{"id":6692,"date":"2013-05-30T01:58:03","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T05:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6692"},"modified":"2013-05-30T01:58:31","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T05:58:31","slug":"dvd-regular-or-super-views-on-mies-van-der-rohe-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6692","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Regular or Super – Views on Mies van der Rohe (2004)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>P to R<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good\/ DVD Extras: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: TVA Films\/ Region: 0 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: May 1, 2008<\/p>\n

Genre: Documentary \/ Architecture \/ Mies van der Rohe<\/p>\n

Synopsis: Concise overview and portrait of renowned German-American architect Mies van der Rohe.<\/p>\n

Special Features: Additional Interviews (57 mins.) \/ Trailer \/ Dual language menus<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

During his 60 year career that began in Germany and continued at the virtual midpoint in America, Mies van der Rohe designed & built 70 buildings, many of which continue to exist and function as they were intended \u2013 art galleries, corporate headquarters, private homes, university campuses, and gas stations \u2013 and in their informative and entertaining doc, Canadian directors Patrick Demers and Joseph Hillel have found an ideal balance in presenting a light examination of Mies\u2019 work without over-simplifying, and supporting interviews with former colleagues, biographers, and preservationists with very strong visuals.<\/p>\n

Mies\u2019 work may seem cold and severely minimalist \u2013 during his tenure at Berlin\u2019s Bauhaus, he was both a teacher and its director \u2013 but that superficial view pales when it becomes clear how large and small buildings were designed not only to fit within different environments, but be edifices through which people can traverse with a certain pleasure.<\/p>\n

The main buildings within the doc is the Esso gas station<\/a> on Montreal\u2019s Nuns\u2019 Island, the Lakeshore Apartments<\/a> in Chicago, the Seagram Building<\/a> in NYC, Berlin\u2019s New National Gallery<\/a>, the IIT College of Architects<\/a> in Illinois, and the Riehl House<\/a> in Potsdam, and the directors\u2019 camera captures them in different seasons, in stills, tracking shots, and images that capture the kind of light and shadow play Mies put into the floor-to-ceiling windows of his work. Interview subjects are often seated on Miesian furniture, often within his buildings, and the elegant footage is underscored with a modernist jazz-fusion score by Ramachandra Borcar, which reflects the architect\u2019s sleek yet rebellious designs which challenged the heavy ornamental style of prior decades.<\/p>\n

Contrasting the extant work are biographical details, including comments from former colleagues \u2013 Charles E. Danforth, Joseph Fujikawa, Dirk Lohan \u2013 which slightly adjust Mies\u2019 persona of an impersonal man. He apparently had a soft spot for boxing, martinis, and cigars, and was continuously problem-solving architectural issues in his head.<\/p>\n

The buildings may evoke fifties and sixties modernism, but his use of glass and steel and the emphasis on open spaces within structures remain standard today. It\u2019s also the cleanliness of the lines and use of lights and shadows which transform his brand of austerity into something inviting. His work may not have embraced the inclusion of ornate d\u00e9cor, nick-knacks, and clutter \u2013 there\u2019s simply no room to display or store them \u2013 but they are striking artistic visions which invite people to commune, to socialize, and to work while the changing light and shadow from outside keep Nature close by.<\/p>\n

TVA\u2019s DVD features a clean transfer of the hour-long doc, and there\u2019s almost an hour of bonus interview material, albeit most are extended and tangential comments by the large body of interview subjects.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Buy the Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Vendor Search Links:<\/em>
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Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0P to R<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ P to R . Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good\/ DVD Extras: Very Good Label: TVA Films\/ Region: 0 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: May 1, 2008 Genre: Documentary \/ Architecture \/ Mies van der Rohe Synopsis: Concise overview and portrait of renowned German-American architect Mies van der Rohe. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[2060,2058,2059,2061],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1JW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6692"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6696,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6692\/revisions\/6696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}