Das Fotomodell

The icon in the "SHOP" window should be activated by now, since Sundazed has finally released Spirit's wonderful, long-lost soundtrack music...really the only reason "Model Shop" is remembered at all. In fairness, Demy's film does provide many tasty images of late-'60s L.A., with nice views from Sunset Plaza -- but, as groovy '60s L.A. movies go, Demy is no John Boorman and "Model Shop" is not exactly "Point Blank." The zonkoid lead performances of Anouk Aimee and Gary Lockwood don't do much to pique one's interest either. But hey, so little footage (if any) of the original Spirit lineup exists that their brief scene alone makes watching worthwhile. So pick up the CD and long live Randy California!

This little seen Jaques Demy film is no lost masterpiece but is well worth catching. One of the most notable features is how well it captures a look of late sixties LA rarely seen in other movies. The story though is slight and the acting is uneven. Psychedelic rock fans should watch it to see the legendary Spirit - their music is on the soundtrack and they have a few lines. To sum up - an oddly interesting film not a great one.

The time and the setting (late 60's LA) seem among the most authentic of any movie from that period, probably owing to the director who wasn't trying to exploit the culture like so many American directors of the time did. The film transcends nostalgia, and is very worth seeing for the style, authenticity, and music (provided by one of LA's greatest bands, Spirit). The main character played by Gary Lockwood (lots of TV credits over the years) is under great direction by Demy, who helps to make him into an American version of someone out of French New Wave. And into the wave comes Anouk Aimme, whom he meets in an LA "model shop", about as cool and detached a woman as ever graced the screen.

I saw this movie when I was 17, and shortly thereafter decided that I had to move to Los Angeles. In the years since, MODEL SHOP has remained so unavailable and obscure that I was never sure if the movie was really good, or only good to an impressionable small-town 17-year old seduced by its dreamlike visuals of the big city.

After seeing it again at the American Cinematheque, I have to commend my younger self for having good taste. The unusual locations and spare, sun-bleached desert look give the film an almost hallucinatory air. Only an outsider to LA like Demy can find the poetic beauty in desolate beach cottages strewn among sand-blown paths and churning oil derricks.

Demy's story of one day in the life of a disillusioned architect conveys a rich emotion perched between confusion, love, fear and optimism. I can't wait to see it again...

Gary Lockwood cuts an amusingly masculine presence on the screen: dressed in T-shirts and blue jeans, chain-smoking and driving a revamped jalopy--his hair combed down over his forehead like a teenage car mechanic--he's a walking centerfold out of Tiger Beat. Lockwood plays an unemployed denizen of Los Angeles who follows peculiarly glamorous Anouk Aimée one afternoon down the city street and into a model shop (where men can photograph girls--look but don't touch). She's a French immigrant who'll be returning home soon (something to do with her papers), and he's been drafted and about to have his car repossessed. Certainly a one-night-stand is all these two lovelies can afford, but the things they talk about, the connection they make, may last a lot longer. Director Jacques Demy seems to have fallen in love with late-'60s L.A., and much of the movie is spent just following Lockwood around from place to place. It isn't right to say the picture meanders (it hasn't got the agenda to meander from!), though it does feel mighty thin. Films based upon character and conversation are apt to tire some viewers' patience, but those in the mood for a low-keyed, would-be love story could certainly do worse. Lockwood is boyish but solemn, perhaps a loner, and of very few words; still, he connects with viewers on an intrinsic level (you trust him) and his final scene on the telephone is a winner. **1/2 from ****