Even in high-definition, ‘Los Angeles’ portrait looks blurry

Filmmaker Phillip Rodriguez takes on the daunting subject of “Los Angeles Now” in his uninspiring one-hour documentary airing Saturday as part of PBS’ Independent Lens series. A glossy overview, skillfully shot in high-definition video by cinematographer Claudio Rocha, the film covers too much territory for its brief running time and provides little that is new or insightful in its observations.

The film points out the “browning” of the city as waves of Latino and Asian-Pacific immigrants replace whites from the Midwest who dominated the city during its “Anglo Century” and positions contemporary L.A. as the sociological prototype for the U.S. over the next 50 years. Rodriguez takes us through the transformation of the area from an Edenic pre-Columbian land to the modern “geographic illusion” that this irrigated desert has become. A diverse group of prominent figures weighs in on L.A.’s uniqueness as a sprawling, horizontal metropolis, one that lacks a center or a circumference but draws its identity from a vast number of urban villages that flow together.

Many of the interviewees speak in lyrical tones, and Rodriguez blends the quintessentially L.A. writing of Charles Bukowski with contemporary authors such as Richard Rodriguez, Mike Davis, Michael Ventura and poet Wanda Coleman to evoke Los Angeles more as an emotion than as a place. Developer and philanthropist Eli Broad, Cardinal Roger M. Mahoney and historian Kevin Starr are also featured, along with an assortment of lesser-known artists and musicians. What the film lacks is the voice of average Angelenos in any prominent role, a lapse that is heightened by the head-scratching presence of former Laker coach Phil Jackson and actress Salma Hayek.

Rocha’s digital video gives it a crisp, shimmering look, and the use of computer-generated imagery and vintage photos to produce multidimensional collages rendering early California are distinctive. However, the coolness of the new media seems to be at odds with the film’s portrait of L.A. as a hothouse of cultural metamorphosis and further distances the audience from the material. Ultimately, “Los Angeles Now” is a hip, slightly pedantic slice of contemporary social studies, which will probably be of more interest to people who don’t actually live here.

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‘Independent Lens -- Los Angeles Now’

Where: KCET

When: 9 p.m. Saturday.

Ratings: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)

Susan Sarandon...Host

Producer and director Phillip Rodriguez.