Regular
or SuperViews on Mies van
der Rohe
by Joseph Hillel and Patrick Demers, Directors
Deckert Distribution, Leipzig, Germany,
2004
DV Cam, 16 mm, 35 mm, Digital Beta, 56
min., col., closed captioned
Sales: Video-DVD, $390; rental: Video,
$100
Distributors website: http://www.deckert-distribution.com/films/deckert_192.htm
Reviewed by Andrea Dahlberg
andrea.dahlberg@bakernet.com
This film has won an abundance of awards
and mentions at various national and international
film festivals: Best Photography, 2005
Rome Documentary Festival; 2005 Chicago
International Documentary Festival; Critics
Choice, Chicago Tribune (Nov. 2004);
Best Canadian Film, 2004 International
Festival of Films on Art (Montreal); Special
Mention, Best Urban Documentary, 2004
Barcelona DocFest; 2004 Vancouver Film
Festival.
Its modest sub-titleViews
on Mies van der Roheaccurately
describes its content. The film depicts
the views of architectural historians,
architects (including Rem Koolhaas), academics,
Mies van der Rohe's grandson, and people
who live, work, and use buildings he designed.
There is no claim that these views are
typical or representative in any way.
Very little information is given about
van der Rohe's life and very few of his
buildings are shown. The views vary considerably,
with a few providing real insights into
the work while othersand especially
those provided by Koolhaas in a rushed
intervieware barely intelligible
and leave the viewer to try to make some
sense of what is said. A significant part
of the film centers on a gas station van
der Rohe designed near Montreal in Canada
(hence the title of the film). In all,
the film seems partial and to consist
of whatever aspects of van der Rohe's
work were readily available to the filmmakers.
The overall view one forms of the film
is that while it is well made, the content
was largely chosen by financial and other
purely practical dictates available at
the time.
All low budget films are subject to these
constraints, but the challenge for the
filmmaker is to turn them into advantages.
This film is only partly successful in
this regard. Its strengths lie in its
pacing, music, and camera work. But as
a film about one of the greatest architects
of the twentieth century, it does little
more than acknowledge the well-known fact
of his genius.