The London Perambulator (full length documentary)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Featuring: Russell Brand, Will Self, Iain Sinclair and Nick Papadimitriou
Directed by John Rogers
John Rogers' film looks at the city we deny and the future city that awaits us. Leading London writers and cultural commentators Will Self, Iain Sinclair and Russell Brand explore the importance of the liminal spaces at the city's fringe, its Edgelands, through the work of enigmatic and downright eccentric writer and researcher Nick Papadimitriou - a man whose life is dedicated to exploring and archiving areas beyond the permitted territories of the high street, the retail park, the suburban walkways.
The ideas of psychogeography and Nick's own deep topography are also explored.
The London Perambulator premiered at The Whitechapel Gallery in the East End Film Festival, April 2009.
It has also screened at The London International Documentary Festival, Curzon Soho's Doc Days, Cine City Brighton Film Festival, East End Film Festival's Movie Mayday - and others.
More info here: londonperambula...
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Please watch: "Walk from St.Paul's through Islington to Highgate"
• Walk from St.Paul's th...
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"I will be the beetles scurrying under a piece of corrugated plastic hidden in some piss stained corner..." brilliant.
A delightful insight to a curious and wonderful mind.
I too find the suburbs an oddly tranquil place to wander around. Its sort of this contrast between the notional stability of what you see around you but, as Nick said, the true impermanence of it all, for those behind the curtains and for the building itself. Its almost like walking on a spectrum of infinite time, especially when the buildings all look the same and all embody the same fundamental human desires. For my own part I'm glad someone's out there doing something to make note of it!
Watching this again. It's a go-to for me. There is so much resonance in it. So much to be healed in so many of us by it, in my opinion. Thank you from my heart.
Thank you for watching Emily and for your lovely comment
I could not have put it any better than that Emily
Watching this takes me to a world I'd like to be, away from the pain of the personal world that I live in, Nick clearly sees things other people don't see, a remarkable human being, a gentle man, I could listen to his stories all day long.
Mr Brand was also a great moment in this film.
John Rogers at his best!
Sums London up really this film, the dirt, the grime, the beauty, the green bits between the concrete, the Victorian splendour etc etc.
Nick sees the beauty in the concrete of London, truly brilliant!
Andy in Essex.
Totally get what Nick means about picking up the thoughts and memories of peoples and times gone by where the borders of those landscapes meet. Love this documentary John. Thanks for making and sharing it. He’s so right about the feeling, whether conscious or sub-conscious, of great loss. I know that every generation feels that in the sense of change happens, but these times have changed with a much steeper ratio.
This has put words and description to my own feelings when experiencing places. I feel the exact same way as Nick. What an awesome guy, Nick seems liberated to express himself completely authenicately, without the social constraints and worries that have prevented me from expressing myself so openly for fear of 'not being cool' or mocked. What an inspirational guy xx love this so much!
I come back to watch this now and again. Completely agree with you! I would feel apprehensive about talking about these things in the way Nick does. I feel like he represents all of our thoughts and feelings of these places
I'm deeply moved of this documentary! Thank you very much! It's a rare case, when I could recognize an important (but never reflected before) part of my own personality! I feel related with people in the movie, especially with Nick. I have never been in London, I just do the same things everywhere I currently live. I thought I'm only one who does something like this ;) and I'm exited to read the comments from the people who have very similar impressions like I have.
That's wonderful to hear Andrey - there are a lot of us out there
Best documentary I've seen in a considerable length of time.
+Quentin Crisp many thanks indeed
Nick is the theoretical physicist of deep topography. Very moving film.
I identify with Nick and Will, as I have spent most of my life walking around cities, daydreaming. I often have nothing in particular to do, so am able to wander, flaneur-like on my my own routes where other people are scarce. I've also spent long periods in a fucked-up state, not through drugs but as a result of mental issues. When I roamed, I actually enjoyed the altered view that my damaged state gave me. I used to identify very much with Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, who after his acid-induced breakdown, was often sighted on long walks across Cambridge and London. .I'm better now, sort of.
Tom George glad to hear it.
Yeah I know exactly what you mean. I was diagnosed in 2001 with Bipolar Disorder (Funnily enough in the same unit in Cambridge where Syd Barrett had a connection). I have been manic 3 times since then and the hour walk twice a week in Cambridge is always the best I feel each week. I change the route constantly and find that it is impossible to ever be bored by any route I take. Even taking the same route 100 times you can never have the same experience twice.
