Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.
Great visuals, story delivers no surprises
Good idea lost in the noise
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
View MoreKen Burns, as usual, overcooks the porridge and we end up with lots of glop on the floor.This melodrama spends far too much time on FLW's self-inflicted turbulent personal life, with precious little time or effort spent on his actual buildings (which is what we're here to see). Only four buildings (Taliesen East/West, Johnson Wax, Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum) are discussed in any detail whatsoever (in a multi-hour documentary this is inexcusable). FLW's entire period in Los Angeles and the Tokyo Imperial Hotel are not even mentioned! We glimpse Robie House once. And, I'm really not interested in Ken Burns' impressions of what music FLW would like.Very shallow piece of work.
View MoreThis was a great documentary! Very well done! This man's life was amazing. He was an absolute architectural and engineering genius! This documentary well showed his life and his work and although the total time was a little over 2 1/2 hours, it didn't seem that long! The film was engrossing! I Have seen two other projects of Ken Burns', 1)his amazingly detailed "Civil War", and 2), His equally dazzling look into the "History of Major League Baseball". Guys, don't be mislead by the subject matter of Architecture. You will not be bored. This man was (WRIGHT) to say the least,'Quite the personality'. (Likewise for you ladies with 'baseball', or even the 'Civil War'), Mr. Burns looks at EVERY ANGLE of his subjects with accuracy and all the humor, detail, tragedy and truth that only hours and hours of research could bring. His 'Labors of Love' on his subjects ALWAYS shines through! Never more than here, with Frank Lloyd Wright.!
View MoreFrank Lloyd Wright is the most innovative and influential architect in the 20th century. He shaped the way we think about buildings today, and put architecture at a different level of thinking. Buildings look simple in design but modern in method of the art of architecture. Even if you are an architect or not, you will enjoy this documentary.
View MoreThis is an absorbing and informative documentary on an architect who in most expert opinion - and certainly in his own! - was one of the greatest architects ever. His buildings are of particular interest to film buffs, because they have been used as the locations in many movies. For example, the Ennis-Brown House in LA was the House on Haunted Hill and was also in Blade Runner. But, in fact, where this documentary scores is in focusing on Wright's amazing life, as much as on his architecture. Born in 1867, Wright had early success in building houses around Chicago, but after a scandalous and tragic personal life he was more or less finished professionally by the 1920s. But then, with the encouragement of his wife Olga Lazowich, his career revived and took off when he was over 60. In the 30 years before his death in 1959 he and his associates designed hundreds of buildings, the best known being the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The Guggenheim is probably his most striking external design, and resembles an abstract sculpture, though ironically Wright had a poor opinion of the 20th century non-objective paintings it houses. The film is admirably linear, with none of the gimmicks found in many modern TV documentaries; it has beautifully angled shots of Wright's best structures; and is enhanced by Beethoven music, since Wright thought musical composition had affinities with architecture.
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