ditto on
lost in translation
in the mood for love
eternal sunshine
adaptation.
on memento (and somehow i think somehow magnolia relates to this, also),
the intersection of time and experience, both movies drew parallels to the architectural experience, even though the vehicle was temporal experience. I couldn't help but think of it as an architecture project. The structure of the story depended on walls between moments (rooms), thresholds, intersection, overlap, separation. memnto dealt with the the lack of memory or the projection of memory onto place. the built environment is experiential - it doesn't (or at least shouldn't) tell you what to think, or it's a one-liner. each person comes away with their own experience, and they will project parts of their own memory onto or into a space. am i stretching here? (actually, i need to stretch - I've been at this monitor too long)
larslarson - designing for no memory: i totally thought about that upon seeing memento. actually, a real life manifestation of that is designing a ward for severe Alzheimer's patients. I once took an architectural tour of one under construction. it was WILD, dealing with familiarity of color, of comfort, of themes.
Crazier yet, it was totally maximum security. but since the atmosphere of "home" and comfort was utmost, to keep the patients feeling calm and happy, it couldn't *look* maximum security. It was a playground and a prison and a home, depending on who you ask. I mean, one component of the design actually faced the task of 1) designing an outside space 2) for people with no memory and only feelings, that 3) kept them in containment and surveillance and protection at all times, while 4) not letting them know it (so they'd feel safe).
Obviously for another thread, sorry. But it was a crazy conceptual construct.
fordified,
no way, that's a f@cking great post. i got all kinds of giddy reading your thread, just imagining the opporunity to design such a thing would be a hell of a challange but a fantastic ride at the same time. not only that, but your description would make a great setting for a film. so it does relate to this posting....somewhat.
the cell - for the decontextualization of the tsien/williams neurosciences building, using it as a jumping off point for some crazy paranoid-fantasy sequences.
Fifth Element
Bladerunner
AI
2001 Space Oddysey
Brazil!!!!
Cremaster 3 for sure! Provocative movie, but you have to be in the right mindset. Guggenheim and the Chrysler Building are more or less The Title Characters!
Tanpopo
The Seven Samurai
Koyaanasqatsi/Pooquatsi
Episode 4,5,6 of Star Wars
fordified...
i agree with paper tiger ..nice post.
my personal thesis was a naive attempt to create buildings that
could 'teach' art...basic ideas included creating a false
perspective space (like at st. peter's..that stair to the right)
having differently scaled stairs, different textured walls where
light levels could be controlled so that you had to rely on your
sense of touch..etc. etc. not sure it was entirely successful
but it was fun to work on.
within that i was trying to think of other kind of spaces that
would create certain types of personalities, habits etc. (i.e.
could you create a serial murderer through the space he lived
in..)maybe a bit too much of a one liner..but that's what school
is for.
Yeah, speaking of houses with personalities...what about Poltergeist, or the Amytiville Horror, or Salem's Lot or the Original 1950's The Haunting?Or the Exorcist? All of those buildings become entities at one point or another.
That is why you should watch CREMASTER 3!!! Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I've mentioned this movie in a previous post and all I got were cyber-blank stares
i think i saw cremaster 2, not 3. the one about gary gilmore, with the rodeo and the wax, etc. matthew barney is definitely doing some interesting things. i'm scared, though, of what the architectural implications could be.
It's all about immigrants, the Masons, and the construction of the Chrystler Building. It's a beautiful movie...very disturbing but visually and intellectually fascinating....especially the second part which features Matthew Barney in a pink kilt climbing around the Guggenheim.
Just for fun, a friend of mine invited a group of people into an anonymous design project based on Clue and the concept of the Exquisite Corpse. Each person, completely independent of each other, had to design a room, totally independent of each other, a threshold, and a character. The concept was that they'd design a whole structure in which a crime takes place. The critical analysis of the drawings would reveal Whodunit, Withwhat, and Inwhichroom. They all came in from different cities to have the review & made an event out of it.
Anyway, yeah, Clue. Also seemed pertinent to larslarson's post
*Die Hard*! I gotta say it again: it's got a huge stuffed bear in it and a suicidal ballet dancer (Alexander Gudonov) and lots of chrome ductwork and some elevator shafts - and the main character is an LA skyscraper...! 'nuff said.
And *Panic Room*, too, I have to say both of them again: *Panic Room*, the whole thing is about a New York townhouse...
