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Rigour And Play: Laurie Anderson's Favourite Films
Mat Colegate , January 22nd, 2016 09:27

On a recent visit to London the performance artist, director and musician took time out to talk about her 13 favourite films with Mat Colegate

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The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. Demille, 1956)

It was something that really impressed me when I saw it as a kid. I thought it was the most amazing spectacle. I was just looking at the trailer and the parting of the Red Sea was so well done! It looks really contemporary. Charlton Heston - much as I despise him - is a really good Moses. Also I love the story. It's kind of inspiring. Although I will say that Moses is a little too heroic in this. In the accounts of the exodus that I really like Moses is not convinced that it's a good thing to do. He's like: “You people are not really ready to be free. You're slaves with a slave mentality so this looks like a mistake. I'm not really ready to be your leader and will probably mess it up. And where are we going anyway?” But what I love about that story is that they do it anyway. I find that really inspiring. Yul Brunner's great in that movie too - he looks like he's made of bronze.