Sketches of Frank Gehry

Director Sydney Pollack takes his MiniDV into the life of pal and architect Frank Gehry and offers intimate conversations, but little in the way of penetrating detail or analysis. Still, for fans or just the curious, Pollack’s documentary is a friendly affair that presents some stunning footage of several Gehry projects (the Bilbao Guggenheim, Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA) and darts about his ideas, working methods and background with ease. The film operates as a pleasant career testimonial, with high-level contributions popping up from the likes of Dennis Hopper and Ed Ruscha. (The lone dissenting voice of a journalist feels token.) Gehry himself is a gent. ‘Should you meet an architect at a party, the best thing you can do is hit them,’ says talking-head Bob Geldof, paraphrasing Auberon Waugh. On the strength of this, we should instead shake Gehry’s hand. ‘What bugs me are these goddamn rules,’ he complains of the world of architecture in which he works.