'Sketches of Frank Gehry': Architectural awe

Indifferent to computers and uninterested in the engineering aspects of his chosen profession, Frank Gehry has nudged architecture further into the realm of the arts.

His conceptual drawings of dots and squiggles are unintelligible to all except those who have worked with him for years. And his creative process of bending cardboard and crumpling paper into architectural models most resembles a youngster at play. Still, Gehry's output — from the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, to the Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles — are undeniably works of art.

Sony Pictures Classics 'Sketches of Frank Gehry' B+ The verdict: A visual tour of architect Gehry's unconventional creations, with detours into his thought processes. 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

Such an iconoclastic visionary requires an unconventional documentary to tell his story and that is what he receives in Sketches of Frank Gehry, a film filled with the wonder and awe that only an architectural novice could bring to it.

Gehry had often been approached about making a movie of him and his work, but when he was ready he chose a friend, director Sydney Pollack (Tootsie, The Interpreter), who readily admits he knew nothing about architecture or making documentaries. But it is exactly that naivete that becomes the guiding force of the film, allowing Pollack to ask laymen's questions that yield candid answers free of jargon.

Or perhaps it is Gehry's natural vocabulary that is so disarming. He will stare at a working model of an evolving building and declare that it needs to be more "grumpy." (No wonder he has had the Disney organization as a client on more than one occasion.) Or he will pronounce a design of his as "stupid-looking," and mean it as a sincere compliment.

Besides having seemingly limitless access to Gehry, Pollack also had sufficient budget to hop around the globe and visit his major projects.

Some of the most transcendent sequences in Sketches of Frank Gehry occur as the camera caresses the offbeat exterior surfaces and unexpectedly inviting interiors the architect's crude drawings and models led to. Caution: You will want to hop a plane and tour these buildings yourself after a single exposure to this film.

The autobiographical information is kept to a minimum, but even it too is invariably odd. At an early age, Gehry — whose original name was Goldberg — had his handwriting analyzed and was told that he would become a famous architect. Still, he took a class in perspective and promptly failed it. It is his love of the sea that seems to lead him to recurring imagery of waves, sails and fish. But maybe not.

Clients ranging from former Disney chief Michael Eisner to actor Dennis Hopper to Guggenheim honcho Thomas Krens offer their views on Gehry, as do architectural writers, both pro and con, and, perhaps most interestingly, Gehry's longtime therapist.

Sketches of Frank Gehry comes as close to portraying the creative process — however eccentric — as any film within memory. It is a celebration of inspiration, both on its subject's part and on filmmaker Pollack, who seems liberated by this assignment outside his comfort zone.