My Architect: A Son's Journey (documentary, 2003)
director: nathaniel kahn
cast: frank o. gehry, philip johnson, nathaniel kahn, i.m. pei, vincent scully, anne tyng, edmund bacon, robert boudreau, harriet pattison, robert a.m. stern
He
died alone in a Penn Station restroom from a sudden heart attack in 1974. For
years it haunted Nathaniel Kahn, he knew little about his late father, Louis
I. Kahn, except that he held a legend as one of the 20th century's most influential
architects, and that the events surrounding his death were obscure. The documentary
My Architect is Nathaniel's search for answers which begins as a "just
the facts" hunt, but in the end is something far more profound-the realization
of his father's soul.
Nathaniel's personal journey is what makes this documentary more interesting than a mere biographical piece. Architecture students won't find the film too useful for skipping readings on Kahn. Of course, all his most famous structures (the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum, and the Capital Complex of Bangladesh, among others) are featured and photographed beautifully, but it's their aesthetic relation to Louis's spiritual development that Nathaniel becomes most concerned with.
As he heads out across the world, interviewing his father's former friends (from architects I.M. Pei and Robert Stern to taxi drivers), co-workers, family and lovers, Nathaniel finds the interpersonal clues to the man are scant, at best. Kahn was the definition of a workaholic, often living out of his office. After years of struggling, he was accepted in 1947 as a professor of architecture at Yale University and at age fifty experienced a creative epiphany during a trip through Greece, Rome and Egypt which revolutionized his work for the last twenty years of his life. Natural beauty began to flow through his constructions in cascading sunlight and shapes determined by their materials. "I asked the brick, 'What do you like brick?' And brick said, 'I like an arch.'," Kahn says, speaking to students in a piece of archival film. (Archival material is blended with striking seamlessness with the modern 35mm footage.)
His work was all-consuming. His family is to this day scarcely aware of his "fame," and even the reverence of his lovers (he had a wife and two mistresses, all of whom bore his children) seems oddly academic. "Don't you get angry?" Nathaniel asks his mother, who never married. She maintains that Louis died with the intention of coming to live with her, despite strong evidence to the contrary.
The
interviews' warm anecdotes and funny recollections are missing simply because
there's no such things to recall from a man who preferred compasses over cocktails.
That's not to say that My Architect is without humor and warmth—quite
the contrary—Nathaniel Kahn is a confident and sympathetic interviewer,
narrator and filmmaker who captures some wonderful characters, funny incidents
and touching moments on his travels. Louis is simply best understood by his
constructions. They are the most direct route to his soul, and it is surprisingly
beautiful.
After a failed attempt to construct a temple in Jerusalem, Kahn poured his energy into designing what would be his last work, the Bangladesh capital. It is Nathaniel's last destination, and clearly, the building's staggering majesty and belovedness to its Muslim inhabitants sets him at peace.
During an interview, a cousin of Louis's asks Nathaniel, "why now?" It's a good question. Almost twenty years have passed since the architect's death. Aside from mentioning his lifelong curiosity, Nathaniel's reason is never stated. But it's arguable that every man consciously or subconsciously desires to better understand his father in order to better understand himself. Is it ever too late? We might not sort out the whys and wherefores, but to do so might be missing the point.—Jason Benjamin
$9.00
© 2003 Jason Benjamin