The possibility of the layers that exist within the plot of these movies can be mapped and analyzed as a phenomenon in itself.
The fact that certain issues remain unresolved in some of these movies(in the mood for love) speaks of an architectural understanding in which a person could begin to experience a space that is open-ended and undefined.
Movies like irreversible and momento question how we can begin to understand the procession as the plot and begin to experience spaces backwards or in reverse to the point of reference.
Movies like adaptation begin to understand the subject as the object and the object as the subject. So how would a space experience a person???
OK I'M GETTIN A LITTLE CARRIED AWAY SORRY, I'LL STOP.....
Several American architecture schools have film series run by students. Look through their listings for recommendations. (Apologies if they've been mentioned as I'm a pathological skimmer when it comes to forums et al.)
At Harvard GSD, look here and here. They had more, but I seemed to have lost their URLs, including the one from which you could navigate to the outlying pages.
At Princeton SOA, this appears to be the only one that's online.
Columbia GSAP also have film series, but its listings don't seem to appear online. Perhaps SCIArc and YSoA also hold screenings. But that's just an arbitrary speculation as I'm really loving these market branded identity acronyms.
The University of Illinois Dept. of Landscape Architecture (UnIDoLA?) had their own film series. Go here and then here for the last two series. And perhaps in the end, there's still enough interest to peek here and here.
From all the film series that I've encountered, I find that Blade Runner, Metropolis, Stanley Kubrick, The (fuckingly-mind-numbingly-boring) Fountainhead (sidenote/fact/trivia/gossip/can't decide: if you happened to mention this movie and specify as a significant influence in your architectural work and thinking in your application to one east coast architecture school, the application is summarily dismissed), and Dr. Caligari are perennial favorites.
And clearly choosing a theme prevents a list from growing monstrously incoherent and useless. Well, "Architecture" is a good one, but that ain't fun at all, is it? So how about Temperature, Color, Queer Space, Elevators, Peeping Tom, Disasters and Mayhem?
I've always wanted to recommend Logan's Run (architecture of the future envisioned as suburban malls) to somebody. And so I have.
And Safe by Todd Haynes. The main culprit is obviously the Sick Building Syndrome, and by extension the 80s and 90s mania for energy efficient buildings, which itself was a byproduct of the oil shortages in the 70s. Los Angles and utopian urbanism are also covered. But don't let all these smart soundin' themes from enjoying Juliane Moore's deliciousl performance.
Speaking of Los Angeles, how about Los Angeles Plays Itself, which is basically a film series within a movie.
I second Die Hard. Could it be that Bruce Willis' joyride around the exterior of the building via a firefighter's hose served as inspiration to the Maypole scene atop the Chrysler Building in Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3? How about the High Roller atop the Stratosphere Hotel And Casino?
The World by Jia Zhang-ke. Haven't seen it, but this first paragraph from a review by Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader makes me want to seek it out:
"The title of Jia Zhang-ke's 2004 masterpiece, The World -- a film that's hilarious and upsetting, epic and dystopian -- is an ironic pun and a metaphor. It's also the name of the real theme park outside Beijing where most of the action is set and practically all its characters work. "See the world without ever leaving Beijing" is one slogan for the 115-acre park, where a monorail circles scaled-down replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, London Bridge, Saint Mark's Square, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Pyramids, and even a Lower Manhattan complete with the Twin Towers. Extravagant kitsch like this may offer momentary escape from the everyday, but Jia is interested in showing the everyday activities needed to hold this kitsch in place as well as the alienation in this displaced world -- and therefore in the world in general, including the one we know."
An architect's nightmare? Surely it's gotta be Tati's _Playtime_. Yes, the movie is funny and rather fun to watch despite some long stretches. But the buildings and by extension the architects are the butt of the jokes. The buildings are exposed as incompetent and dehumanizing; the workers seem to get by but they're just automatons. And the architects are emperors without any clothes. Curiously I'm reminded of Peter and Alison Smithson, the intellectual duo and critical darlings of British post-war architecture avant-garde (the Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas of yesteryear, if you will), and their Luciferian downfall from grace after the construction of their Robin Hood Garden council housing in East London. They talked the talk, but they couldn't walk the walk. And thus derided for their architectural disaster. I imagine them feeling like Hugh Grant after his escapade with the prostitute Charity. (Or was it Destiny? Magenta? Dahlia? Brittney? Deirdra? Hazel? Whatever.)
