My Architect - A Son's Journey

Aroview: A thoroughly intriguing documentary about the Jewish American architect Louis Kahn (born in Estonia) who struggling for years to be recognised, designed many imposing structures, before dying in 1973 leaving behind a fog of debt and mystery.

Dir. by Kahn's son, who was only 11 when his father died, this mostly avoids the narcissistic perils of such projects, while the sad complexity of the subject's life and death (involving three separate families) is slowly revealed through family interviews. Also evident is quality of the impressive monuments he left behind, as many leading architects, including I. M. Pei, Robert A.M. Stone, Moshe Safdie and Frank Gehry, testify to.

NZ International Film Festival 2003

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