David O'ConnellSketches of Frank Gehry: A Sydney Pollack Epilogue
July 8th 2008 04:00
The final film of this great director turned out to be his first ever non-fiction work, a reluctant but ultimately intimate portrait of his dear friend, the renowned architect Frank Gehry.
Gehry himself specifically asked for Pollack to make a documentary which he felt could do justice to his life after having knocked back numerous requests over the years from other film and documentary makers. Pollack admits he was dubious to begin with, having no idea about the fundamentals of the form, but his close friendship with the man finally convinced him to give it a try.
There’s no tight structure to the film, it’s a wonderfully informal, laid-back examination of both the man and his extraordinary contribution to the world of architecture through conversations between the two friends and the views of his colleagues. There’s plenty of stunning architectural vistas to admire too, from the weird angles of his masterpiece, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, to the boating-inspired Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
Born and raised in Canada, with a surname of Goldberg, the film charts his progress from admonished art student - when he felt anti-semitism may be a reason for negative appraisals of his first attempts - to the present and how he’s adapted to the most modern developments in the way architects work with the latest in software. His employees insist that one of his most remarkable attributes is how he’s never changed his working processes in all that time and continues to work with sketches and then scale models from the beginning of each project, his “old school” methods unaffected.
There's often fascinating insights watching these two friends in casual conversation, often relating the parallels they see between their artistic careers, Pollack with his hand-held camera always close by. Gehry, now 79, is described by one colleague as being rumpled and casual, a bit “like Columbo”, but beneath the façade lies a ceaseless drive for perfection and an enormous ego. A little of his home life is glimpsed through moments with his wife and the fact that he’s been going to the same therapist for 35 years!
He proclaims that “everything has been done before; all that changes is the technology”, but it’s clear that Gehry is a very unique man, who despite – or perhaps because of – a few vehement detractors and critics, is dedicated simply to the perfection of his own artistic visions.
His love of art reveals his greatest envy – that he's unable paint himself and despite proclaiming that he’s never achieved “painterly” qualities in his work, Pollack’s skillfully arranged montage towards the end shows otherwise. There's a couple of amazing examples where Gehry has used the shapes and angles of a piece of art - including a work by Hieronymous Bosch - as inspiration for designing a building.
Overall, this is a very entertaining documentary of a worthy and significant artist; at only 84 minutes it's a perfect length too and likely to appeal to anyone, whether you know a thing about architecture or not.
Pollack, after a career of memorable cinematic fiction, has gone out on a high note with an accessible and informative portrait of a very dear friend and fellow visionary.
Gehry himself specifically asked for Pollack to make a documentary which he felt could do justice to his life after having knocked back numerous requests over the years from other film and documentary makers. Pollack admits he was dubious to begin with, having no idea about the fundamentals of the form, but his close friendship with the man finally convinced him to give it a try.
Sydney Pollack
There’s no tight structure to the film, it’s a wonderfully informal, laid-back examination of both the man and his extraordinary contribution to the world of architecture through conversations between the two friends and the views of his colleagues. There’s plenty of stunning architectural vistas to admire too, from the weird angles of his masterpiece, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, to the boating-inspired Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
Born and raised in Canada, with a surname of Goldberg, the film charts his progress from admonished art student - when he felt anti-semitism may be a reason for negative appraisals of his first attempts - to the present and how he’s adapted to the most modern developments in the way architects work with the latest in software. His employees insist that one of his most remarkable attributes is how he’s never changed his working processes in all that time and continues to work with sketches and then scale models from the beginning of each project, his “old school” methods unaffected.
Frank Gehry
There's often fascinating insights watching these two friends in casual conversation, often relating the parallels they see between their artistic careers, Pollack with his hand-held camera always close by. Gehry, now 79, is described by one colleague as being rumpled and casual, a bit “like Columbo”, but beneath the façade lies a ceaseless drive for perfection and an enormous ego. A little of his home life is glimpsed through moments with his wife and the fact that he’s been going to the same therapist for 35 years!
He proclaims that “everything has been done before; all that changes is the technology”, but it’s clear that Gehry is a very unique man, who despite – or perhaps because of – a few vehement detractors and critics, is dedicated simply to the perfection of his own artistic visions.
The amazing Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao
His love of art reveals his greatest envy – that he's unable paint himself and despite proclaiming that he’s never achieved “painterly” qualities in his work, Pollack’s skillfully arranged montage towards the end shows otherwise. There's a couple of amazing examples where Gehry has used the shapes and angles of a piece of art - including a work by Hieronymous Bosch - as inspiration for designing a building.
Overall, this is a very entertaining documentary of a worthy and significant artist; at only 84 minutes it's a perfect length too and likely to appeal to anyone, whether you know a thing about architecture or not.
Pollack, after a career of memorable cinematic fiction, has gone out on a high note with an accessible and informative portrait of a very dear friend and fellow visionary.
Disney Hall in L.A.
Two great friends together
| 57 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Subscribe to this blog
