66 Scenes From America

Director: Jørgen Leth
Year Released: 1982
Rating: 2.5

Postcard-like "snapshots" from Danish filmmaker Leth's travels in the U.S. - he seems to want to compare/contrast N.Y.C. life (examining a bartender as he quickly concocts a variety of drinks at Sardi's, having locals pose against a skyline, watching Andy Warhol eat a Whopper) with the desolate highways, one-level houses, old hotels and farming equipment of the rest of the country. It's part Robert Frank's The Americans and part Pop experiment: the framing is nice and Leth clearly has some fondness for our lil' federal republic, but the static approach and attention to the surface don't exactly illuminate what makes our country so truly diverse and paradoxical.