@@benwherlock9869 walking is great therapy definitely!
In my early teens my Father used to drop me in deepest Kent to fish the small tributary's of the Medway. More often than not I failed to show up at the agreed meeting point for my pick up. My Dad used to call me. Sometimes I heard him and returned. Sometimes I heard him, sort of. Several times he suspected I had been drinking. I had not. I had become absorbed. I often stopped fishing a few hours after arriving and just floated away. I deeply miss these experiences. A waking dream if you like.
I love this documentary, I grew up in Suburban West London and have a strange connection myself to the old remains of Surburbia and thus really appreciate this other viewpoint, glad to see others view Surburbia with magical eyes.
Beautiful, resonant documentary on the overlooked small details of London's sprawling outer-ness. Thank you. Will be frequently watched.
+Kate Hardy thanks Kate
Fascinating insights into the underpinnings of the practice of psychogeography and how deep topography distills things.
Thanks Carole - such a great experience making this film - nearly all of it shot 10 years ago now
This is the best documentary I've seen in years. I hate to use the wanky old word spirituality, but I can't think of another that sums up the senses and layers of connection this film inspires in me.
There should be a premoulded concrete post errected to Nick.
Lord, I thought it was only me who did this. Good not to be alone.
oh yes there are more people than you think out there doing this
That's good to know.
Here are a couple of my blogs on London Street markets.
www.liamofarrell.com/2015/12/paintings-of-ten-london-street-markets-part-1/
www.liamofarrell.com/2015/12/paintings-of-ten-london-street-markets-part-2-of-2/
The Japanese concept 'mono no aware' comes to mind. Very beautiful.
I've watched this over and over again and still love it, still learn something and still love Nick more and more. I wish we could all be a bit more Nick. "Nick" is there, it's in us, we just need to look and find it. I can not wait to visit the Edgelands of my youth in a few weeks time in Reading, greatly inspired by this film. Thanks John, Nick and everyone involved.
Completely, utterly fascinating. TWS brought me here.
Thanks
Superb documentary John. Continuously fascinating, so many connotations. The majority can't see the beauty in these places of limbo but in truth they are endlessly enthralling.
Thank you for including my music remix; "I Stand", in your documentary.
I had no idea it was used for your film. :)
"So I'd like my work to be found in a skip, in Southgate or somewhere, in 40 years time."
Pa Hahaha!! I can see where Russell draws his low-life gags from. I take great heart from this man, as having read into pyschogeography, I realise I have undertook some myself, all in the name of impromptu catharsis.
It totally makes sense...and from now on nicks gonna be with me on my walks n will become part of me as well.
This is awesome to see. I never knew there could be so much psychology involved in taking a walk. It's really cool to see people make all these personal connections to their past and their surroundings.
Heavy going, but totally fascinating. Great personalities. I did like Russell's description of Nick as Lucid confusion. Will watch again as it's very inspiring.
Thanks Jag - one person who interviewed me about the film said it was the wordiest film he'd ever watched - lot of ideas in there and some fantastic language, great experience making it
I've found myself watching this film four times in two days, it's very emotive indeed.
....their sheds have rotted, their cats have died, the cars rusted, the cans of paint have dried out, the wife's grown a beard... and you know, it's all gone and someone else has moved in...
that's one of my favourite bits as well
Thank you for introducing me to Nick Papadimitriou. I know of the others in the film, and NP seems to be essential to their practices.
What a fantastic documentary.
Superbly produced.Mood inducing.Delightful and funny.
Thank you
Great documentary. I had never heard of Nick before, but in spirit he seems like the living embodiment of Patrick Keiller's unseen character Robinson. Good work!
18:50: Nick sounding just like the cab driver in Stephen King's "Crouch End".
Archie: "Well, you see, London is laid out like no other city. More like it hatched and meandered a street pattern. Then, it planned one, you see. It's because the streets were paved over barriers. Barriers between what is rational and what is not. Crouch End was built on top of a towen."
Doris: "A town?"
"No, ma'am. a... towen, Towen. It's a Druid word. Means a place of ritual sacrifice"
--
Archie: "Ma'am. You asked me if Crouch End's a nice place to live. To you it looks nice and normal. But it's not what it seems. But what I told you before is true. This world, it's like living inside a huge leather ball. And outside the ball are other dimensions. There are scuffs, nicks in the leather, that made the thin spots. And every once in a while, the leather rips... right through the thin part. It's then the other dimension pours in and breathes and lusts. Right here in Crouch End. You and your husband shouldn't be here"
john did a video with crouch end in it
This speaks to me so much. It's a feeling that gives me so much joy, yet there's a part of me that always feels discontented and disconnected because it's so mysterious to me, as if i'm always trying to grasp and process the reason why i feel the way i do when i walk along a canal, the hidden alley ways of my neighbourhood, or around the old council estate i lived at when i was a kid.
