My Architect: A Son's Journey

Louis I. Kahn is considered by many historians to have been the most important architect of the second half of the twentieth century. While Kahn's artistic legacy was a search for truth and clarity, his personal life was secretive and chaotic. His mysterious death in a train station men's room left behind three families -- one with his wife and two with women with whom he had long-term affairs. The child of one of these extra-marital relationships, Kahn's only son Nathaniel, sets out on a journey to reconcile the life and work of this mysterious man.

Revealing the haunting beauty of his father's monumental creations and taking us to the rarified heights of the world's celebrated architects and deep within his own divided family, Nathaniel's personal journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art and ultimately, of life itself.

It's the personal nature of the film that does it. You see how personally Louis I. Khan took his edificial creations-- and how indifferent he was to other creations, namely his son, the filmmaker, who barely knew him. As the son travels the world to see his father's buildings, he uncovers much about his father. Two secret families. A rough childhood. Influence of Judaism. Influence of Hinduism.

The amateurish parts of the film are saved, in my opinion, by the sincerity of the son's journey. He's not afraid to reveal embarrassing truths about his father, nor make himself look awkward (as in the hilarious sequence at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem). Could the film be more slick, more polished? Sure. But like his father's scarred concrete walls, he is not afraid to let the flaws show.


My father, my architect   March 1, 2004
Mitchell Lopate (Boaz, Alabama)
33 out of 34 found this review helpful

Nathaniel Kahn's search for his late father, famed architect Louis Kahn, is a magnificent personal soul-searching for both legacy and family. The camera angles and perspectives extrapolate the insights that (Louis) Kahn brought to his works; the testimonies of friends and associates are emotive and passionate with love, respect, admiration, and joy. Nathaniel brings the eagerness and devotion as a loving adult for his father by highlighting the beauty, power, and simplicity of the buildings Louis designed--as well as revealing his personal quirks and flaws in a way that is wholesome and honest. More importantly, Nathaniel also embraces openly and with vulnerability the two half-sisters he hardly knew, looking to reunite the distant members of his family to resolve the issues his father could not face. The crowning moment of this film takes place in Bangla Desh when a key statesman breaks down in tears as he explains to Nathaniel why the state capitol building is a national monument of independence, democracy, and the future of the country, brought to them by Louis's genius.


Best film on an architect since...... ever?   February 7, 2004
G. L. Marriage (Middle Earth, New Zealand)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful

Are you an Architect? Are you married to one? Ever even spoken to one? If you're like most people, architects are mystical creative creatures, often men, always wearing black polonecks, living in gorgeous houses with even more gorgeous wives, designing stupendous buildings in the flash of an eye.

Well it's not like that really. Although this film doesn't really give us architects a much better image either. Nathaniel's film is, or was for him, a film to find out some of the truths about his father, Louis Kahn, a mystical figure who would appear infrequently in Nathaniel's life. So, for him, the making of this film was a voyage of discovery, about a man, his father, who just happened to be an architect. And, umm, how shall we put this: not married to Nate's mother.

To the rest of us architects however, Kahn is not just AN architect, he is THE architect. His buildings, sublime and perfect, are all too few: one of the best is rarely seen by the Western world, as it is in Bangladesh. The film's journey along the way shows us both the human side (all too human - one wife and two mistresses....), and the architectural side: his office, archive clips of Kahn on site, and wonderfully catty comments from the arch Arch himself, Phillip Johnson. Could he perhaps be... a little jealous? Thoughts of Ann Rand's the Fountainhead spring to mind here....

For a documentary, it's fascinating, and well deserves to win the Oscar this year. As an architectural text book however, it's a must see, a must buy the DVD, especially if you are an architect, or are married to one, or want to know what makes them tick. Students: go and see this film right now. Teachers: gather up those artistic few in the class, and give them all a pencil after the film. Wives and girlfriends: don't go near an architect unless you want to share.

Thanks Nathaniel, for sharing your father with all of us.


One of the best movies Ive seen..ever.   May 6, 2004
watermelongoldfish (Pittsburgh PA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

I went into this film as an architecture student, but this film was so wholly moving that it doesn't matter if you're an architect or not. I started crying about 15 minutes in, and didn't stop until the credits began to role. It's amazing to see this great man's life, to bring Louis Kahn down from his pedestal and realize how fully human and imperfect he was. This movie displays not only how his buildings affected the mindset of entire countries, but also how his personal life affected, often painfully so, the lives of those closest to him.
This movie really is a son's journey, and we see candidly the son's discovery of his father as he never knew him, as well as the son's struggle to piece together his own identity as it relates to his father's many different "lives".
This film has an almost spiritual depth, and leaves one with a refreshed appreciation for the beauty of art and life.


the best movie ive seen all year   February 16, 2005
Robert I. Bloom (brooklyn, ny USA)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

a great movie !! its a revelation-- compelling heartwarming heartbreaking-- informative- surprising--- it just gets better and better as we get to know the man the filmmaker is searching for -- from myth to all too human--- its the story of a great man and the price the families who loved him had to pay ---- the last scene says the most-- and the veritable miracle of his bangladesh capital building--- what it does for those lucky enough to use this amazing and gorgeous other worldly yet earthy strucure-- how it shapes lives and elevates them ! and the sheer beauty of it all--- and how this legacy can in the end compensate somehow for familial neglect-- for the benefit of all---this beauty this grand human effort has its costs !!!but the splendor this man has wrought for us-- and now thru the efforts of his son---given more exposure-- in this day and age of wars and money ruling the day--- its a welcome reminder of the things that last -that are of god and promote life ! of a different kind of hero and their works !it was quite literally for me a religious experience ! this film is in a class by itself and is trascendent and humbling !!! i sat thru it twice and was twice rewarded beyond all expectation !