Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara films a documentary of Antonio Gaudí's works as well as the Catalan people, their architecture, and their world. This is mostly panning around the architecture with atmospheric soundscapes. This is a tourist with an artistic eye. It's visually interesting but it's not interesting for over an hour. I'm more excited with the brief scene in the lively fish market. I don't know if the director told the kids to burn that pile of garbage but there is some kinetic energy to that scene. This film is lacking kinetic energy. It's atmospheric and probably works well as background for an artsy party.

A Hiroshi Teshigahara project. Documentary on the life and works of spanish artist and architect Gaudi. He was daring. Some of his projects were genius and beautiful. But some were just ugly. My personal opinion. This mostly silent film features his buildings and parks, most notably the Temple Sagrada Família in Barcelona. So complicated. Construction began in 1882, and it's still "under construction", 140 years later. There is music throughout, but nothing is explained, so the viewer (hopefully) has some knowledge of Gaudi and his works. Captions of what we were seeing would have been SO helpful! Gaudi's specialty was playing with geometry... sometimes conforming to engineering principles and angles, but other times using rounded corners and completely new designs, with fancy, self supported, sculpted edges and shapes. Teshigahara frequently shows people and families enjoying gaudi's parks and ramblas. According to wikipedia dot com, gaudi was quite religious, and included that faith and strength in his works; was even called god's architect in numerous resources. Such a strange and un-necessary death - he was run down by a street-car. And was buried in his own Sagrada Familia. But his works live on. Showing on turner classics. A bit long, but interesting if you are familiar with his works.

"Only through the alternately eerie and euphonious score, Teshigahara seems to inject some hints of personal commentaries to the rapt viewers, whereas his camera dutifully observes, peers, scopes from varied distances and angles to establish a comprehensive visual overview of Gaudí's grotesque, sui generis, multifaceted art pieces, juttedly ensconcing themselves among our temporal existence and simultaneously distinguishing themselves from any possible angle of our collective gaze, and the most crucial impression is that Gaudí's buildings are never off-limits, they are built for the mass to gawp at, to spend time with, to dwell in, only occasionally, Teshigahara draws on imagery to suggest the possible inspirations which lead Gaudí's creative juice flow (the neo-Gothic influence for instance)."

read my full review on cinema omnivore, thanks