Edward Lachman presents: Songs For Drella (1990) + Report From Hollywood (1985)

Among the most gifted American cinematographers working today, Edward Lachman’s career draws a direct line from the international cinema landscape of the 1980s to some of the most essential independent films of the 1990s and 2000s, working with directors including Todd Haynes (for whom he received Oscar nominations for Carol and Far From Heaven), Sofia Coppola, Ulrich Seidl, Paul Schrader, Todd Solondz and others. Less known is Lachman’s solo practice as a nonfiction filmmaker over the last 40 years, documenting some of the most enduring artists of his time with intimate access. Mezzanine is thrilled to present two rarely screened nonfiction films directed by Lachman, both L.A. premieres of new restorations supervised by the filmmaker, introduced by Lachman.

This program is presented with generous support from MUBI GO. Learn more at mubi.com/go.

Songs For Drella

Edward Lachman, 1990, 55m

Commissioned for British television, Lachman’s concert film—shot over three nights at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1990—captures Lou Reed and John Cale performing together on stage for the first time since 1968, on occasion of the passing of their friend and collaborator Andy Warhol (or “Drella”, his nickname, a portmanteau of Dracula and Cinderella) three years earlier. In this haunting, elegiac set of 15 songs, the two artists trade musings about Warhol’s upbringing (“Small Town”), customs (“Open House”), industrious work ethic (“Work”), art-world savvy (“Style It Takes”) and the fallout from Valerie Solanas’s murder attempt (“Nobody But You”). Reed and Cale would go on to record the album in the ensuing months after this performance, which until now has only been available on laserdisc.

L.A. premiere of a brand new 4K restoration

Official Selection: New York Film Festival, 2021

“A ravishingly beautiful, sometimes thrilling audiovisual recording…The result is an extraordinary intimacy with both Reed and Cale—the lenses bring viewers closer to each of them than they actually were to each other…Both are at the height of their powers.” -Amy Taubin, Filmmaker Magazine

followed by:

Report From Hollywood

Edward Lachman, 1985, 47m

“It may be worse than Portugal,” observes cinematographer Henri Alekan about a Los Angeles film lab while on the set of Wim Wenders’ The State of Things (1984). A legendary production and a transitional work for the New German Cinema director as his work became increasingly international, Wenders set out to make a film about filmmaking as funding stalled on the American production of Hammett. The State of Things deals with American and European sensibilities about cinema, and he enlisted Lachman to film and document the film being made in Los Angeles. Made for German television, completed in 1985 and unseen outside of Germany, Lachman’s portrait of Wenders at work features striking filmmaking and location photography of Los Angeles in the 1980s, and serves as a candid glimpse into European encounters with American culture at the time. Featuring interviews with Samuel Fuller, Allen Garfield, Patrick Bauchau and others.

U.S. premiere, and world premiere of a brand new 4K restoration

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Please note: due to unforeseen circumstances, the live Q&A with Ed Lachman will now be an virtual introduction rather than an in-person Q&A as previously announced. We apologize for any inconvenience.