OTOH, a building's destruction, especially a failed building, offers up a window for salvation or at least a catharsis. N.B. Chicago's Ida B. Wells Housing Projects, the deformed offspring of Le Corbusier's Garden City, was put off their misery and leveled to the ground. Robin Hood Garden, meanwhile, is a stinking, putrid corpse that tenants are made to endure.
From Paper Tiger: "toy story 1 and 2. the change of scale..."
To which I add _The Incredible Shrinking Man_ (afterwards, you may want to check out Almodovar's _Talk To Her_ where the pornographic implications of a man shrinked down to size is explored to schocking and hilarious effect), _Honey, I Shrunk The Kids_, and _The Andromeda Strain_ (architects will never want to sleep through HVAC ever again).
Oh, yeah. Saw Die Hard again. I second my second. Must see.
And everyone should watch at least one Busby Berkeley musical number. But why would anyone just want to watch a single number?
hard to believe that Antonioni's Blow Up has not been mentioned yet. Really gorgeous cinematography, and it features AA students at the beginning and the end. Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire should also make the cut (if only for its unbelieveably long pans) , as should the original Italian Job (for its appropriation of urban infrastructure and for driving a team of mini coopers over a nervi dome). And yes, mystery man, the Blues Brothers is definitely a must see - best car chase since Bullet.
Umm.. out of Antonioni's complete oeuvre, why is Blow Up mentioned so often in architecture circles? I'd prefer "The Eclipse" or "The Red Desert" for their comment on the italian urban planning discussion in the 1960's - a true correlation between the environment and the characters, not only pretty set designs.
This week, I saw Clockwork Orange and 2046. I know there's another post right now on Clockwork Orange, but I was struck by the architecture and the use of space.
2046, the new Wong Kar Wei film (sequel to In The Mood For Love) has some gorgeous, futuristic cityscapes, albeit with a strange product placement for LG at the end.
Oh. And while we're at it, 2001. I can't help but be in love with the spaces... that and the product placements (Pan Am. Bell.).
a housing project and luxury condo building have simillar construction. issues dealing with socially constructed value, derelect urbanism and dudes with hooks instead of hands.
also in the wim wenders: notebooks on cities and clothes is excellent.
i also second a-f on Antonioni. alphaville. kubrick, and all the tati movies that deal with modern architecture.
if you grew up in suburban fort worth in the 80s then this was your life. tract duplexes with four-car garages swarming across prairies of sunflowers and indian needles. 68-degree malls in 168-degree parking lots. those metal warehouses and speed-fabcrete office parks. my mom worked in one of those once. the delicate huddling of black, brown, white, and yellow cultures under the triple umbrellas of electronics, evangelicalism, and Ethan Allen.
aside from the visual imagery, the movie presages -- 10 years in advance -- the entire Internet / startup / tech boom (and bust?). the unfortunately late and fortunately great spaulding gray cameos and just try not to see today's business culture in that monologue of his that involves a lobster. there is quite a lot to catch, indeed.
the movie has a plot, a loose one but one that pays off at the end. john goodman debuted in this movie (i think) and turns out he can sing ok. also look for the also late, great pops staples. it is a funny movie, a quietly warmly funny movie, and one that always tends to leave me smiling, which is more than i can say for solaris (excellent though it may be). indeed, my wife and i (both texans) used to watch this movie over and over when we lived in chicago because we were desperately homesick and needed a laugh.
so much to say about this movie, but i will leave it at this: the design of the stage at the talent show kicks arse. it alone is worth the $7.99 it will cost you to buy the DVD.
Dark City (ever seen some action of the heroes evading for not being crushed by buildings growing like mushrooms)
Sin City
Matrix
Star wars for the futuristic cities (nevermind the love story)
Final Fantasy (for the fights in the ruins)
Immortal by Enki Bilal
The Cube
City as character again. The antagonists (alright... bad guys!) have the ability to sort of meld the city into whatever thier collective minds wish. They do this to study humans, so it attempts to look at what effect our environment has on us.
Also, the movie just looks really 'cool'. I heard it was based on... german expressionism? maybe.
It also mixes references from different times. Heavily noir, incorporating some 50's-60's styling (i believe the cars and parts of the nightclub, memories a bit spotty), some deco as well.
