How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster? Reviews
Top Critic
NYC Movie Guru
A mildly engaging introduction to the architectural work of Norman Foster, but it barely scratches the surface.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6.0/10
Film Journal International
Audiences who embrace high-quality, smartly produced documentaries about compelling and worthy subjects will get their money's worth.
Filmcritic.com
a roughly eighty-minute pep rally for its subject
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
Whether contemplating his own sensibility or challenging himself in cross-country ski marathons, the 76-year-old architect appears here as a man who stands heavy upon the planet.
Film-Forward.com
From inspiring bio. . .travels around the world for stunning views of his buildings and structures until collapsing into a promotional video for his global firm.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/10
A film that at times seems ready to levitate from the screen on puffy clouds of praise.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
A better movie would have explored Foster's way-of-the-future objectives with more beyond-the-hype insight...
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
It's essentially an infomercial for the company he unsuccessfully tried to sell before the 2008 crash.
Slant Magazine
Unusually successful in synchronizing the ethos and oeuvre of its protagonist with its own visual strategies and rhythms.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
An informative and inspiring documentary about a man's life and work.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
A treatment of Foster so reverential it verges on camp.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Shadows on the Wall
Renowned architect Norman Foster has created some of the world's most iconic buildings, and this documentary explores the ideas that link them. Although it only barely scratches the surface of his talent and skill.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Total Film
There are no dissenting voices to be heard in Norberto López Amado and Carlos Carcas' movie, but then it's easy to admire Foster...
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Guardian [UK]
Foster is an eloquent speaker with a touch of Lancashire in his voice, a likable man, who uses a sketch pad as a way of thinking, and we get to see stunningly photographed images of his work...
Guardian [UK]
Although its uncritical tone makes it look occasionally like a promotional video, it's clear that there is a lot to hero-worship.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Little White Lies
Like reading a glossy fashion magazine, lovely to look at but utterly unmemorable.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Daily Telegraph
A film that reaffirms rather than probes its subject's brilliance.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Radio Times
Foster is a fascinating subject, but his achievement should be scrutinised much more rigorously than this.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Empire Magazine
Veers too close to hagiography, although it's visually arresting enough to carry you through sagging in the narrative.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
