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Chop Suey (2001)

Director: Bruce Weber

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From Time Out London

A beautiful film of bits and pieces from the life and work of Bruce Weber set to music from Chopin to Cole Porter. Back in 2001 it was the first he’d made since his Chet Baker doc ‘Let’s Get Lost’ thirteen years earlier. It’s a scrapbook of possible films, friends, inspirations, distractions and obsessions – all presented by Weber’s comforting voice. The film emerged from a book of photographs by Weber of a young Wisconsin boxer, Peter Johnson (below), and it’s to Johnson, whom he holds dear, that Weber addresses his memories.

In the hands of another, this might  seem like ornate name-dropping (from Diana Vreeland to Robert Mitchum, George Cukor to Frances Faye), but Weber’s eyes are open. He’s aware of his fascination with the perfect male body (‘we sometimes photograph things we can never be’) and his wonder extends to a British explorer with whom he ‘spent the afternoon drinking tea and talking about camels’. The relaxed mood is inclusive, never exclusive, and that’s what makes it such a great, lazy, inspiring watch.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2008-07-01 12:54:04

Time Out London Issue 1976, July 3 - 9 2008

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Chop Suey

Cast & crew

Director: Bruce Weber

Producer: Nan Bush

Cast: Peter Johnson, Frances Faye, Herbie Fletcher, Dibi Fletcher, Christian Fletcher, Nathan Fletcher, Rickson Gracie and family, Robert Mitchum, Wilfred Thesiger, Jan Michael Vincent, Diana Vreeland full cast

Genre(s): Documentaries

Duration: 98 mins


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