Review: Sketches of Frank Gehry by Sydney Pollack

Frank Gehry (née Goldberg): a man, a genius, an architect responsible for an entire classification of architectural effect (The Bilbao Effect). This is the Frank Gehry that Sydney Pollack’s 2005 film Sketches of Frank Gehry portrays. Providing a familiar outline of what constitutes artistic genius, from discussions of Gehry’s first job (as a truck driver), to his frustrations in school (including an F in his first class on perspective) to his obstacles in his personal life (notably, a controlling first wife) to his early architectural projects and his later, more extravagant ones, Sketches gives a glimpse of Gehry who, despite his setbacks, defies all odds and carves a singular space for himself and his...