Antonio Gaudi (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

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Product Description ------------------- Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí (1852 1926) designed some of the world s most astonishing buildings, interiors, and parks; Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara constructed some of the most aesthetically audacious films of the second half of the twentieth century. Here, their artistry melds in a unique, enthralling cinematic experience. Less a documentary than a visual poem, Teshigahara s ANTONIO GAUDI takes viewers on a tour of Gaudí s truly spectacular architecture, including his massive still-unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral, in Barcelona. With camerawork as bold and as the curves on his subject s surfaces, Teshigahara immortalizes Gaudí on film. Special Features * - New, restored high-definition digital transfer * - New video interview with architect Arata Isozaki * - Gaudí, Catalunya 1959, a short film by Hiroshi Teshigahara featuring footage from his first trip to Spain * - Monitor: Antonio Gaudí (1961), a short film essay by director Ken Russell * - VITA, a short film by Teshigahara on the sculpture work of his her, Sofu Teshigahara * - Original theatrical trailer * - New and improved English subtitle translation * - PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by art historian Dore Ashton, and reprinted writings by Hiroshi and Sofu Set Contains: ------------- At 72 minutes, Hiroshi Teshigahara's hypnotic Antonio Gaudí ranks among the shorter films to receive the Criterion Collection's hallowed two-disc . The original trailer and a restored and re-subtitled edition of the experimental documentary take up the first disc, while the second houses a wealth of enlightening extras. Silent 16mm footage titled Gaudí, Catalunya, 1959 serves as a sketch for the film-to-come (and includes a visit with Gaudí enthusiast Salvador Dalí). Then, architect/art director Arata Isozaki (Teshigahara's The Face of Another) talks about the filmmaker's formidable her, Sofu, and Japanese interest in the Spanish mystic. In God's Architect, part of the BBC’s 2003 architectural series Visions of Space, famously unstuffy art critic Robert Hughes describes the contradictory Gaudí as radical, subversive, arrogant, and ascetic. As he puts it, Gaudí's Barcelona commissions, notably life-long project Sagrada Família, range from raw and primitive to sexy and immensely sophisticated. Ken Russell (The Devils) directs the second Beeb supplement, a 1961 Monitor segment on the architect. The special features conclude with Teshigahara's trippy 1963 short, Sculptures by Sofu-Vita and a 36-page booklet of essays, remembrances, and photographs. The only thing missing: a profile of composer Toru Takemitsu, whose inventive score is an integral part of the main feature. This double-disc collection pays tribute to two men, director Hiroshi Teshigahara (1927-2001) and architect Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926), products of different cultures--both masters of their chosen professions. --Kathleen C. Fennessy