The only reason I gave this film 9 out of 10, was because I believe Corinna should have invested in a roller for her tripod. Would have made for less shaking in the videos of Richter while he is painting.
As a documentary filmmaker and painter myself. I can fully understand and admire what Ms. Belz accomplished in this film. I do however, remembering seeing the film this past Friday, note that I wish the lower 3rd titles had been a bit bigger for those who wear glasses. I know it was OK for me, but i'm sure a number of people were always asking... "who is that?".
I can truly admire this historical document on modern painting. As Richter is not a "post" anything. He is someone who is dedicated to making what he feels is the best work he can do. You will see that in the sections where Ms. Belz speaks with Richters assistants. What they say rings true with many many modernist painters who will have to sit with a work for months before they feel it is ready to be put out in the world.
So glad this film is out in the world. I can't wait for the DVD. My only sadness about the DVD is that I don't have the equipment to watch it in the format I first viewed in. This film deserves a big screen.
Plot summary
Gerhard Richter has spent over half a century experimenting with a tremendous range of techniques and ideas, addressing historical crises and mass media representation alongside explorations of chance procedures. This first glimpse inside his studio in decades is exactly that: a thrilling document of the 79-year-old's creative process, juxtaposed with rare archival footage and intimate conversations with his critics and collaborators.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
May 22, 2023 at 05:09 PM
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Movie Reviews
from one doc filmmaker to another.
Always interesting documentary on the artist Gerhard Richter
Always interesting documentary on the artist Gerhard Richter, his work process and his sometimes uneasy relationship with the larger world outside his studio.
The film effectively combines a mix of traditional documentary techniques (interviews, archival footage), and much more cinema verite style, where for long stretches we simply observe Richter working on his paintings with no comment (besides his own occasional mutterings).
Through it all, I gained a much deeper understanding of the man and his work. I've always struggled to really appreciate abstract expressionism and it's absence of obvious meaning. But somehow, watching this film and the process of creation of these works, I found myself far more pulled into the painting themselves than I would ever have been otherwise. (Note – Richter has worked in many forms and medium besides the abstract expressionist paintings he was focused on during the making of the film).
Likewise the quiet, introverted, but wryly funny Richter becomes an ever more rich and likable subject – even his cranky unease at being constantly filmed is understandable and ultimately a bit endearing. His struggle to deal with the commercial side of the art world, and the desire to retreat back to the safety of his studio make him tremendously human.
I also appreciated how sensual the film was. Not in any sexual sense of the term, but how Belz managed to make us feel the physical aspects of the painting process – the thickness of the paint, the muscular effort to spread it across the canvas, even the smell of the room seem to come through the screen.
In the end, this isn't an 'essential' or 'change your life' documentary. I wasn't deeply moved, nor do I think I will be haunted by its images years from now. Yet I appreciated being given a way in to an art form and a person who made my life a little richer, and whom I might have never really known otherwise.
concept does not work out well
The filmmaker has been granted access to the "inner circle" (for no apparent reason), and Richer, his coworkers, employees, his wife etc talk to her quite casually, almost as a friend. But she does not take full advantage of this opportunity. There are no intelligent conversations, only friendly conversations. That is not enough.
It is okay that Richter does not want to talk too much about personal matters, and does not really open his bag of tricks as a painter (in front of a running camera). Being filmed at work prevents creative powers being set free, many artists say (e.g. I remember Horst Janssen saying this to a film-team). Sometimes Richter seems to expect more of the conversation but quickly realizes that no-one around him has anything valuable to say about his art. Seems to happen all the time, so he does not care. He is not a diva, but quite down to earth.
It is honorable that the writer/director does not want to lecture the user, this also means almost nothing gets treated with sufficient depth.
I suspect the writer does not know enough about art (despite a lot of research and effort that she undoubtedly put into this documentary), and so has no intelligent questions to ask when it matters. Even when the conversation does not revolve around art, but instead abound family (for instance) the dialog is a but more fluent, but still, it stays quite boring.
Sometimes the filmmaker throws in some snippets from vintage documentaries from the 60s which are a bit more inquisitive, but they seem misplaced and thus are not really helpful either.
There are only subtitles shown very briefly. The music is minimalist modern classical (piano solo, or strings).
If you praised Richters greatness as a painter to someone who does not know anything about him, and you showed her this movie before you showed her any paintings of his, she'd never believe that this is one of the greatest painters of our time.