Sketches of Frank Gehry
Director: Sydney Pollack
The film: It's easy to be sceptical of Sketches of Frank Gehry as an objective overview of one of the most controversial architects of modern times.
Director Sydney Pollack is a long-time friend of Gehry (below), and the views of the architect's admirers overwhelm those of his detractors, and Pollack himself features prominently in the film.
What saves Sketches of Frank Gehry is the man himself. Of course, Gehry's idiosyncratic designs already make intriguing viewing - one can't help but marvel at the bizarre yet strangely mesmerising spaces at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao or Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall, or his own home. But it's Gehry's mix of ruthlessness and self-effacement that shines through, someone who would jokingly insist that 'things have to be crankier' to be good, and after finishing a model, exclaims, 'It's so stupid-looking, it's great' - and then raises his arms in a childlike act of triumph.
To his credit, Pollack strives to steer Sketches clear of being merely a showcase of Gehry's architectural gems - which would render the piece either a superficially visual or, on the other extreme, a hard-to-fathom thesis about the architect's aesthetics.