show; I have never seen anything by Lubitsch before, and while I wouldn’t say it was great art, it certainly was a delightful little bon bon. For several weeks they’ll be having double features of his comedies, and I’ll definitely be returning for more.