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SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY
Directed by: Sydney Pollack.
Produced by: Ultan Guilfoyle.
Cinematography: George Tiffin, Claudio Rocha & Marcus Birsel.
Edited by: Karen Schmeer.
Music by: Sorman & Nystrom.
Released by: Sony Pictures Classics.
Country of Origin: USA. 83 min. Rated: PG-13.
With: Frank Gehry, Sidney Pollack, Mildred Friedman, Ed Ruscha, Bob Geldof, Julian Schnabel, Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz & Barry Diller

Or, my coffee klatch with Frank. Director Sydney Pollack was handpicked by friend Frank Gehry, a reigning rock star of the international architectural scene, to make this documentary precisely because, as Pollack admits, he knows nothing about architecture. The choice makes sense for a film dominated by ideas rather than personalities. Pollack’s films consistently have a clear through-line (or “spine,” as Pollack refers to it), a theme that drives the entire screenplay. So you don’t need to know your Renzo Piano from your I. M. Pei.

Chewing the fat in Gehry’s kitchen, Pollack operates the video camera during his laidback conversations with the unassuming and grandfatherly Gehry, though it has to be said his footage looks very raw, so much so that the filmed segments of Gehry’s achievements, especially his Guggenheim Museum in Balbao, Spain, pop out. Filmed at sunset, the light hits the sprawling, multi-shaped museum to its advantage – it’s impossible to dismiss it as not a work of art.

Film has always had a challenge dramatizing the creative process, whether it’s Julia’s Jane Fonda as Lillian Hellman staring at her typewriter, or the heavy-handed expository art talk in Frida. But among this film’s most illuminating sequences is Gehry at work, impulsively and instinctually making changes to a building model, made of cardboard paper, adjusting it here and there until it wins his seal of approval: “It’s so stupid looking it’s great.”

Though many of those interviewed are down-to-earth – writer and curator Mildred Friedman, Ed Ruscha, and even Bob Geldof (“Ninety-nine percent of architecture is s***”) – Julian Schnabel wears a fluffy white bathrobe with sunglasses, drink in one hand and a cigar in another, living up to just a few artist stereotypes. This is the real Art School Confidential. And given that Gehry is based in Los Angeles, it is only appropriate that Hollywood powerhouses Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz and Barry Diller are represented. One of the few voices of dissension is Professor Hal Foster, who describes the Guggenheim Museum as a spectacle, questioning if the building serves the art collection. He speaks cautiously, as if he’s aware his opinion is vastly outnumbered.

Gehry’s self-described ambition belies his soft-spoken and self-effacing comportment. Despite his low-key manner, the discussions are often stimulating, such as his illustrating how a Bosch religious painting, Christ Mocked, is an example of architecture. Driven by the talking-head interviews, Pollack’s tribute will certainly feel at home on television, where it is bound – PBS’ American Masters. Kent Turner
May 12, 2006