ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

Steineded How sad is this?

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Dalbert Pringle And, when speaking about America's most-beloved/most-hated architects of them all - Does one properly refer to this man as being Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, or should he really be called Mr. Frank Lloyd Wrong? Needless to say - There can be no doubt that Frank Lloyd Wright (who was/is probably the most celebrated and misjudged architects ever) was destined to redesign the entire world, but, for some unforeseen reasons, this towering vision of his was simply never realized.Born in Wisconsin in 1867 - I think it's really very surprising to note that Wright's most productive years in his field of work didn't come around until he had reached the age of 80 (!!).Throughout his 70-year career as one very ambitious, strong-willed and arrogant architect, Wright not only designed private homes and office towers, but he's also credited with the design of churches, schools, hotels and, yes, even gas stations and furniture, as well.Even though this 2.5-hour documentary (directed by Ken Burns) had its fair share of notable merits and strengths to its advantage, it also racked up a few demerit points for itself by (for one thing) placing way too much emphasis on Wright's very turbulent personal life.In 1959, Frank Lloyd Wright died at the age of 91.

MartinHafer This is a lengthy biography of Frank Lloyd Wright by Ken Burns--after Burns had become a very celebrated documentarian. "The Civil War" had created a HUGE sensation when it aired on PBS and his polish and skills as an artist made this an ideal project for Burns. Here, Burns makes among his best films--and manages to impress the viewer with a very complex man--a man you can love AND hate at the same time!I chose to watch this film for two reasons. First, I think Burns could do a documentary about lint and I'd watch it--his work is THAT good. Second, I just saw a film about Ayn Rand and Frank Lloyd Wright was her ideal hero that she imitated in "The Fountainhead". And, as I watched "Frank Lloyd Wright", I noticed that in many ways he was just like a male version of Rand! Both eschewed conventional morality and thought selfishness was, in fact, a virtue.This is an amazing biography, as unlike most subjects of such films, apart from his brilliance in his field, Frank Lloyd Wright was, for want of a better term, a narcissist. Throughout this Ken Burns film, you learn how he lied, used people, ran up debts, was AMAZINGLY arrogant and just felt that conventional morality just didn't apply to anyone as wonderful as him. He was insufferable...but for him it worked. Why? Because his skills as an architect and designer were so original and so great. Plus, he was the master at charming people and putting on an image people just adored. In other words, his arrogance and odd ways impressed people because they expected such actions from a genius! My feeling is that I would have loved him to design something for me, but I would have hated to have him as a member of my family or count on him as a friend.What are some of the delightful things this guy did over his life? When I had an affair at age 42, he abandoned his family and ran off to Europe--leaving his family with all his debts! The great architect, Louis Sullivan, hired a young Wright before he gained renown. Despite violating his contract with Sullivan, he did assignments on the side AND went so far as to claim he, and not his boss, had designed some great structures (which was an outright lie he made in order to get one of these jobs). As one person so aptly put it, "...he was a nasty man". Yet, despite all this, his work was, at times, pretty amazing and created a huge impact on other architects.By the way, although I disliked Wright as a human being, the incident with Julian Carleton was very, very sad and you had to feel for Mr. Wright. See the film and you'll know what I mean.

T Y This documentary is useful to neophytes, and it will get you up to speed on the general shape of Wright's episodic life, career and accomplishments. Its on-screen experts are on the silly side. Meryl Secrest strays into self-parody as she delivers her glib stories with an over the top poseur accent originating from parts unknown. Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer looks like a pale, red-eyed cadaver. Brendan Gill overstates half his anecdotes until any reasonable person begins rolling their eyes. As with any career this long, many Wright stories are truncated or left out. The speedy failure of Midway Gardens (via bad financing) is pushed off screen by the tragedy at Taliesin. A suitable coda for this production would have been to flash the images of all the architects Wright influenced or trained directly (Bart Prince, Bruce Goff, Schindler, Neutra, John Lautner, Paolo Soleri, too many too name...).Ken Russell "civil-wars" another topic. And the treatment is now a tepid, dull, formulaic, outdated way to encounter any material.

agorelik Ken Burns, as usual, overcooks the porridge and we end up with lots of glop on the floor.This melodrama spends far too much time on FLW's self-inflicted turbulent personal life, with precious little time or effort spent on his actual buildings (which is what we're here to see). Only four buildings (Taliesen East/West, Johnson Wax, Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum) are discussed in any detail whatsoever (in a multi-hour documentary this is inexcusable). FLW's entire period in Los Angeles and the Tokyo Imperial Hotel are not even mentioned! We glimpse Robie House once. And, I'm really not interested in Ken Burns' impressions of what music FLW would like.Very shallow piece of work.