Oh, Alphaville, hell yeah.
the main character turns on his lighter with a pistol.
still the most flattering french stereotype of an american i've seen (granted, the film is from the 60's)
well- look at all the star wars movies in analysis of where they (the set designers) they placed their influences for their designs. like the planet of queen amidala, for instance (darth's chick)- the clear association of the palace to that of the hagia sophia on the exterior, with this amalgalm of 14th century interior finishes with modern highlighting and objects.
and the dusty planet of (naboo?) with it's adobe-brick/mud styling, rustic with modernity itself lending itself to an outdated form.
i'll second anything from hitchcock such as vertigo and rear window, but i'd like to add rope to the list. the entire movie takes place in one apartment and is shot in what appears to be one continuous sequence.
belly of an architect - important film about self-career obsession and maritial betrayal topics that tend to reoccur with the life of architects. As well cinematically it is without rival particularly of that generation. Rome as a movie set is perhaps only more beauty with Audrey Hepbourne in it (Roman Holiday).
Being John Malechivch - seeks about the space of the mind, and the duality that it has with our physical environments. The film is big on the manifestations of existentialism and deconstruction. The movie has a big architectural cult following throughout the world for that very same reason.
Suburbia - movie set in the 1970s suburban nowhere in the US. Talks about the nothingness of those environments and the relegated plainess that is prolific.
1984 - no where near as disturbing as the book, but still a brilliant film about the negative manifestations of the futurists.
but I think it is also important to mention documentaries as well
a strong clear vision - about Maya Lin and her Vietnam Memorial competition winning entry
my architect - nathenial kahn searching for his father's legacy
i second aliens...but ya gotta go for the one with the machine suit...
also - just cause i'm feeling obscure...the andromeda strain, interesting use of the screen, plus the scenes in the underground facility are incredible..not to mention the commentary on hiegene.
totally could write several books about fight club...from urban dystopias to the fascination with hidden infrastructures. i also think ghost in the shell, and just about any other of the big anime movies always seem to have a lot to do with some sort of constructed reality.
man the list could go on and on...also all the hitchcock, lynch, wong kar wai, kubrick, wim wenders, so on and so on are always such interesting movies because of the fascinating use of the sets, composition of characters, referencing of pop culture, or re-reading of our surroundings, dreams, desires, etc.
To add to all the dystopian films mentioned about, how about _THX 1138_? The end is particularly fascinating as it is set in a wall-less, borderless, prisonless prison. It's no panopticon, which would be thematically in keeping with the totalitarian society. It's architecture without architecture and architects! How does one escape? Can anyone escape? Rent it and see.
And to add to the documentary list, _Public Housing_, which looks at everyday life in Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing projects ("the deformed offspring of Le Corbusier's Garden City").
And cannot recommend these enough: all the Busby Berkeley musical numbers in _42nd Street_, _Gold Diggers of 1933_, _Footlight Parade_, _Dames_, and Berkeley-directed _Gold Diggers of 1935_.
ARCHITECTURAL movies
Witness is a a good movie about self build communities,
and Kelly McGillis looked a picture.
ditto on
lost in translation
in the mood for love
eternal sunshine
adaptation.
on memento (and somehow i think somehow magnolia relates to this, also),
the intersection of time and experience, both movies drew parallels to the architectural experience, even though the vehicle was temporal experience. I couldn't help but think of it as an architecture project. The structure of the story depended on walls between moments (rooms), thresholds, intersection, overlap, separation. memnto dealt with the the lack of memory or the projection of memory onto place. the built environment is experiential - it doesn't (or at least shouldn't) tell you what to think, or it's a one-liner. each person comes away with their own experience, and they will project parts of their own memory onto or into a space. am i stretching here? (actually, i need to stretch - I've been at this monitor too long)
larslarson - designing for no memory: i totally thought about that upon seeing memento. actually, a real life manifestation of that is designing a ward for severe Alzheimer's patients. I once took an architectural tour of one under construction. it was WILD, dealing with familiarity of color, of comfort, of themes.
Crazier yet, it was totally maximum security. but since the atmosphere of "home" and comfort was utmost, to keep the patients feeling calm and happy, it couldn't *look* maximum security. It was a playground and a prison and a home, depending on who you ask. I mean, one component of the design actually faced the task of 1) designing an outside space 2) for people with no memory and only feelings, that 3) kept them in containment and surveillance and protection at all times, while 4) not letting them know it (so they'd feel safe).
