written by Martina Dolesjova
 

To interview a house, multiple houses, and hear a story of design, life, and of urbanity categorizes the film "Schindler's Houses" made by German film maker Heinz Emigholz. Heinz asks the question, “Where are you now? What have you been doing?”, and each house answers in a venerable voice.

Dialogue is heard from the cars passing by on the highways, songbirds chirping in the trees, the wind rustling, pots clanked off-screen and the occasional selection of music floating in as part of Schindler’s soundtrack. Dialogue is seen by the presence of cars in the driveway or garage, potted plants on the balconies, modern furniture and grand pianos, bare floors, bare bookshelves and cupboards, discoloring of walls, peeling of paint and overgrown bushes. These are the stories that make this film bearable to watch.

The film is not for the casual passerbyer nor do you need to be an enthusiast. It requires an interest in the California architect Rudolph M. Schindler, in his houses and in architecture in order to sit through the frames of this 99 minute film. Each house interview contains shots of different perspectives that remain on the screen until Heinz moves on. Each house is told in the same manner, and they all require a certain degree of intellectuality to appreciate them.

View the Lovell Beach House, one of the more well known Schindler houses, framed amongst the telephone lines. “You’ve aged well,” you could tell it. Then the next shot reveals the large Rubbermaid bins hugging the side. It is like seeing a celebrity without their make-up. It is a reality you know exists but reject admitting. Passively, the home divulges its secrets of the city and life within it.

Schindler has always captured me. I was turned on by him after I saw a house of his cascading down the hillside. I found it delightful. He was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright who harbored similar qualities of exploring space. In his earliest work, fireplaces contained a central focal point like Wright. He experimented with glass. In some cases, deleting the corner column to create an unobstructed view, similar to Wright. His buildings used simple geometry of rectilinear forms and attempted to bridge the boundaries of inside and outside with these shapes and with material.

The distinction of Schindler is in his ability to form continuous surfaces. From roof blending to column blending to beam to wall, he mastered the extension of material, form and space. Each piece shakes hands with the other. It is subtle but as you view the first ten houses in the film, you find the beauty of his art. Here, this is the story that the interviewee isn't aware of but manages to tell through the film’s visual dialogue.

It is a film that exposes a new context outside of the magazines or books showing pristine photos. The film reminds us that buildings as architecture are more than a pretty picture. They succumb to human interaction and are in an urban environment that fluxes. These homes live.





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.