ABSTRACT
Nathaniel Kahn's My Architect: A Son's Journey (2003) and Sydney Pollack's Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005) pay homage to outstanding American male architects. Kahn documents the life and works of his father, celebrated architect Louis Kahn (1901–1974), whereas Pollack portrays his friend Frank Gehry (b. 1929), the main living figure in the field of international architecture still today, past ninety. The two documentaries participate in a similar discourse on the masculinity of the architect as a genius who places work above family life. The approach is, logically, different since Nathaniel Kahn is celebrating his father's achievements and criticizing his behavior toward women, whereas Pollack is interested in how his friend Gehry has kept his artistic integrity despite commercial pressure. In both documentaries, the male architect is characterized ultimately as a man who uses his talent to secure a space of complete personal freedom as he battles the obstacles in his demanding career.
