My Architect: A Son's Journey

We watch a lot of movies. All kinds. Drama, comedy, documentary, foreign films. When we lived in CA we went to the movies every weekend because there were several theaters that carried different genres of movies and whatever your mood dictated was available, and matinees were fairly cheap then. So many movies, so little time. Once we even got to see one of our very favorites on the big screen, Dr. Zhivago. The ice house was incredible ten times its normal size in front of your face! Awesome! But I digress.

Hubby got a Roku for Christmas. It's a little box that hooks up to your tv, then you go online and pick your movie on Netflix, and the movie downloads to your tv instantly. Pretty cool. Last night as we were trying to decide what to watch, he came across this documentary called My Architect; A Son's Journey. Inwardly, I was rolling my eyes, like I have a tendency to do, thinking that it was going to be like that program How it's Built, or How it's Made, or How'd dey do dat. Those programs always end up being interesting and informative, for sure, but how many times can one watch how a bridge is made, or the Hoover Dam. Evidently, many times, as has been our case.

Was I wrong about this one! Turned out to be a very poignant story of Louis I. Kahn, and about an illegitimate son that knew little of his father until he went on a quest, 26 years after his father's death, to learn about him through the buildings his father built, the people he worked with, and the families that he shared blood with.

We felt our hearts open towards Louis Kahn, along with his son, through interviews with people who truly loved this architect and the amazing use of design, light, and space. It's a somewhat sad story of his father's failings and selfishness as well as his brilliance and occasional tenderness. Sad, mostly, because he could never allow himself to be truly happy. There's a point in the movie when the son, Nathaniel, is sitting in this beautiful house, with his siblings from three relationships, that his father designed and the three of them discussed the fact that their father could build these beautiful buildings, but never allow himself any of that beauty. I don't mean to imply that this is a movie that requires a box of kleenex. It is not.

The buildings are truly art, and I just can't imagine someone sitting down to envision what he did. This is well worth watching! If you happen to see it, let me know what you think!