I often found myself catching my breath during Rivers and Tides, partly because of the Jengalike delicacy of Goldsworthy's work.
Andy Goldsworthy - Rivers and Tides: Working With Time (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:70
Fresh:69
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.1/10
Consensus: Andy Goldsworthy and his art are beautifully captured in this engaging documentary.
Theatrical Release:Jun 26, 2002 Limited
Synopsis:
RIVERS AND TIDES, Thomas Riedelsheimer's mind-blowing new film which won the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize for Best Documentary at this year's San Francisco Int Film Fest follows renowned sculptor...
RIVERS AND TIDES, Thomas Riedelsheimer's mind-blowing new film which won the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize for Best Documentary at this year's San Francisco Int Film Fest follows renowned sculptor Andy Goldsworthy as he creates with ice, driftwood, bracken, leaves, stone, dirt, and snow in open fields, beaches, rivers, creeks and forests.
Andy Goldsworthy knows that most of his pieces will not last long because of where he makes them. Some of his works stand and remain in the landscape; others decay, melt or are blown away. His work's transitory nature, in fact, is a central part of the sculptor's creative efforts to understand the energy that flows through him and through the natural landscape that nourishes his vision. In this contemplative and beautifully insightful film, we see Goldsworthy as he works to understand that energetic flow, represented often by water, by wind or simply the passage of seasons. Both carefully composed and fluid, RIVERS AND TIDES keeps its focus on the artist's vision and work, giving us room to ponder our own relationship to the energy coursing through the natural world.
The director worked with Andy Goldsworthy for over a year to shoot this remarkable film. What he found was a profound sense of breathless discovery and uncertainty in Goldsworthy's work, in contrast to the stability of conventional sculpture. There is risk in everything Goldsworthy does. He takes his fragile work right to the edge of its collapse, a very beautiful balance and a very dramatic edge within the film. RIVERS AND TIDES captures the essential unpredictability of working with nature and, like Goldsworthy's suclpture, grows into something beyond the simple making of an object. It touches the heart of what Goldsworthy does and who he is. It is a film that allows "you to see something you never saw before, that was always there but you were blind to." -- © Roxie Releasing
Starring: Andy Goldsworthy
Starring: Andy Goldsworthy
Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer
Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer
Composer: Fred Frith
Studio: Roxie Releasing
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Reviews for Andy Goldsworthy - Rivers and Tides: Working With...
Watching Goldsworthy painstakingly piece together his artwork, we come to realize that his artistry lies as much in the act of creation as in the fleeting final product.
… a spellbinding study of Andy Goldsworthy, a Scottish land-sculptor who creates location-specific work using only the organic vegetation and minerals found in his "studio."
A calm and lovely film that audiences hungry for beauty will likely devour with their eyes.
A mesmerizing and curiously satisfying idyll that gradually, slyly maneuvers us into a whole new way of looking at the delicate relationship between man, art and Mother Nature.
The trouble with this art movie is that it's more a movie than it's art.
Goldsworthy's approach to his art speaks volumes to me ... [his] works find their value in the changing moments of their existence.
A truly beautiful, insightful movie that captures the nature of this artist who forms art out of nature.
I know of no documentary on a contemporary artist that conveys so much about the artist's work so lyrically and directly.
A cinematic tone poem that asks viewers to reexamine their relationship with both the word 'art' and the forms that we’ve sanctioned for its exploration and expression.
If you're going to see Rivers and Tides, don't think of it as going to the movies. Think of it as a visit to an art gallery.
May have been more effective if the film had focused more on the stunning visuals and less on the weird New Age stuff flying out of Goldsworthy's mouth.
Intoxicating and meditative by turns, helped by Fred Frith's minimalist score, this film opens a portal into a singular creative mind.
Very few art documentaries are as deeply in tune with the spirit of their subjects, and the implications are enormous, since Goldsworthy is the rare contemporary art star whose work (what a radical notion) is actually about something.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
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