oracle
November 18, 2003, 12:16 PM
FILM REVIEW
http://www.filmforum.com/films/architect.html
A touching film. Even if you are not an art buff but for Bangladeshis this man is responsible for a remarkable landmark in an otherwise ever-increasing dismal architectural scene.
My Architect is a tale of love and art, betrayal and forgiveness-in which
the illegitimate son of a legendary artist undertakes a five-year, worldwide
exploration to understand his long-dead father. Louis I. Kahn, who died in
1974, is considered by many architectural historians to have been the most
important architect of the second half of the 20th century. A Jewish
immigrant who over came poverty and the effects of a devastating childhood
accident, Kahn created a handful of intensely powerful and spiritual
buildings-geometric compositions of brick, concrete and light-which, in the
words of one critic, "change your life." While Kahn's artistic legacy was an
uncompromising search for truth and clarity, his personal life was filled
with secrets and chaos: He died, bankrupt and unidentified, in the men's
room in Penn Station, New York, leaving behind three families-one with his
wife of many years and two with women with whom he'd had long-term affairs.
In My Architect, the child of one of these extra-marital relationships,
Kahn's only son Nathaniel, sets out on an epic journey to reconcile the life
and work of this mysterious, contradictory man.
The riveting narrative leads us from the subterranean corridors of Penn
Station to the roiling streets of Bangladesh (where Kahn built the
astonishing National Capitol), and from the coast of New England to the
inner sanctums of Jerusalem politics. Along the way, we encounter a series
of characters that are by turns fascinating, hilarious, adoring and
critical: from the cabbies who drove Kahn around his native Philadelphia, to
former lovers and clients, to the rarified heights of the world's most
celebrated architects-Frank Gehry, I. M. Pei and Philip Johnson among them.
In My Architect, the filmmaker reveals the haunting beauty of his father's
monumental creations and takes us deep within his own divided family,
uncovering a world of prejudice, intrigue and the myths that haunt parents
and children. In a documentary with the emotional impact of a dramatic
feature film (including an original orchestral score), Nathaniel's personal
journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art
and, ultimately, of life itself.
[Edited on 2-12-2003 by oracle]
http://www.filmforum.com/films/architect.html
A touching film. Even if you are not an art buff but for Bangladeshis this man is responsible for a remarkable landmark in an otherwise ever-increasing dismal architectural scene.
My Architect is a tale of love and art, betrayal and forgiveness-in which
the illegitimate son of a legendary artist undertakes a five-year, worldwide
exploration to understand his long-dead father. Louis I. Kahn, who died in
1974, is considered by many architectural historians to have been the most
important architect of the second half of the 20th century. A Jewish
immigrant who over came poverty and the effects of a devastating childhood
accident, Kahn created a handful of intensely powerful and spiritual
buildings-geometric compositions of brick, concrete and light-which, in the
words of one critic, "change your life." While Kahn's artistic legacy was an
uncompromising search for truth and clarity, his personal life was filled
with secrets and chaos: He died, bankrupt and unidentified, in the men's
room in Penn Station, New York, leaving behind three families-one with his
wife of many years and two with women with whom he'd had long-term affairs.
In My Architect, the child of one of these extra-marital relationships,
Kahn's only son Nathaniel, sets out on an epic journey to reconcile the life
and work of this mysterious, contradictory man.
The riveting narrative leads us from the subterranean corridors of Penn
Station to the roiling streets of Bangladesh (where Kahn built the
astonishing National Capitol), and from the coast of New England to the
inner sanctums of Jerusalem politics. Along the way, we encounter a series
of characters that are by turns fascinating, hilarious, adoring and
critical: from the cabbies who drove Kahn around his native Philadelphia, to
former lovers and clients, to the rarified heights of the world's most
celebrated architects-Frank Gehry, I. M. Pei and Philip Johnson among them.
In My Architect, the filmmaker reveals the haunting beauty of his father's
monumental creations and takes us deep within his own divided family,
uncovering a world of prejudice, intrigue and the myths that haunt parents
and children. In a documentary with the emotional impact of a dramatic
feature film (including an original orchestral score), Nathaniel's personal
journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art
and, ultimately, of life itself.
[Edited on 2-12-2003 by oracle]