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Movies / On DVD / My Architect: A Son's Journey
My Architect: A Son's Journey

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My Architect: A Son's Journey (2003)

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Reviews Counted:89

Fresh:83

Rotten:6

Average Rating:7.5/10

Consensus: A moving and enlightening documentary about architect Louis Kahn.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Theatrical Release:Nov 12, 2003 Limited

Box Office: $2,672,377

Synopsis: My Architect is a tale of love and art, betrayal and forgiveness -- in which the illegitimate son of a legendary artist undertakes a five year, worldwide exploration to understand his long-dead... My Architect is a tale of love and art, betrayal and forgiveness -- in which the illegitimate son of a legendary artist undertakes a five year, worldwide exploration to understand his long-dead father. Louis I. Kahn, who died in 1974, is considered by many architectural historians to have been the most important architect of the second half of the twentieth century. A Jewish immigrant who overcame poverty and the effects of a devastating childhood accident, Kahn created a handful of intensely powerful and spiritual buildings -- geometric compositions of brick, concrete and light -- which, in the words of one critic, "change your life." While Kahn's artistic legacy was an uncompromising search for truth and clarity, his personal life was filled with secrets and chaos: He died, bankrupt and unidentified, in the men's room in Penn Station, New York, leaving behind three families -- one with his wife of many years and two with women with whom he'd had long-term affairs. In My Architect, the child of one of these extra-marital relationships, Kahn's only son Nathaniel, sets out on an epic journey to reconcile the life and work of this mysterious, contradictory man. The riveting narrative leads us from the subterranean corridors of Penn Station to the roiling streets of Bangladesh (where Kahn built the astonishing Capital), and from the coast of New England to the inner sanctums of Jerusalem politics. Along the way, we encounter a series of characters that are by turns fascinating, hilarious, adoring and critical: from the cabbies who drove Kahn around his native Philadelphia, to former lovers and clients, to the rarified heights of the world's most celebrated architects -- Frank Gehry, I.M. Pei and Philip Johnson among them. In My Architect, the filmmaker reveals the haunting beauty of his father's monumental creations and takes us deep within his own divided family, uncovering a world of prejudice, intrigue and the myths that haunt parents and children. In a documentary with the emotional impact of a dramatic feature film (including an original orchestral score), Nathaniel's personal journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art and ultimately, of life itself. -- © New Yorker Films [More]

Director: Nathanial Kahn

Director: Nathanial Kahn
Producer: Susan Rose Behr, Nathanial Kahn
Composer: Joseph Vitarelli
Studio: New Yorker Films

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Release:

Feb 15, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for My Architect: A Son's Journey

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N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Overall [Nathaniel Kahn's] attempt to find his father in his buildings, scars and all, is credible and well-paced, with neat visual rhymes that circle back to points raised earlier.

Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | comment Comment
06/03/08
Robert Davis
Robert Davis
Paste Magazine

What makes this movie riveting is not its subject, but the huge hole evident in the biographer's soul, a space he desperately tries to fill by speaking with those once close to his father.

Full Review Source: Princeton Town Topics | comment Comment
05/02/07
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
Princeton Town Topics
N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/21/05
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Fascinating -- if somewhat overlong -- documentary.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
04/27/05
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

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Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: Nation | comment Comment
03/03/05
Stuart Klawans
Stuart Klawans
Nation

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Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com

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Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
08/13/04
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette

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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/13/04
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
07/27/04
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film becomes a conversation between the living and the dead, trying to reconcile professional genius and personal failure.

Full Review Source: Des Moines Register | comment Comment
06/18/04
Jeffrey Bruner
Jeffrey Bruner
Des Moines Register

We are powerfully gripped by Lou's life and work, but we're never as moved by Nathaniel's quest as we clearly should be.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
06/05/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Fascinating and engaging.

Full Review Source: KXLT-FM (Boise, ID) | comment Comment
05/12/04
Bob Wagner
Bob Wagner
KXLT-FM (Boise, ID)

The film would have been more powerful if it had conveyed a better understanding of what made Kahn's buildings great. If a bit long, the film is always intriguing.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
05/07/04
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

A very warm, lyrical, humorous, moving and insightful film.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/24/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/20/04
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
04/09/04
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY
 
 
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