My Architect: A Son's Journey

Salk Institute for Biological Studies designed by Louis Khan

I remember the first time I saw the movie "The Fountainhead" some years ago. I liked it a lot. I liked it not because it had a good story or that the quality of the film was superb. In fact I'd take the book version over the movie version anytime of the day. The real reason why I liked it was simply because it's a movie about an architect doing architecture.

Well thank goodness it is far from being the last movie in that vein with the showing of the movie "My Architect: A Son's Journey".  In fact, with the appearances of a number of notable architects in the movie, like I.M. Pei, Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry and others, it just might be a little bit better.

I've first heard about this documentary by Louis Khan's son about his father when it was nominated for an award in the recently concluded Academy Awards. It was soon released afterwards in a very limited run, probably because only the most "hardcore" architect types would be the only ones who would want to see it.

Well, my willingness to drive for almost 5 hours one way to the only movie house showing it that was closest to my city would probably merit me an invitation to the "hardcore" architect's hall of fame. Sadly, the trip was cut short as the movie theater was forced to ship the film back to its producers posthaste. Apparently there weren't enough architects in the state of Florida to make it profitable. My heart of course was broken.

Fortunately, before my grief drove me to begin carving the words "I *heart* architecture" onto my chest with the tip of a 30x40 triangle, the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects has announced the showing of the said movie during its annual convention. They will even be serving popcorn and soda to those who will come to see it. Salvation. Needless to say, I'm there.

Here's the official synopsis of the movie:

MY ARCHITECT is a tale of love and art, betrayal and forgiveness -- in which the illegitimate son of a legendary artist undertakes a five year, worldwide exploration to understand his long-dead father.

Louis I. Kahn, who died in 1974, is considered by many architectural historians to have been the most important architect of the second half of the twentieth century. A Jewish immigrant who overcame poverty and the effects of a devastating childhood accident, Kahn created a handful of intensely powerful and spiritual buildings -- geometric compositions of brick, concrete and light -- which, in the words of one critic, “change your life.”

While Kahn's artistic legacy was an uncompromising search for truth and clarity, his personal life was filled with secrets and chaos: He died, bankrupt and unidentified, in the men's room in Penn Station, New York, leaving behind three families -- one with his wife of many years and two with women with whom he'd had long-term affairs. In MY ARCHITECT, the child of one of these extra-marital relationships, Kahn's only son Nathaniel, sets out on an epic journey to reconcile the life and work of this mysterious, contradictory man.

The riveting narrative leads us from the subterranean corridors of Penn Station to the roiling streets of Bangladesh (where Kahn built the astonishing Capital), and from the coast of New England to the inner sanctums of Jerusalem politics. Along the way, we encounter a series of characters that are by turns fascinating, hilarious, adoring and critical: from the cabbies who drove Kahn around his native Philadelphia, to former lovers and clients, to the rarified heights of the world's most celebrated architects -- Frank Gehry, I.M. Pei and Philip Johnson among them.

In MY ARCHITECT, the filmmaker reveals the haunting beauty of his father's monumental creations and takes us deep within his own divided family, uncovering a world of prejudice, intrigue and the myths that haunt parents and children. In a documentary with the emotional impact of a dramatic feature film (including an original orchestral score), Nathaniel's personal journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art and ultimately, of life itself.