My Architect: A Son’s Journey
I suppose I love to say that I never watch documentaries, though I try to open my mind to it. (I have been planning to do that with western films as well, but I never actually got myself to see the main ones.) While I am quite convinced that I would come to like the western genre, I am still not sure whether I enjoy documentaries as a concept. The main goal is of course to learn about things and perhaps see things from another perspective; in other words, my interest in these films is almost purely educational. However, many documentaries I have seen, such as “My Winnipeg” or “Antonio Gaudi”, are so artful that they are way more than just a documentary and it is those which I probably prefer.
“My Architect” is a film on Louis Kahn by his own son, and touches the fine line between a documentary that is basically strictly educational and one which has some sort of artistic merit behind it. There is none of the amazing creativity and craziness of “My Winnipeg”, and it would never match the serene calmness and beauty in the shots of “Antonio Gaudi”. But the Kahn son is doing a fine job showing his own perspective as the son who has never quite learned about his father when he was still alive. He managed to get a bunch of people to say sometimes meaningful, sometimes funny things about Louis Kahn, and while I am not quite sure about the structure of the film (which seemed to have a reasonable beginning and end, but a rather fuzzy everything-in-between) I thought that it was quite comprehensive. Since Louis Kahn didn’t make so many buildings, there was ample time to show off his famous works and even go into some detail for the ones which never came to be. It’s a shame, some of his designs were actually awesome and I would love to see them. Most interestingly, it was interesting to see that Louis Kahn had a terrible family life and practically had 3 women sacrificing their lives for them. Actually, I wonder how he had the time to write all those love letters and make all those children considering that he was working all the time. Since he was in debt, I also wonder how he financed a total of 3 families and built nice houses for them. It makes me wonder if you have to be an asshole when you are an architect. The poor wife. (The two mistresses were just delusional.)
The film has one scene which elevates it a little into the realms of “Antonio Gaudi”, where the son rollerblades on the plaza of the Salk Institute. That one was visually stunning. However, the film ends on a strangely bitter note. 10 minutes before the end, we got those incredibly reverent shots of the Capital of Bangladesh while people are talking about how Louis Kahn is a guru with tears in their eyes. I understand that the son wanted some closure, but he really didn’t have to make it so sappy, especially after spending two hours telling us how low of a person Louis Kahn was.
Having earned an Academy Award nomination in the documentary category, this is probably one of the more famous and better documentaries you can find on an architect out there. As for me, my general interest in Louis Kahn has mostly stayed the same. I have come to enjoy his architecture a little more but I am not sure if I really wanted to know what kind of person he was.