My Architect…

Do you trust me?

C’mon.
Aside from that genius/insane person thing, you DO trust my judgement, right?
Thanks guy in the back, thanks.

I saw this amazing documentary in three interludes yesterday. (Don’t ask)

It is a ‘stick to your ribs’ film that makes you think about it long after you’ve seen it.

As docs go it was very thorough and the research/media gathering is extensive, but who cares, if it doesn’t reach your heart, it doesn’t mean anything.

A boy grows up only seeing his dad once a week. He knows his dad has another family he can’t leave but this is still his dad, his famous dad, American architect Louis Kahn, and as a boy all grown up he goes on the journey to discover who his dad was. (He died in Penn Station, NYC in 1974).

We all think we know our dad. For some he’s still a fixture in our life, for others he’s a faint memory. Sometimes the memory is more like a nightmare. But how many have examined that man’s life?

How many can go to different parts of the world and see permanent structures that represent the body of our father’s work, solid proof of a working life that took precedence over every living person? He had one wife and two mistresses, each had one child- they all met at his funeral. But Nathaniel his son by the second mistress was only eleven years old when he died. Louis was 65 when he was born. It is his youngest child, Nathaniel who sets out to explore every facet he can of his father’s life.

He takes us seamlessly to all the dark corners of his father’s reality. And what a trip it is. We meet Frank Gehry I.M. Pei, Moshe Safde, and other contemporary architects who comment on his late father’s work. We travel to Jerusalem, Pakistan, and across the US charting a life lived on philosphy and art.

Not everyone appreciates documentaries, but this one is accessible and compelling.
A life examined- flaws and all.
A favourite theme, a favourite film.