Two movies: the up!

The other film we watched yesterday was Sketches of Frank Gehry, a short documentary about Gehry, an architect.

Gehry's got an unusual style—those of you from Seattle have probably seen his most famous local work, the EMP in the Seattle city center. It's got a free and flowing form made of a composite of complex shapes, formed of and covered in materials heavy in texture and reflection. The EMP is very indicative of the style he's been using for the last decade or so; one of his most impressive works, the Guggenheim Bilbao, shares many visual and structural elements with the EMP.

Now, Gehry's take on postmodernism reminds me an awful lot of Antoni Gaudi's take on Art Noveau. Gaudi is personally relevant because he sparked my interest in architecture when I had to write a report on him for an eighth grade project. I dig on unconventional twists on style trends, specifically when it ends up rendering into buildings sometimes described as "big, oozing piles."

It's pretty clear that both Gaudi and Gehry are fairly controversial architects—and clearly, both have their detractors. Admittedly, I don't really like everything both have done, but instead of listing what I don't like and why, I'd much rather suggest that you check out Sketches of Frank Gehry, a really interesting (and well-assembled) documentary about a modern architect, all told from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about architecture.