Sketches of Frank Gehry
A film by Sydney Pollack
I didn't really know much about Frank Gehry (originally Frank Goldberg) before this film, but I've been to the Guggenheim in Bilbao so I've seen his work first hand. I also took a real architect along with me to the film to get an insider's perspective too.
Anyway, the film is a documentary shot by his close friend Sydney Pollack. It covers a small part of Gehry's childhood (building wooden cities from offcuts with his grandmother), his three years of driving trucks, studying art and then moving to architecture and his early years as an architect (where a client asked why his house was so adventurous but his professional work so staid, thus launching a new phase of his career).
There was also some criticism of his work shown in the film too... a very brave man was fairly articulate in describing why he could only be critical of Gehry.
Gehry was self-deprecating and self-indulgent at the same time, but it came across as a pretty good mix. He is clever, but he knows it, and you wouldn't ever want to deprive a man of self-knowledge. I enjoy his architecture and think it will stand the test of time, but my architecture friend tells me that Gehry isn't as highly revered in the hardcore architecture world... a case of tall poppy syndrome?