HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB.5

Japan, 1984.  Teshigahara Productions, Toho. Cinematography by Junichi Segawa, Ryu Segawa, Yoshikazu Yanagida.  Produced by Noriko Nomura.  Music by Shinji Hori, Kurodo Mori, Toru Takemitsu.  Film Editing by Hiroshi Teshigahara, Eiko Yoshida.  

Hiroshi Teshigahara takes his camera through Barcelona and films the magnificent, awe-inspiring architectural work of Antonio Gaudi, the unbounded artist whose vast body of work continues to boggle the mind. Teshigahara makes the bold move of using only visual footage (paired up with some funky 80s minimalist music), breaking to the voice of an interview subject for only a minute towards the end of the film. This might seem like a trying exercise in style, but it’s actually a sensually hypnotic exploration of an artist whose work needs no window dressing to be made interesting enough as a film subject. Covering his expansive list of works, the film ends with the mammoth project to complete the Sagrada Familia, the incredible church that Gaudi was still working on at the time of his death.

The Criterion Collection:  #425