Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time

Critics Consensus

Andy Goldsworthy and his art are beautifully captured in this engaging documentary.

99%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 71

90%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 2,591
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Movie Info

Documentarian Thomas Riedelsheimer shows us Andy Goldsworthy as he creates art in natural settings using natural materials such as driftwood, ice, mud, leaves, and stones. Goldsworthy comments on his "earthworks" and occasionally responds to offscreen questions from Riedelsheimer while he painstakingly builds his outdoors sculptures. With some exceptions, such as a winding stone wall that he built in Mountainville, NY, Goldsworthy's creations are intentionally mutable works. We see how several of them fall apart, melt, or drift away due to exposure to the elements; we also see, for example, a complex structure of interconnected sticks collapse while Goldsworthy is still working on it. Riedelsheimer takes us to Goldsworthy's home in Penport, Scotland, and to a French museum, but the emphasis of the film is on observing Goldsworthy at work. ~ Todd Kristel, Rovi

Cast

Andy Goldsworthy

Critic Reviews for Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time

All Critics (71) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (70) | Rotten (1)

  • A beautiful, probing art documentary.

    Apr 16, 2004 | Rating: 3.5/4

    Liam Lacey

    Globe and Mail
    Top Critic

  • Most of Goldsworthy's work is impermanent, but Rivers and Tides captures, permanently, both the art and the artist, showing us a creative, productive life in the process of being well-lived.

    Dec 19, 2003 | Rating: 4/5

    Roger Moore

    Orlando Sentinel
    Top Critic

  • The artistry of Thomas Riedelsheimer's film perfectly compliments Goldsworthy's art.

    Aug 7, 2003 | Rating: B

    Eleanor Ringel Cater

    Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    Top Critic

  • [Goldsworthy's] art is meant to be evanescent, like the nature he reveres. We are privileged to see it documented by the filmmaker's camera.

    Jul 25, 2003 | Rating: 3/5

    Richard Nilsen

    Arizona Republic
    Top Critic

  • Mr. Goldsworthy's work is meant to be photographed -- 'photography is the way that I talk about my sculptures,' he says -- and Mr. Riedelsheimer rises to the occasion.

    Jul 24, 2003 | Rating: A- | Full Review…
    Dallas Morning News
    Top Critic

  • Andy cuts an eccentric but likeable figure genuinely at a loss to explain where his inspiration comes from.

    Jul 1, 2003 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

    Neil Smith

    BBC.com
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (71)

Audience Reviews for Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time

  • Mar 25, 2014
    [font=Century Gothic][color=sienna]"Rivers and Tides" is an interesting, low-key documentary about Andy Goldsworthy, a Scottish sculptor who works in nature while using material that he finds. The documentary captures his working at home in rural Scotland and abroad in Nova Scotia, New York and France. Goldsworthy is not sure what his sculptures will turn out due to the very unpredictability of what he is working with. Some of them are designed to be carried away by the rivers and tides. Thus, he illustrates how nature is ephemeral. It's very different seeing artwork that is not permanent and hanging in a museum.(I was thinking about the temporary paintings that were created only for "The Mystery of Picasso.") Goldsworthy captures these temporary sculptures by photographing them. [/color][/font]
    Walter M Super Reviewer
  • Jul 23, 2012
    Another documentary about a kooky artist. This one manufactures art of nature and watches as nature washes it away. It's kind of like those little stick forts that you made as a kid that washed away eventually down the drain. This guy never stopped making those forts.
    John B Super Reviewer
  • Apr 27, 2008
    i became interested in this documentary because of the Fred Frith score- which is excellent. Goldsworthy's art is spectacular to behold, but i feel the documentary would have been better with less speaking- just letting the art speak for itself.
    chase _ Super Reviewer
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