MY ARCHITECT

By the end of My Architect, it's impossible to imagine Kahn's magnificent and monumental designs as coming from anything but the hand of God himself.

Louis I. Kahn was a man defined by contradiction. He was a short, ugly man with burn scars all over his face, yet he had enough charisma to carry on a successful career of womanizing his whole life. Nathaniel Kahn, his son and the creator of My Architect, was born when Kahn was over 60 years old, to one of three families Kahn had with three different women—two of whom were colleagues, and none of whom knew about the others until they met at his funeral. This we learn shortly before hearing him say that it is of paramount importance in his designs not to hide things for what they really are. Early in the film, one of his colleagues compares him to the Second Coming, and we laugh, but by the end of My Architect, it's impossible to imagine Kahn's magnificent and monumental designs as coming from anything but the hand of God himself.

My Architect chronicles Nathaniel's journey to try and make sense of his father's life, and his death, and the legacy of the few but awe-inspiring buildings he left behind. Kahn died alone in a restroom in Penn Station almost 30 years ago. The address in his passport was crossed out, and consequently he lay unidentified in the city morgue for days before he was claimed. Nathaniel's mother believes that Kahn was on his way to live with her and Nathaniel for good. His uncertainty of such a conclusion, and any others regarding his enigmatic father, drove him to create this film.

Kahn's buildings are truly amazing creations. It becomes more apparent as Nathaniel travels around the world, visiting his father's buildings in countries as far away as Bangladesh. Some of Kahn's biggest inspirations were the ancient ruins he saw during a trip through Europe, after which he stated that he wanted his designs to be like ancient monuments, hulking and permanent—the antithesis of what Kahn himself was. He didn't design very many buildings, but as one of his colleagues confidently says, "All my buildings don't add up to his three or four." As the camera travels through some of these buildings (which are gorgeously photographed, by the way), it's hard not to imagine Kahn's ghost built into their walls.

On a technical note, I especially liked the way My Architect was edited. It makes very effective use of real footage of Kahn back when he was working in the '50s and '60s. The original score is also excellent. If I had one complaint about this film, it would be the presence of a few of those annoyingly contrived moments documentarians are sometimes guilty of, where a situation is supposed to be spontaneous, but we all know that if it actually was, the camera wouldn't have been focused there in the first place. (Case in point: Nathaniel's first meeting with a friend of his father's. "Gee, is that him over there? Let's go see." Because the camera isn't already right next to him filming away or anything.) But not many.

I realize I've focused mainly on describing Kahn's work, but it is his personal life that is the main subject matter for My Architect. Interviews with his two mistresses (one of whom is Nathaniel's mother) are touching and thought-provoking. Overall, this film is poignant and engrossing portrait of a bizarre man's life told through the memories of those who knew him best, and the immortality he achieved through his designs.