Sketches of Frank Gehry
- Episode aired Sep 27, 2006
- PG-13
- 1h 23m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
A look at the life and work of the renown architect.A look at the life and work of the renown architect.A look at the life and work of the renown architect.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Photos
Frank Gehry
- Self
- (as Frank O. Gehry)
Charles Arnoldi
- Self
- (as Chuck Arnoldi)
Hal Foster
- Self
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe last film (documentary) directed by Sydney Pollack.
- ConnectionsReferences Columbo (1971)
Featured review
Goldberg Variations...
My appreciation for architecture is slightly less pathetic after watching this. For my love of music, film and books, somehow a building to me remains basically fixed at a kindergarten level combination of squares with a triangle or two.
This should change. I admit it.
And if it does, this film launched the process. Gehry comes across as eminently likable, and his buildings stand out with the weird beauty all real Americans aspire to. Plus he's a transplanted Canadian in California, who then joins a hockey team in his 60's.
One might learn more details more quickly about Frank Gehry from his wiki, or better yet actually visiting his buildings. This film I think is deceptive both in Gehry's "aw, shucks" demeanor - something he and Pollack do gently discard somewhat in the film, and perhaps more deceptive in the process behind he and his team creating buildings.
That said the process is interesting to see what little we do. Gehry who is still alive today, is surrounded by youthful (exclusively?) males, who crumple and cut and create models from the commands and the sketches of Gehry. Computer design is given a slight nod, but Gehry's work predates your first copy of autocad by decades. There is an espirit du corps in the Gehry headquarters, but again I think what we see is the tip of a very precarious iceberg of work, material consideration and planning.
Pollack's friendship fueled access help here and this is a very friendly documentary (which is fine, there will be other people and places for Gehry to frustrate and give the finger to, results of a quick search turned up the that one time he presented a rigid, simple and straight construction to a journalist in Spain.)
I did not even know that the nearby Menlo Park Facebook building was one from the Gehry school or what-have-you until typing this up. There is also this, his first reported design via the wiki - look for David_Cabin,_Idyllwild_CA._1957
I enjoyed the film quite a bit, the barbed wire beauty from within of his own home, the smart sails and stupid beauty. Dali had his rhinocentric phase, and Gehry offers a tale of fishtails.
The talk of an architect outcast by his own kind taking refuge with artists, it sort of reminded me that almost all basketball players want to be rappers, and vice versa.
Pollack's crowning moment is a montage of shots after Gehry in "aw shucks" mode talks about how he could never achieve what a painting does. Pollack counters with shot after shot, each pooling with color, vital with texture, canvassing across the screen. Quiet. Letting the buildings stand for themselves.
Along those lines, there was a comment early on about how many (all?) of Gehry's buildings are still standing. Perhaps addressing some structural concerns that perhaps people have thrown at him before, he did also mention working with a German structural engineer, that perhaps I should have rewound. Again beneath the iceberg tip of a sketch and model, I can only imagine mental and material stress. Actually I think his lead assistant does have a brief line indicating some structural strategy at one point.
For me square layman's thinking the buildings looked pristine, and seemed to have clever design for letting wind/rain/leaves wick away.
Inspirational...possibly also towards the realms of my day job.
These days the integrated circuit world is fast turning from manhattan shapes past jagged staircasing to embrace curvilinear beauty. Gehry beat them to the designs by a mile and with a crooked smile!
This should change. I admit it.
And if it does, this film launched the process. Gehry comes across as eminently likable, and his buildings stand out with the weird beauty all real Americans aspire to. Plus he's a transplanted Canadian in California, who then joins a hockey team in his 60's.
One might learn more details more quickly about Frank Gehry from his wiki, or better yet actually visiting his buildings. This film I think is deceptive both in Gehry's "aw, shucks" demeanor - something he and Pollack do gently discard somewhat in the film, and perhaps more deceptive in the process behind he and his team creating buildings.
That said the process is interesting to see what little we do. Gehry who is still alive today, is surrounded by youthful (exclusively?) males, who crumple and cut and create models from the commands and the sketches of Gehry. Computer design is given a slight nod, but Gehry's work predates your first copy of autocad by decades. There is an espirit du corps in the Gehry headquarters, but again I think what we see is the tip of a very precarious iceberg of work, material consideration and planning.
Pollack's friendship fueled access help here and this is a very friendly documentary (which is fine, there will be other people and places for Gehry to frustrate and give the finger to, results of a quick search turned up the that one time he presented a rigid, simple and straight construction to a journalist in Spain.)
I did not even know that the nearby Menlo Park Facebook building was one from the Gehry school or what-have-you until typing this up. There is also this, his first reported design via the wiki - look for David_Cabin,_Idyllwild_CA._1957
I enjoyed the film quite a bit, the barbed wire beauty from within of his own home, the smart sails and stupid beauty. Dali had his rhinocentric phase, and Gehry offers a tale of fishtails.
The talk of an architect outcast by his own kind taking refuge with artists, it sort of reminded me that almost all basketball players want to be rappers, and vice versa.
Pollack's crowning moment is a montage of shots after Gehry in "aw shucks" mode talks about how he could never achieve what a painting does. Pollack counters with shot after shot, each pooling with color, vital with texture, canvassing across the screen. Quiet. Letting the buildings stand for themselves.
Along those lines, there was a comment early on about how many (all?) of Gehry's buildings are still standing. Perhaps addressing some structural concerns that perhaps people have thrown at him before, he did also mention working with a German structural engineer, that perhaps I should have rewound. Again beneath the iceberg tip of a sketch and model, I can only imagine mental and material stress. Actually I think his lead assistant does have a brief line indicating some structural strategy at one point.
For me square layman's thinking the buildings looked pristine, and seemed to have clever design for letting wind/rain/leaves wick away.
Inspirational...possibly also towards the realms of my day job.
These days the integrated circuit world is fast turning from manhattan shapes past jagged staircasing to embrace curvilinear beauty. Gehry beat them to the designs by a mile and with a crooked smile!
helpful•00
- ThurstonHunger
- Oct 23, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Esboços de Frank Gehry
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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