Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan

Name: Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan
Genre: Documentary
Released: January 19, 2018
Duration: 79 min
Rating: 86
Cast: Dylan Baker

2018

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Universal acclaim based on 4 Critic Reviews

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Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan

Movie Details & Credits

| Release Date: January 19, 2018 | Not Rated

Starring: Dylan Baker

Summary: This film tells the story of the unstoppable rise of the skyscrapers. Starting in 1869, in New York and Chicago, elevators, steel, and electricity combined to create a frenzy of tall and taller buildings. Tall traces the experiments of the early skyscraper architects, especially Louis Sullivan, the Chicago architect (and mentor of FrankThis film tells the story of the unstoppable rise of the skyscrapers. Starting in 1869, in New York and Chicago, elevators, steel, and electricity combined to create a frenzy of tall and taller buildings. Tall traces the experiments of the early skyscraper architects, especially Louis Sullivan, the Chicago architect (and mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright) who pioneered a new skyscraper form. His credo was that "form ever follows function." His elegant buildings, some still standing and featured in the film, bear out his reputation as the father of the skyscraper. Fierce rivals, led by Daniel Burnham, builder of the Flatiron Building, competed with him for favor, money, and power. The progressive designs of the 1880s and 90s once again reverted to historical styles, culminating in the "Cathedral of Commerce," the gothic Woolworth Tower of 1912. Tall pits the struggle for artistic integrity against the demands of fashion and the client's bottom line. It documents the showdown between Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. The outcome changed the future, shaping the modern skyline throughout the world. [Cinema Guild]… Expand

Director: Manfred Kirchheimer

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 79 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

A.O. Scott

Jan 18, 2018

The film is useful in part because it is so frankly argumentative. The critical appreciation of art is always advanced more effectively by partisanship than by neutrality. Read full review

Richard Brody

Jan 18, 2018

Manfred Kirchheimer’s 2006 documentary, only now being released, is an exemplary work of urban romanticism, intellectual history, and visual analysis. Read full review

John DeFore

Jan 18, 2018

It offers an eccentric but accessible look at American high-rise history. Read full review

Alan Scherstuhl

Jan 18, 2018

[Kirchheimer's] arguments — delivered in declarative voiceover by Dylan Baker and scored to music from Maurice Ravel and Dmitri Shostakovich, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis — have power, but what stirs the mind and the heart, here, is his photography and editing. Read full review

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Mixed:

User Reviews

JSimpson

Apr 22, 2018

A loving, lingering look at the American skyscraper, and how they got that way.

Louis Sullivan is shown to be an uncompromising, forward-thinking visionary who just couldn't play by the rules, play the game, and got shunted to the side because of it. In the wake of the 1893 World's Fair, inA loving, lingering look at the American skyscraper, and how they got that way.

Louis Sullivan is shown to be an uncompromising, forward-thinking visionary who just couldn't play by the rules, play the game, and got shunted to the side because of it. In the wake of the 1893 World's Fair, in Chicago, the architectural world caught a fever from Europe and other distant, remote cultures, and all thoughts of modernism and innovation were set aside. Sadly, Louis Sullivan would also be ignored by the coming Modern Architects, who admired his clean lines and futurist principles, but abhored his use of ornamentation. Louis Sullivan slipped through the cracks and died, almost penniless and almost alone. Interestingly, Frank Lloyd Wright took care of him at the end of his life, as Wright got his start in architecture as a draughtsman for Sullivan. He would refer to him as "Lieber Meister" for the rest of his life.

Tall will help you to really look at the world around you, the invisible forces at play that end up shaping and defining history, and who we are as people. Fabulous documentary, for design lovers, architecture appreciators, and would-be historians.… Expand

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