Sometimes, when watching DVDs to review, the odd occurrence of extra features surpassing the featured film occurs. Such is the case with The Criterion Collection's DVD of Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Teshigahara's titular 1984 documentary on the buildings of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926)- the film's title is a spelling error. The film runs a mere 72 minutes, yet it seems much longer, and this is because, despite the film's title, there is a surprisingly small focus on the actual works of the architect. Much of the film skirts over things related to the buildings, and adds in odd musical accompaniment, by Toru Takemitsu, Kurodo Mori, and Shinji Hori.
Aside from a few spoken words, caught seemingly on the fly, there is no narration in this 'documentary,' which may make it superficially seem to be even more documentary than most documentaries. Yet, it lacks the power of similar films made by Werner Herzog, or the –Quatsi films of Godfrey Reggio because the images and the music rarely cohere. And, even when the film is showing a Gaudi work it never lingers on it in full for long, as the cinematography, by Junichi Segawa, Yoshikazu Yanagida, and Ryu Segawa, merely skims, and often shows people in the buildings, or around then, thus detracting from the 'purity' of the work. There's little doubt that Gaudi was an excellent practitioner of his craft, which often seems to prefigure the drawings of H.R. Giger in their sensual animalism. They also recall the sets used in the original 1968 The Planet Of The Apes. But one will not be able to delve into the extent of that talent via this main film, for there is no absorption into the imagery of the art. And this is quite surprising, since Teshigahara's earlier films, like Pitfall, Woman In The Dunes, and The Face Of Another, were so in synch with their subject matter. One can only guess that the gap between drama and documentary filmmaking is a divide the man, for whatever reasons, simply could not bridge. For some, the film may be a great experience, but it is not great art.
Aside from a few spoken words, caught seemingly on the fly, there is no narration in this 'documentary,' which may make it superficially seem to be even more documentary than most documentaries. Yet, it lacks the power of similar films made by Werner Herzog, or the –Quatsi films of Godfrey Reggio because the images and the music rarely cohere. And, even when the film is showing a Gaudi work it never lingers on it in full for long, as the cinematography, by Junichi Segawa, Yoshikazu Yanagida, and Ryu Segawa, merely skims, and often shows people in the buildings, or around then, thus detracting from the 'purity' of the work. There's little doubt that Gaudi was an excellent practitioner of his craft, which often seems to prefigure the drawings of H.R. Giger in their sensual animalism. They also recall the sets used in the original 1968 The Planet Of The Apes. But one will not be able to delve into the extent of that talent via this main film, for there is no absorption into the imagery of the art. And this is quite surprising, since Teshigahara's earlier films, like Pitfall, Woman In The Dunes, and The Face Of Another, were so in synch with their subject matter. One can only guess that the gap between drama and documentary filmmaking is a divide the man, for whatever reasons, simply could not bridge. For some, the film may be a great experience, but it is not great art.