Obviously for another thread, sorry. But it was a crazy conceptual construct.
Minority report
And new one The Island should be interesting!!!
Fight Club is adorable
Irreversible with Bellicci- Really great Architecture!!!
fordified,
no way, that's a f@cking great post. i got all kinds of giddy reading your thread, just imagining the opporunity to design such a thing would be a hell of a challange but a fantastic ride at the same time. not only that, but your description would make a great setting for a film. so it does relate to this posting....somewhat.
no s--t, paper tiger.
i mean, how do you design a maximum security space that engenders a feeling of complete freedom?
still blows my mind.
the cell - for the decontextualization of the tsien/williams neurosciences building, using it as a jumping off point for some crazy paranoid-fantasy sequences.
Fifth Element
Bladerunner
AI
2001 Space Oddysey
Brazil!!!!
Cremaster 3 for sure! Provocative movie, but you have to be in the right mindset. Guggenheim and the Chrysler Building are more or less The Title Characters!
Tanpopo
The Seven Samurai
Koyaanasqatsi/Pooquatsi
Episode 4,5,6 of Star Wars
fordified...
i agree with paper tiger ..nice post.
my personal thesis was a naive attempt to create buildings that
could 'teach' art...basic ideas included creating a false
perspective space (like at st. peter's..that stair to the right)
having differently scaled stairs, different textured walls where
light levels could be controlled so that you had to rely on your
sense of touch..etc. etc. not sure it was entirely successful
but it was fun to work on.
within that i was trying to think of other kind of spaces that
would create certain types of personalities, habits etc. (i.e.
could you create a serial murderer through the space he lived
in..)maybe a bit too much of a one liner..but that's what school
is for.
the shining. it's so architectural it's ridiculous. bwaha.
actually any kubrick number is, for that matter...
Yeah, speaking of houses with personalities...what about Poltergeist, or the Amytiville Horror, or Salem's Lot or the Original 1950's The Haunting?Or the Exorcist? All of those buildings become entities at one point or another.
That is why you should watch CREMASTER 3!!! Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I've mentioned this movie in a previous post and all I got were cyber-blank stares
i think i saw cremaster 2, not 3. the one about gary gilmore, with the rodeo and the wax, etc. matthew barney is definitely doing some interesting things. i'm scared, though, of what the architectural implications could be.
It's all about immigrants, the Masons, and the construction of the Chrystler Building. It's a beautiful movie...very disturbing but visually and intellectually fascinating....especially the second part which features Matthew Barney in a pink kilt climbing around the Guggenheim.
smoke
harvey keitel takes a picture from the same spot every day.
What about Clue?
Just for fun, a friend of mine invited a group of people into an anonymous design project based on Clue and the concept of the Exquisite Corpse. Each person, completely independent of each other, had to design a room, totally independent of each other, a threshold, and a character. The concept was that they'd design a whole structure in which a crime takes place. The critical analysis of the drawings would reveal Whodunit, Withwhat, and Inwhichroom. They all came in from different cities to have the review & made an event out of it.
Anyway, yeah, Clue. Also seemed pertinent to larslarson's post
*Die Hard*! I gotta say it again: it's got a huge stuffed bear in it and a suicidal ballet dancer (Alexander Gudonov) and lots of chrome ductwork and some elevator shafts - and the main character is an LA skyscraper...! 'nuff said.
And *Panic Room*, too, I have to say both of them again: *Panic Room*, the whole thing is about a New York townhouse...
LEBBEUS WOODS, Plaintiff, -against- UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC., ATLAS ENTERTAINMENT, INC., TERRY GILLIAM and JEFFREY BEECROFT
- for 12 Monkeys
The possibility of the layers that exist within the plot of these movies can be mapped and analyzed as a phenomenon in itself.
The fact that certain issues remain unresolved in some of these movies(in the mood for love) speaks of an architectural understanding in which a person could begin to experience a space that is open-ended and undefined.
Movies like irreversible and momento question how we can begin to understand the procession as the plot and begin to experience spaces backwards or in reverse to the point of reference.
Movies like adaptation begin to understand the subject as the object and the object as the subject. So how would a space experience a person???
OK I'M GETTIN A LITTLE CARRIED AWAY SORRY, I'LL STOP.....
Several American architecture schools have film series run by students. Look through their listings for recommendations. (Apologies if they've been mentioned as I'm a pathological skimmer when it comes to forums et al.)
At Harvard GSD, look here and here. They had more, but I seemed to have lost their URLs, including the one from which you could navigate to the outlying pages.
At MIT HTC, look here and also here.
At Princeton SOA, this appears to be the only one that's online.
Columbia GSAP also have film series, but its listings don't seem to appear online. Perhaps SCIArc and YSoA also hold screenings. But that's just an arbitrary speculation as I'm really loving these market branded identity acronyms.
The University of Illinois Dept. of Landscape Architecture (UnIDoLA?) had their own film series. Go here and then here for the last two series. And perhaps in the end, there's still enough interest to peek here and here.
From all the film series that I've encountered, I find that Blade Runner, Metropolis, Stanley Kubrick, The (fuckingly-mind-numbingly-boring) Fountainhead (sidenote/fact/trivia/gossip/can't decide: if you happened to mention this movie and specify as a significant influence in your architectural work and thinking in your application to one east coast architecture school, the application is summarily dismissed), and Dr. Caligari are perennial favorites.
And clearly choosing a theme prevents a list from growing monstrously incoherent and useless. Well, "Architecture" is a good one, but that ain't fun at all, is it? So how about Temperature, Color, Queer Space, Elevators, Peeping Tom, Disasters and Mayhem?
I've always wanted to recommend Logan's Run (architecture of the future envisioned as suburban malls) to somebody. And so I have.
And Safe by Todd Haynes. The main culprit is obviously the Sick Building Syndrome, and by extension the 80s and 90s mania for energy efficient buildings, which itself was a byproduct of the oil shortages in the 70s. Los Angles and utopian urbanism are also covered. But don't let all these smart soundin' themes from enjoying Juliane Moore's deliciousl performance.
Speaking of Los Angeles, how about Los Angeles Plays Itself, which is basically a film series within a movie.
I second Die Hard. Could it be that Bruce Willis' joyride around the exterior of the building via a firefighter's hose served as inspiration to the Maypole scene atop the Chrysler Building in Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3? How about the High Roller atop the Stratosphere Hotel And Casino?
The World by Jia Zhang-ke. Haven't seen it, but this first paragraph from a review by Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader makes me want to seek it out:
"The title of Jia Zhang-ke's 2004 masterpiece, The World -- a film that's hilarious and upsetting, epic and dystopian -- is an ironic pun and a metaphor. It's also the name of the real theme park outside Beijing where most of the action is set and practically all its characters work. "See the world without ever leaving Beijing" is one slogan for the 115-acre park, where a monorail circles scaled-down replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, London Bridge, Saint Mark's Square, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Pyramids, and even a Lower Manhattan complete with the Twin Towers. Extravagant kitsch like this may offer momentary escape from the everyday, but Jia is interested in showing the everyday activities needed to hold this kitsch in place as well as the alienation in this displaced world -- and therefore in the world in general, including the one we know."
And so I stop.
The Towering Inferno
Isn't this movie an architect's nightmare, or a fantasy to be an ultimate hero?
Paul Newman (yes, he plays architect) and Steve McQueen rock!
and "Chungking Express." Yeah, those one-bed apts in Hongkong look terrible... or you can call them "cozy."
An architect's nightmare? Surely it's gotta be Tati's _Playtime_. Yes, the movie is funny and rather fun to watch despite some long stretches. But the buildings and by extension the architects are the butt of the jokes. The buildings are exposed as incompetent and dehumanizing; the workers seem to get by but they're just automatons. And the architects are emperors without any clothes. Curiously I'm reminded of Peter and Alison Smithson, the intellectual duo and critical darlings of British post-war architecture avant-garde (the Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas of yesteryear, if you will), and their Luciferian downfall from grace after the construction of their Robin Hood Garden council housing in East London. They talked the talk, but they couldn't walk the walk. And thus derided for their architectural disaster. I imagine them feeling like Hugh Grant after his escapade with the prostitute Charity. (Or was it Destiny? Magenta? Dahlia? Brittney? Deirdra? Hazel? Whatever.)
OTOH, a building's destruction, especially a failed building, offers up a window for salvation or at least a catharsis. N.B. Chicago's Ida B. Wells Housing Projects, the deformed offspring of Le Corbusier's Garden City, was put off their misery and leveled to the ground. Robin Hood Garden, meanwhile, is a stinking, putrid corpse that tenants are made to endure.
From Paper Tiger: "toy story 1 and 2. the change of scale..."
To which I add _The Incredible Shrinking Man_ (afterwards, you may want to check out Almodovar's _Talk To Her_ where the pornographic implications of a man shrinked down to size is explored to schocking and hilarious effect), _Honey, I Shrunk The Kids_, and _The Andromeda Strain_ (architects will never want to sleep through HVAC ever again).
Oh, yeah. Saw Die Hard again. I second my second. Must see.
And everyone should watch at least one Busby Berkeley musical number. But why would anyone just want to watch a single number?
Playtime is extreeeeemly funny
hard to believe that Antonioni's Blow Up has not been mentioned yet. Really gorgeous cinematography, and it features AA students at the beginning and the end. Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire should also make the cut (if only for its unbelieveably long pans) , as should the original Italian Job (for its appropriation of urban infrastructure and for driving a team of mini coopers over a nervi dome). And yes, mystery man, the Blues Brothers is definitely a must see - best car chase since Bullet.
Umm.. out of Antonioni's complete oeuvre, why is Blow Up mentioned so often in architecture circles? I'd prefer "The Eclipse" or "The Red Desert" for their comment on the italian urban planning discussion in the 1960's - a true correlation between the environment and the characters, not only pretty set designs.
uhh ... noone has mentioned Godard's Alphaville
I urge you all to get to a showing of Cremaster 3. Incredibl[e/ly disturbing] and long as f***. But worth it.
This week, I saw Clockwork Orange and 2046. I know there's another post right now on Clockwork Orange, but I was struck by the architecture and the use of space.
2046, the new Wong Kar Wei film (sequel to In The Mood For Love) has some gorgeous, futuristic cityscapes, albeit with a strange product placement for LG at the end.
Oh. And while we're at it, 2001. I can't help but be in love with the spaces... that and the product placements (Pan Am. Bell.).
candyman
candyman
candyman -
a housing project and luxury condo building have simillar construction. issues dealing with socially constructed value, derelect urbanism and dudes with hooks instead of hands.
also in the wim wenders: notebooks on cities and clothes is excellent.
i also second a-f on Antonioni. alphaville. kubrick, and all the tati movies that deal with modern architecture.
also Hiroshima Mon Amour.
city of god
for its depiction of urban brazil's favelas
and
spring summer fall winter and spring
for its great floating monastary and gate.
OK,
Repeat, "Blues Brothers". I'm not trying to be cute, etther. Think about it.
Oldboy.
Chan-wook Park is one of my favorites.
True Stories (1985)
if you grew up in suburban fort worth in the 80s then this was your life. tract duplexes with four-car garages swarming across prairies of sunflowers and indian needles. 68-degree malls in 168-degree parking lots. those metal warehouses and speed-fabcrete office parks. my mom worked in one of those once. the delicate huddling of black, brown, white, and yellow cultures under the triple umbrellas of electronics, evangelicalism, and Ethan Allen.
aside from the visual imagery, the movie presages -- 10 years in advance -- the entire Internet / startup / tech boom (and bust?). the unfortunately late and fortunately great spaulding gray cameos and just try not to see today's business culture in that monologue of his that involves a lobster. there is quite a lot to catch, indeed.
the movie has a plot, a loose one but one that pays off at the end. john goodman debuted in this movie (i think) and turns out he can sing ok. also look for the also late, great pops staples. it is a funny movie, a quietly warmly funny movie, and one that always tends to leave me smiling, which is more than i can say for solaris (excellent though it may be). indeed, my wife and i (both texans) used to watch this movie over and over when we lived in chicago because we were desperately homesick and needed a laugh.
so much to say about this movie, but i will leave it at this: the design of the stage at the talent show kicks arse. it alone is worth the $7.99 it will cost you to buy the DVD.
Now why didn't I thinkof 'True Stories'. Puzzlin'....Evii-dence.
That's one of my favorite parts. That preacher looks like my wife's Grandpa Bob.
Dark City (ever seen some action of the heroes evading for not being crushed by buildings growing like mushrooms)
Sin City
Matrix
Star wars for the futuristic cities (nevermind the love story)
Final Fantasy (for the fights in the ruins)
Immortal by Enki Bilal
The Cube
Truman Show
Dark City
Alex Proyas, Director of 'the Crow'
City as character again. The antagonists (alright... bad guys!) have the ability to sort of meld the city into whatever thier collective minds wish. They do this to study humans, so it attempts to look at what effect our environment has on us.
Also, the movie just looks really 'cool'. I heard it was based on... german expressionism? maybe.
It also mixes references from different times. Heavily noir, incorporating some 50's-60's styling (i believe the cars and parts of the nightclub, memories a bit spotty), some deco as well.
Oh, Alphaville, hell yeah.
the main character turns on his lighter with a pistol.
still the most flattering french stereotype of an american i've seen (granted, the film is from the 60's)
Vid Games looks more and more like movies...
I would then say Grand Theft Auto_San Andreas
man it's a blast...
Cities, Highways, Gyms, Bars, ... a real virtual world even a ''Beverly Hills'' kind-of-place with designer housings
Those guys did quite a feast in 3d design...and it doesn't sucks
Aliens possibly
i second hitchcock's rear window,
and dogville.
well- look at all the star wars movies in analysis of where they (the set designers) they placed their influences for their designs. like the planet of queen amidala, for instance (darth's chick)- the clear association of the palace to that of the hagia sophia on the exterior, with this amalgalm of 14th century interior finishes with modern highlighting and objects.
and the dusty planet of (naboo?) with it's adobe-brick/mud styling, rustic with modernity itself lending itself to an outdated form.
eh?
anyone seen Braka
Beautiful movie.
Also I found David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. from a cinematic point of view, very interesting. It has tons of great/strange shots.
i'll second anything from hitchcock such as vertigo and rear window, but i'd like to add rope to the list. the entire movie takes place in one apartment and is shot in what appears to be one continuous sequence.
nobody mentioned... gattaca
me and you and everyone we know
nobody knows (movie about 3 kids living alone in tokyo)
jim jarmusch stuff: coffee and cigarettes, mystery train, broken flowers
other wong kar wai stuff: fallen angels, ashes of time, happy together
no one mentioned
belly of an architect - important film about self-career obsession and maritial betrayal topics that tend to reoccur with the life of architects. As well cinematically it is without rival particularly of that generation. Rome as a movie set is perhaps only more beauty with Audrey Hepbourne in it (Roman Holiday).
Being John Malechivch - seeks about the space of the mind, and the duality that it has with our physical environments. The film is big on the manifestations of existentialism and deconstruction. The movie has a big architectural cult following throughout the world for that very same reason.
Suburbia - movie set in the 1970s suburban nowhere in the US. Talks about the nothingness of those environments and the relegated plainess that is prolific.
1984 - no where near as disturbing as the book, but still a brilliant film about the negative manifestations of the futurists.
but I think it is also important to mention documentaries as well
a strong clear vision - about Maya Lin and her Vietnam Memorial competition winning entry
my architect - nathenial kahn searching for his father's legacy
i second aliens...but ya gotta go for the one with the machine suit...
also - just cause i'm feeling obscure...the andromeda strain, interesting use of the screen, plus the scenes in the underground facility are incredible..not to mention the commentary on hiegene.
totally could write several books about fight club...from urban dystopias to the fascination with hidden infrastructures. i also think ghost in the shell, and just about any other of the big anime movies always seem to have a lot to do with some sort of constructed reality.
man the list could go on and on...also all the hitchcock, lynch, wong kar wai, kubrick, wim wenders, so on and so on are always such interesting movies because of the fascinating use of the sets, composition of characters, referencing of pop culture, or re-reading of our surroundings, dreams, desires, etc.
suburbia was filmed in my zip code
To add to all the dystopian films mentioned about, how about _THX 1138_? The end is particularly fascinating as it is set in a wall-less, borderless, prisonless prison. It's no panopticon, which would be thematically in keeping with the totalitarian society. It's architecture without architecture and architects! How does one escape? Can anyone escape? Rent it and see.
And to add to the documentary list, _Public Housing_, which looks at everyday life in Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing projects ("the deformed offspring of Le Corbusier's Garden City").
And cannot recommend these enough: all the Busby Berkeley musical numbers in _42nd Street_, _Gold Diggers of 1933_, _Footlight Parade_, _Dames_, and Berkeley-directed _Gold Diggers of 1935_.
has anyone mentioned monty python's "the meaning of life"?
i find the cinematography architecturally inspiring, particularly the deconstruction of space.
and the jokes, everyone gets jokes ...
...except for catholics.
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