Always for Pleasure

You will be completely transported through time & space, back to La Belle Nouvelle Orleans circa the 70's. The banging beat of Mardis Gras plays in the background as happy faces second line down the street. This documentary shows New Orleans the way it REALLY WAS!!!! Learn all about The Mardis Gras Indians with Big Chief Landry & The Wild Chopitulous, and how not to burn read beans by Irma Thomas. Beautifully shot & completely honest, this film is the most accurate portrayal of a once thriving, unique, beautiful, bewitching city & it's carefree jubilant inhabitants. Watch, you'll have a cry too! Hopefully historians have this film in their archives as evidence to the magic that was, and hopefully one day will be again - New Orleans!

It's a slice-of-life documentary of New Orleans. First, it follows a funeral parade with some cooking and a demonstration of how to eat crawfish. There is also a St. Patrick's Day street party and then of course, there is Mardi Gras. This is a perfect good street level documentary and it has the partiest city in America. There is loads of dancing in the streets. You learn to eat crawfish and a bit of black history. It's party time. Laissez les bons temps rouler.

From Janus Films, Les Blank brings us a look at New Orleans and the French Quarter, 1978. the music plays while we watch various scenes of seafood being unloaded, funeral footage.. it's a mix of slow, sad, soulful jazz, and every now and then, they break into faster, happier tunes to celebrate the deceased. Directed by Les Blank.. king of the documentaries from 1960 into the 2000s. he just lets the film roll. not much talk. a whole lot of time spent on the crayfish and food being prepared, cooked, and dished onto plates at the end of the funeral. and a weird explanation of mardi gras. it's all a random look at people in N'Olins, selected by Les Blank. no rhyme or reason. it's mildly entertaining, but nothing scientific or research oriented. very random looks at the mardi gras participants. ain't no thang. bailed out halfway through. couldn't do it.

Les Blank died recently, and so I decided to start watching his documentaries. I first watched "Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers", all about garlic. "Always for Pleasure" is about New Orleans. The focuses are a funeral, St. Patrick's Day, and then Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras segment is truly the highlight: singing, dancing, and indescribable fun. This makes it all the more sad that the Crescent City has seen itself permanently altered by Hurricane Katrina and everything that resulted from it, and more so by the BP oil spill. But taken on its own, this documentary is a really fun time, truly showing what the Big Easy was always known for. It's a giant party all the way through, so let the good times roll!

Not terribly deep as a documentary, but watchable for its images of the beautiful people of New Orleans, their fabulous Mardi Gras costumes, and infectious spirit. Not deep, but then again there's something pretty profound about dancing at a funeral as a catharsis and to honor the dead. There's so much joy here in the face of such pain; we see the historic site of Congo Square where slaves were allowed to dance on Sunday, and it would have been interesting to get at least a glimpse of the present struggles of the community. But that's not what this is about. It's about enjoying life to the full, good times, and continuing traditions. It's a film that made me smile over its 58 minutes, and I wish it was more completely developed, or had other layers.