How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?
Time Out New York Project: Issue #845, January 26-February 1, 2012
★★☆☆☆
Dirs. Carlos Carcas and Norberto López Amado. 2010. N/R. 78mins. Documentary.
Here’s your truism for the week: If you live in a metropolis, you know the work of Norman Foster. The big-wheel British architect has had a hand in constructing the towering totems of countless cities, from Hong Kong’s HSBC Main Building to the heavens-reflecting diagrid that is Manhattan’s Hearst Tower. Carlos Carcas and Norberto López Amado’s celebratory documentary provides a spectacular showcase for many of the builder’s creations (gorgeously photographed from every flattering angle), while giving scant insight into the man himself.
Foster’s biographical arc is dolloped out in superficial asides (working-class childhood, first big break, life-changing brush with cancer) that do little more than reinforce the notion of what a forward-thinking genius he is. Pie-eyed testaments from architecture critics and fellow colleagues further augment the sense of mythical triumphalism, while a visit inside the engineer’s London headquarters — where the employees, of course, speak glowingly about their boss — makes it seem as if we’re watching a come-work-for-us! corporate recruitment video. Despite all the insufferable evangelism, the subject himself is often charming and humble, and he proffers some intriguing thoughts about his métier, especially in a fascinating interlude about a fully sustainable city his company is building outside Abu Dhabi. A better movie would have explored Foster’s way-of-the-future objectives with more beyond-the-hype insight less Zen-master bullshit.—Keith Uhlich
