It is frustrating to watch the film blow some respectable capital on indulgence in narrative frippery.
The Architect (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 35
Fresh: 4
Rotten:31
Average Rating: 4.1/10
Consensus: A glum drama that's so self-affected it fails to affect.
Theatrical Release:Dec 1, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Based on a play by David Greig, THE ARCHITECT stirs together issues of class, race, sexuality, and architecture, then heats up to create potent sociological drama. Anthony LaPaglia stars as Leo, a... Based on a play by David Greig, THE ARCHITECT stirs together issues of class, race, sexuality, and architecture, then heats up to create potent sociological drama. Anthony LaPaglia stars as Leo, a close-minded Chicago architect/college professor whose family is coming apart at the seams: older son Martin (Sebastian Stan) is troubled by his emerging homosexuality, Leo's 15-year old daughter (Hayden Panettiere) has begun acting out sexually in a misguided search for affection, and his high-strung wife (Isabella Rossellini) is headed towards a complete nervous breakdown. If that wasn't enough, African American activist Tonya (Viola Lee Davis) visits his classroom in an attempt to get him to sign a petition to have a housing project he designed torn down. He won't do it, claiming the building is soundly constructed, but Tonya's lived there long enough to know it's crushing the souls of its residents; her son even committed suicide to get away from it. In his refusal to accept responsibility or respond to the pain of others--both within and without his own four walls--Leo's carefully constructed world seems doomed to topple over. First time writer/director Matt Tauber provides lots of cross-cutting between the squalor of life in the projects vs. the cushy but sterile suburban residences in Chicago's other neighborhoods. Performance are excellent all around, elevating the characters beyond mere types: the scenes with Davis and LaPaglia are particularly electric. [More]
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Viola Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Hayden Panettiere
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Viola Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Hayden Panettiere, Sebastian Stan, Paul James, Serena Reeder, Malcolm Goodwin, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Walton Goggins, Duane McLaughlin, Constance Wu, Lauren Hodges, David Call, James O'Toole, Tijuana Ricks, Eisa Davis, Julius Tennon, Lilias White
Director: Matt Tauber
Director: Matt Tauber
Composer: Marcelo Zarvos
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
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Reviews for The Architect
In my opinion, the film tries to cover too much ground. The plot strands don't exactly coalesce into a tight story. Perhaps that was [the director's] intent, but for me something was missing. The cast does yeoman work but I somehow couldn't exactly get ca
When Tauber finds his focus, The Architect is worth watching. But Tauber rarely finds his focus.
What makes the movie satisfying is the fact that its ethnic tensions are never overtly exacerbated, but rather subtly illustrated simply by the comparison of the decadent malaise of the spoiled-rotten versus the neverending nightmare of the have-nots.
Despite his obvious earnestness, first-time director and cowriter Matt Tauber is ill equipped to mine emotions this complex.
Too many "big" moments are happening to too many people for the movie to feel plausible, and Tauber tries to tie many of those plots together in a way that seems contrived.
Occasionally a pallid film is salvaged by one wonderful performance. To the extent The Architect will be remembered, it will be for giving a starring role to the exceptional Viola Davis.
Given the fact that The Architect is obviously a work in the tradition of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, not to mention Henrik Ibsen, it's disappointing.
The movie doesn't so much tell a story as scream its messages at us in a series of awkward scenes that test the actors' ability to make fake-o dialogue seem like something an actual person might say.
The Architect wears its heavy social consciousness like an albatross, and Tauber's plodding, earnest direction does little to wean the material away from its stage roots.
Painfully portentous and more solemn than Santa's funeral, The Architect gets this year's prize for the movie most likely to spoil holiday cheer.
Despite graphic scenes of drug- and crime-infested buildings where people are forced to live behind bars like prisoners, The Architect still feels stagebound, inert when it needs to be cinematic.
... The Architect is filled with ciphers and symbols, without a smidgen of narrative reason to hold it together.
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