current selection | yann tiersen (amelie) – les jours tristes
feelin’ | moody
i had a dream last nite that i was in my hometown in texas again. i think i was on a tour or something…so i was sitting in a diner along the main strip trying to remember where everything was. i got to talk to this group of local girls, and whenever i pointed out a place and said that so-and-so used to be right there, theyd give me a funny look and tell me that it didnt. so when i woke up, i was wondering whether my actual memory was correct and that they were disagreeing b/c it was different in the dream reality, or that my memory really was that shitty. hmm…
a few of us caught a showing of my architect last nite at the film forum. my architect is a documentary of sorts by nathaniel kahn, the “bastard” son of prodigious american architect louis kahn. louis kahn died of a heart attack in penn station in 1974, and nathaniel didnt really get to know him that well as he was growing up. so by making this documentary, he went out on a search of sorts to “find” him. for those unfamiliar with louis kahn, he was an influential american architect whose works included the salk institute, the exeter library, the kimbell art museum, and his largest commission…the dhaka complex in bangladesh. he in turn also had a “complicated” personal life, resulting in not only a daughter with his “legal” wife, but also another daughter with his first mistress, and a son (nathaniel, the director of the documentary) with his second. nathaniel interviews a variety of people from kahns life, including many notable architects such as philip johnson (who outlived the dinosaurs), the charismatic i.m. pei, a brief talk with frank (swishy) gehry, and robert stern (dean of yale architecture). he also interviewed others such as a rabbi who knew his father, his own mother harriett pattison, his two half-sisters sue and alex, taxi drivers who took louis kahn around philadeplphia, and even people around the dahka complex in bangladesh (who mispronounce louis kahn as louis farrakhan). the documentary was pretty poignant and thoughtful…it hilights kahns numerous architectural achievements, as well as his failures with his own family(s). it also highlighted how ugly louis kahn really was. i did not know this prior. the documentary is in limited release, so definitely check it out before they stop showing it.
