CAST:
Jørgen Leth,
Kim Larsen,
Andy Warhol

SCRIPT:
Ole John

PHOTOGRAPHY:
Dan Holmberg

EDITING:
Kristian Levring

Synopsis:

At the beginning of the 80s of the last century, the distinguished Danish documentarian, anthropologist, prose writer and poet Jørgen Leth went to the United States with the respected Swedish videographer Dan Holmberg. At that time, it seemed that they were experiencing a renaissance, and the two filmmakers wanted to document the American reality of that time. But not only that, but also your impressions of that reality, certain events, cities, some recognizable 'American' pop-culture locations in them or on the periphery, as well as people who are representatives of certain ethnic and class social groups, and if their thoughts and feelings as much as possible. According to his own words, Leth saw the motive for the realization of this film in the fact that to him and to a large number of his compatriots, and perhaps to a good part of Europeans and citizens of the rest of the world, America was distant, foreign and incomprehensible at the time, but outwardly it emanated a specific a culture that was reflected in the everyday life of people on its streets and roads, as well as in certain details of their lives. Leth and Holmberg tirelessly toured America, from New York and Key West, Florida, through Monument Valley, Arizona, and the city of Lubbock, Texas, to Manhattan Beach, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The final result is an extremely interesting and intriguing documentary, partly an experimental collage of postcards or vignettes in which Leth and Holmberg recorded a multitude of details. From the bartender in the very popular New York restaurant Sardi's, who prepares several cocktails in front of the camera, over the waving of the American flag in several locations, mostly in the south, and an oil well and a surfer who poses in a specific pose leaning on a board, to a person who hitchhikes while sitting on a bag on highway no. 8 near Tucson, Arizona and several New York taxi drivers who introduce themselves to the author. There are also the inevitable sunsets over the desert landscapes and skyscrapers of the Big Apple, shots of typical American roadside restaurants, just like modest dusty houses somewhere in New Mexico, and a bottle of Old Turkey whiskey half-full and a cigarette in the ashtray. Although Leth is also known for the short black-and-white 12-minute film Perfect Human Being, which Lars von Trier considers not only a great achievement, but also the most perfect film ever made, 66 American Scenes is perhaps the director's best-known work. Not so much as a whole, but mainly because of one scene that is also the longest in the film, in which the famous American painter, designer and filmmaker of Ruthenian origin Andy Warhol unwraps and eats a hamburger. In one conversation, Leth explained that the length of that scene was a consequence of coincidence, or insufficient understanding between him and Warhol. And the French filmmaker, writer and multimedia artist Chris Marker explained the origin of the film with the thesis that Leth decided to follow the request of the Japanese poet Sei Shônagon, who wrote around 1000 AD that a true artist must "compile a list of things that make the heart beat faster". According to Marker, this film represents Leth's list of such things.

color, 42'