Like Russell Brand mentioned, one element of it is definitely nostalgia, a lot of the times nostalgia for something that i never lived through (memories that aren't our own as Nick put it). Photography helps to capture that feeling you get from a certain area, but there's something else there. Nick puts into words what i never could. Thank you for this, fantastic documentary and actually really inspiring for my photography. I feel like i know something i didn't before about myself.
Wonderful and as a wanderer of the sacred groves and sidings of Manchester, resonant. Thankyou.
A compelling narrative and beautifully told.
Having Nick as a mate must be like knowing your own personal Yoda. What a fascinating character! TQ for sharing.
I still watch this as a spiritual pick-me-up and I think I always will.
A fabulous discovery!!
It's interesting to note the frequency of recovering addicts in the psychogeog world - Self, Brand, Papadimitrou himself. It occurs to me that this field intersects with post-hippie culture in general, which, of course often involves rug use/misuse. Make of this what you 'Will'.
I finally got around to this after hearing you and Mr Sinclair mention it at your Hatchards book launch. Wow. What a fascinating man. Time to unearth what else I can find on him.
Nick’s book Scarp is a great place to start
@@JohnRogersWalks Ta.
What an interesting bloke. Good film 👍
It's the simple things in life that we really need to keep us sane in an over complicated world...😁
Great video. Thanks John.
The funniest quote. "People's sheds have rotted, old paint tins have dried up and the wife has grown a beard" !!
Classic 😂!
While archaeology was drunk on hempelian whisky in the '60s, thinking hard science was the only way to understand humanity's past, people taking the dérive were truly understanding what space and place leaves behind for the voyeur into the palmipsest of human acheivement and failure. It is time that archaeology utilised this incredibly functional tool for opening the doors into what people were and are thinking. These echoes; these ghosts.. are real if we only utilise the senses that we have to understand. Like Chtcheglov said when psychogeographers were accused of being drunkards and dreamers, "dreams originate in reality to begin with". Brilliant, and it is in reality that dreams are eventually realised. Vive la dérive.
Mr Papadimitriou should offer his services as a guide. 'Walking holidays with Nick'
this is an incredible story, excellent documentary. incredible ideas of all those involved especially Nick - who is perhaps a genius of our times.
Awesome. Every place should have such a brave and sensitive interpreter
Great film-thanks for posting-this Is an inspiration.
thanks Alan
This really is a gem.
I thought of the future how Google Maps would progress & how this would more of less become a time and historical map of the land. I think it is pretty normal for people to attach feelings or emotions to a particular area & we often forget how we felt until we visit that spot one more time. I always enjoy stories from older people and I love those special details. It sounded like Nick felt his work wasn't worth anything in terms of money value, but memories aren't for sale..they are for sharing
terrific, thank you chaps.
You can't move for tourists at Mogden Sewage Treatment Works these days!
Is there a gift shop? I dread to think what they sell as souvenirs.
Fascinating and a film that has made me realise so in myself
"...the cans of paint have dried out, wife's grown a beard..." so poetic.
this is an absolutely fantastic documentary
A latter-day John Betjamin? As an ex Londoner living in L.A. and I loved this.
Do all my urban ramblings during dark hours, nuthing sinister. ...a kid in london since the 60s .. got many stories relevant to this kinda londony stuff
Cel Tick I met cliff Richard in the shitters at Euston station back in '63 he tantalised my helmet with his Wendy hole
I went to Stevenage the other week. That was quite something.
Well shot and produced video. The subjects rather lost souls in my opinion. More underneath than what they say.
This is brilliant
there's little else i can add to the previous comments - nick is an interesting individual, that is certain
Interesting, really interesting and thought provoking and it isn't often I say that these days.
BRAVO Nick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is superb. Thank you.
A true geomantic empath.
A fitting epithet.
love russell.
Will Self's "the book of Dave" is a great book
Could anyone help me out with exact piece of Bach at 28:07 - 28:38? The credits call it Music for One but a youtube, spotify or google search really don't turn up anything specific at all. I mean, one the cello suites I guess, but which?? Thanks and thank you John for this lovely little doc -- has really burrowed its way into my brain and stayed there for days. So far
This is quite wonderful.
