Rivers and Tides

 

Story:

"This amazing documentary from Thomas Riedelsheimer won the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize for Best Documentary at the 2003 San Francisco International Film Festival. The film follows renowned sculptor Andy Goldsworthy as he creates with ice, driftwood, bracken, leaves, stone, dirt and snow in open fields, beaches, rivers, creeks and forests. With each new creation, he carefully studies the energetic flow and transitory nature of his work." (Netflix)

Review:

The documentary starts off in a very slow, relaxed, almost beguilingly entertaining way, embodying the feeling of a PBS style documentary that reminds you of the pre-pre-kindergarten days when Mr. Rogers Neighborhood had a boring field trip that you couldn't look way from or PBS had a slow but still neat program on that you honestly just wouldn't get up to change the channel when watching.  That’s not to say the start of the film isn’t good, it is decent, and it shows off Goldsworthy’s skill as an artist and highlights some really interesting pieces.  As the film goes on, though, the viewer really gets the chance to get closer to the meaning of the man’s work as well as why he creates these structures of art, some of which are almost guaranteed to disappear almost immediately after their creation. In looking past one or two picky (but glaring still) technical problems at the start, the film does an excellent job of not only photographing Goldsworthy’s art, but also showing his connection to his work and what he really hopes to say through it. A prime example of the time and care that went into the filmmaking is the film’s use of scattered close up shots of Goldsworthy’s hands, which are able to show a lot about him.  The viewer can feel how he really gets into his work, how he cuts his fingers or gets frost bite from battling the elements as he works with ice, and how closely he has to deal with so many of the sometimes harsh forces of nature to make his art. Sure, there are a few question marks, which are played up in the film’s first couple of minutes, in which Goldsworthy is mostly seen working alone with no one else in sight but the camera crew.  Questions like how in the world he can make a living this way, or why he has such a connection to projects that will be dissolved by the tide in moments, or if the man is on a mission or is just functional enough to be called sane all presented themselves to me while I watched the film, but the second half clears up most of the questions or problems. As a whole, despite its admittedly risky boring start (that does actually add a lot to the film), the documentary does a great job in explaining Goldsworthy’s work, his passion for nature, and why his projects mean so much to him.  These themes are backed up very well by the many stunning visuals depicting not only his permanent masterpieces that have helped anchor his career, but also the painstaking preparations he undertakes for temporary art or sculptures that inadvertently but painfully crumble in his hands.

Reviewed by Ryan Pollyea for Documentary Film Online on September 12, 2009

In Conclusion: