Antonio Gaudí
Japan, Spain
1984
72 Min
Color
1.33:1
Japanese
Synopsis
Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí (1852–1926) designed some of the world’s most astonishing buildings, interiors, and parks; Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara constructed some of the most aesthetically audacious films ever made. Here their artistry melds in a unique, enthralling cinematic experience. Less a documentary than a visual poem, Teshigahara’s Antonio Gaudí takes viewers on a tour of Gaudí’s truly spectacular architecture, including his massive, still-unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona. With camera work as bold and sensual as the curves of his subject’s organic structures, Teshigahara immortalizes Gaudí on film. —The Criterion Collection
Director
Hiroshi Teshigahara
Hiroshi Teshigahara (勅使河原 宏, Teshigahara Hiroshi?, January 28, 1927 – April 14, 2001) was an avant-garde Japanese filmmaker.
He was born in Tokyo, son of Sofu Teshigahara, founder and grand master of the the Sogetsu School of ikebana. He graduated in 1950 from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and directed his first film, Pitfall (1962), in collaboration with author Kōbō Abe and musician Tōru Takemitsu. The film won the NHK New Director’s award, and throughout the 1960s, he continued to collaborate on films with Abe and Takemitsu while simultaneously pursuing his interest in ikebana and sculpture on a professional level.
In 1965, the Teshigahara/Abe film Woman in the Dunes (1964) was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1972, he worked with Japanese researcher and translator John Nathan to make the movie Summer Soldiers, a film set during the Vietnam War about American deserters living on the fringe… read more
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Ace Craven
2Feb13
Few are as gifted at making the audience feel like they are in a place as Teshigahara. This is a poetic and breathtaking experience, a ride where only a few words are spoken and an educational journey into Gaudi's work. Where others would focus on the man himself, Teshigahara rightfully makes the buildings the characters.
Kyle Lewis
18Aug11
Teshigahara's camera observes the architecture like any tourist would, while still remaining lyrical, poetic, and captivating.
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Untitled
By Adam Suraf on November 30, 2008
Criterion presents Hiroshi Teshigahara’s lovely wordless visual tour of Gaudi’s most famous Barcelona landmarks and gives art fans what Teshigahara doesn’t with the bonus features, namely, a history… read review
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DVD
Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.