A beautiful clever man.
our vibrations...flow from us...& interact will all around...and sometimes they get tangled in the barbed wire and brambles until someone aware comes around.
wow that was really fascinating, thankyou
Really brilliant.
Will Self, that is too many post-it notes!
brilliant stuff
one giant thank you.
“The wife has grown a beard” 😂😂😂
Loveable English eccentrics; but what's all this about Dennis Neilson ? I'm sure I read Will Self say that when he used to sign on Neilson was his job centre advisor ?!?! Is it in ''Junk Mail'' ?
*Nilsen*
Simply marvelous, old boy, but really you should try to be more dashing and set an example to all Middlesex trudgers. Primark are selling pink T-shirts for a mere £2.50. Might I suggest a droopy moustache?
Really liked this. Must read Scarp. (Is this film in the correct aspect ratio?)
yes you'll enjoy Scarp. The film was shot in 4:3 which was still standard in 2008 just about
John Rogers Thanks John!
what were the last two songs before the credits?
Beautiful work, thank you.
Thanks Ashley - I'll dig out those song credits for you
Why not paint yourself purple, wear a pink speedo, combat boots and a peacock fantail and skip through Piccadilly screaming "Look at me! Look at me!!!"
Damaged egos. Quite sad actually.
John sorry, what is the name of the track that plays over Nick at 41:50?
we're working on it. google camp hastur to find our blog. Public demo at assembly 2013 in Helsinki this week.
I've watched this film bordering on too many times, the only fault I have found is the cameo of Brand's foot.
@27:19 I'm not remotely interested in Nilsen but I'd love to know what Mr Perambulator was doing in Wormwood Scrubbs in 1983. Was he convicted of more arson? He looks very guilty of something. And also very innocent.
This is like the UK's equivalent of Speed Levitch.
i have no idea whats going on.. for those who dont know the background story of the individuals..it'll be confusing/hard to watch..
Could a native english speaker (or simply someone who has a better understanding of it than me) tell me what Self says between 21:44 and 21:48? Drives me insane...
‘Rus in urbe or urbe in rus’ - I think it’s Latin - an illusion of the rural in the urban and vice-versa
All this while I was looking for a native _latin_ speaker, not an english one ! Thank you.
I only recently discovered your channel thanks to one of those Wikipedia Rabbit Holes that took me from "Agloe, New York" to "Trap Streets" and "Phantom Settlements", to Psychogeography" and all the way to Nick Papadimitriou's entry. I immediately knew I had found something that would resonate in me. Thank you very much.
What a wonderful journey John and glad you found the channel - hope you enjoy some of the other videos. I'm now going to look up "Trap Streets"
Fucking av it nick you absolute beast.
will self reminds me of charlie watts
Does anyone know who done the music on this documentary? Many thanks
Hi Michael - the music credits are at the end of the film
I've been searching.... To no avail. The piece is by Bach.. But just says music for one. I think it's the unaccompanied cello sonatas.
Well its a shame that TheLndnBoy and Anonatarded are totally full of their own over self perpetuated attitude, not allowing for freedom of expression to environment we live in. I wonder just how creative these two trolls are, where are there contributions are to the great understanding. Somehow i believe they are just simply incapable of expressing their true self, so instead they try to trash other peoples efforts. Good work Nick and don’t worry about the trolls!!
IGNORAMUS RESPONDANTS PLEASE
He aspires to be Danny The County
catapulting the known world surresltycity
A regular non american Appalachian trail.
i'm a bit like this guy
No doubt Nick would be described by many as 'autistic', but I prefer his engagement with the environment to Will Self's 'Kinch the knife blade' approach. 'Dope topography'?
You should do more documentaries, you let the People speak and you dont put yourself over Peoples thoughts. Lackning a better way of descriping it your documentaries are gentle.
That'd be antithetical to his ethos I think.
"People don't want my deep topographic skills". Well, fuck em, then!
+Michael Lavin although turned out they did want his 'deep topographic skills' - after the film Nick got a book deal, BBC Newsnight did a feature on Nick and deep top, and he teaches occasionally at Brunel University- so it worked out ok
That's great news, John. And it's a wonderful film!
+Michael Lavin thanks Michael
@cgcherie12 And very endearing.
What is Russell Brand doing here ? is pyschogeography a new addition to the list of things he knows nothing about ? (acting, comedy, politics etc)