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'Sketches of Frank Gehry' offers glimpse into creative process

Here's something to remember in the day and age when plenty of new architecture torques, undulates, boogies and otherwise seems to defy physics: While computers have allowed architects to reimagine building forms, the most profoundly creative gestures are still made the old-fashioned way — on a sketch pad, by hand.

Sony Pictures Classics 'Sketches of Frank Gehry' 3 out of 5 stars The verdict: It's as if we are eavesdropping on a private conversation. Director: Sidney Pollack Cast: Frank Gehry Run time: 90 minutes Release date: May 12, 2006 Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Sketches of Frank Gehry'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

That's the revelation at the center of "Sketches of Frank Gehry," director Sydney Pollack's documentary about the acclaimed architect, who is also his close friend. Indeed, we learn that it's the rapidity, casualness and looseness of drawing that lies at the source of Gehry's sculptural buildings such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Filmed over a five-year period starting in 2000, the movie thankfully doesn't attempt to be a comprehensive portrait of the artist. Instead it's a meandering conversation between two old friends — friends who just happen to be enormous creative talents. And that's what makes the dialogue engaging. It's as if we are eavesdropping on a private conversation.

Using a combination of film and a hand-held mini digital video camera, Pollack captures both the grandeur, boldness and physicality of Gehry's buildings along with his rather elusive, demure and even insecure personality.

For all their futuristic forms, Gehry's buildings have a terrific visceral immediacy that doesn't always translate well in still photography. Pollack get us darn close to being there, swooping viewers around Gehry's unexpected forms and gliding along the glimmering metal exteriors.

By contrast, we hear the architect confess that every time he sits down to sketch, he experiences a terrifying moment of inadequacy. On a drive through his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, Gehry (who was born Frank Goldberg in Toronto) reveals the anti-Semitism he encountered in college that led him to change his name. Most rewarding are the scenes of the architect at work in his studio. While young associates affix themselves to computers, Gehry patiently cuts and tapes pieces of cardboard to craft rudimentary three-dimensional versions of his drawings.

"Sketches of Frank Gehry" is a quiet little movie for insiders, to be sure. But it offers an affectionate glimpse into the mind of the most iconic architect of our time.