SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: In his first documentary Sydney Pollak
looks at his friend Frank Gehry, one of the
world's most esteemed architects. Pollak takes
the pose of knowing nothing about architecture
so the viewer can learn along with him in sort
of a FRANK GEHRY AND ARCHITECTURE FOR DUMMIES.
A number of interesting questions go unasked and
some only unanswered, but what is there is still
more that is worthwhile. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)
or 7/10
Sydney Pollak is one of the film industry's most respected filmmakers, having directed films going back to THE SLENDER THREAD and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY and including TOOTSIE. SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY is his first documentary. His subject matter is his longtime friend Frank Gehry, perhaps the most unorthodox and artistic architect working today. Gehry is fascinated by shape and form and his buildings frequently have shapes that seem to appear nowhere else in the world. In fact, from the documentary he seems to be taking shapes that are from much simpler objects. He makes models of buildings out of cardboard. When the cardboard bends due to pressure from his hand or gravity, the shape it takes on is fascinating to Gehry. He will fashion the same accidental shape out of concrete and metal. The Gehry Tower in Hanover, Germany, looks like a paper tower perpetually in the process of collapsing. Others look like they were cut with scissors from giant sheets of aluminum and steel by a much more enormous hand. In this way a Gehry building looks like no other architect's work. Pollak's approach for the film is to say that he knows nothing about architecture, perhaps to bring out aspects of Gehry for the uninformed. But ironically at the same time he claims that Gehry is a very great architect. His pose casts doubt on that flattering judgement.
Where this film falls down, as do other documentaries about architects such as MY ARCHITECT and MY FATHER, THE GENIUS is that the architect's aesthetic remains mysterious. When Gehry points to a piece on one of his cardboard models and says, "the piece has to be made more grumpy" the viewer has only a vague idea of what he means. Perhaps Gehry knows no more what he means. Gehry will decide that a piece of cardboard that is helping him visualize a future shape on a building needs eight fan-folds rather than just four. But we never get into his mind to know why. His aesthetic remains unexplained, and is perhaps unexplainable. He will say that some feature of a building that it looks "so stupid-looking it's great." He talks about how insecure he is whenever he starts a new project and is at the "dangerous point of beginning."
Gehry's style is as unique as it is beautiful, but for at least some of his works one has the feeling they must be hellish to maintain or even to use. It is fine, for example, to have curved walls, but office furniture tends to assume flat walls that it can rest against. A curved wall will waste the space. Perhaps there are just some personalities that are not ready for avant- garde architecture.
While there is much that is unexplained, this film makes the work of this great architect seem comprehensible even if the aesthetic is elusive. Certainly this film makes for an entertaining and frequently enlightening experience. I rate it a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.
SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY was made for the Public Broadcast System's American Masters series and should air in the fall of 2006. For more information about Frank Gehry including pictures, a list of his most famous buildings, and his awards, see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry>.
Mark R. Leeper mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2006 Mark R. Leeper
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