I'm finally watching (over and over again) City of Gold. I got the DVD from Netflix. The movie's worth the price of admission (or in this case the monthly charge) just to see the look on Ludo Lefebvre's face when Jonathan Gold walks in and sits down.
I agree with all of janeyb's observations, and looking back through this thread, I can't help wondering, David Hammond, if you called his attention to our "Let's talk authentic" thread.
I also found it interesting how the movie put Gold in the current context with respect to both traditional restaurant critics and the blogosphere. Gold talks about being inspired by Calvin Trillin. Many of today's food writers, both in print and online, seem to me to want to be Calvin Trillin and be Jonathan Gold the way an earlier generation of writers wanted to be Ernest Hemingway.
As a civil engineer, I enjoyed the discussion of urban sprawl and its consequences in LA versus cities farther east that grew in different ways at different times, such as Chicago in the railroad era and Boston in the pre-automobile era. In a quick minute or two, the movie explains and illustrates the concept of sprawl -- I could go on with a pet peeve about how that term is often misused (not in the movie, but by others), but that's a topic for some other forum.
I also liked the Pico Boulevard Project segment very much. I think sometimes that the only way I'll really learn the parts of Chicagoland that interest me the most would be to embark on a series of such projects.
Thumbs up to the cinematography; I thought the movie itself was very well filmed. Certain moments like that paper plate floating away in the wind, that look on Lefebvre's face, that silent moment when Gold's fingers are on the keyboard while he's thinking about how to start writing about tacos, nighttime scenes, the books on the stairs, the man on the street corner who is hopping next to the lady who is standing while Gold talks about transience and permanence in neighborhoods, and others are really memorable. I've never been to LA, but I feel better equipped to approach it (someday, if I get a chance) after watching City of Gold.
"Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"