Rock & Ruin

A review of A24’s (literal) rock documentary “Architecton,” plus my August movie agenda.

Courtesy A24.

Most movie discussion this weekend will be centered on Liam Neeson laugher The Naked Gun and romantic horror jaunt Together, neither of which I’ve yet seen. Among the arthouse titles venturing into cinemas is one of the last movies produced by A24’s now-shuttered documentary division, which has a brief review below.

Also playing in New York this weekend are two older films that were recently restored: The Fall of Otrar, a Kazakh epic about 13th century Eurasian steppe politics, and Night of the Juggler, a gritty New Yawk thriller in which James Brolin tries to rescue his daughter from a kidnapper. I recommend both of those movies, and will have quick words on those films within the weekend alongside a recap of what I’ve been cooking recently!

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Architecton

Now playing in limited release.

This ominous documentary, directed by Victor Kossakovsky, is about nothing less than the impermanence of human civilization, as seen through the evolution from stone to concrete as our preferred building material. Perhaps “devolution” is more suitable: towards the end of the film, architect Michele De Lucchi laments that we once erected structures to last a thousand years, but today they’re designed for a mere four decades. “Why do we build ugly buildings if we know how to make beautiful ones?” I’m sure he knows the answer is money, but this rhetorical question makes clear that we must reject modernity and embrace tradition.

Architecton is not at all a dialectical film, however, as it is only in the film’s epilogue that its concerns are spoken aloud. It is a meditative mood piece, the kind that will straddle the line between hypnotic and boring depending on the viewer. Think of this as a nature documentary about buildings—call it a rock doc?—though it lacks a soothing David Attenborough narration. I could have used him, as the pacing of this film is as still as the rocks it captures, often unforgivably so.

As advertised, we see quite a few rocks and ruins, from ancient quarries in Lebanon to destroyed domiciles in Ukraine and Turkey. Most of the shots are captured by drones, slowly moving over deserted landscapes. The mixture of color, black & white, and infrared cinematography by Ben Bernard is remarkable to look at, but the effect gets old. The most arresting moments come from slow-motion footage of mountains being blown up to make concrete, especially when paired with Evgueni Galperine’s thundering electronic score. Kossakovsky, a longtime advocate of high frame rate filmmaking, intended for Architecton to be presented at 48 frames per second (twice the usual amount), but that doesn’t seem to be happening for the theatrical release¹. I don’t know if smoother motion would have fundamentally changed my viewing experience, but perhaps you can try taking an edible before venturing into the theater, as the purely sensory moments are quite something to behold.

Remarkably for this kind of movie, the trailer for Architecton boasts over a million views. You can thank the popularity of A24 for that. Somewhat ironically for a movie concerned with building things that last, the distributor recently shuttered its documentary division; this is one of the last titles commissioned by that team². Buildings made with stone can last a millennia, but as we see in this film, they require maintenance and care. Left alone, even the sturdiest structures will crumble into ruins.

Tasting Notes

Rocks are probably the last thing you want to think of while you’re eating. The closest culinary equivalent may be undercooked beans. Despite recently coming into possession of an Instant Pot, I still cook my legumes on my stovetop, checking every now and then until it has the perfect texture. As a card-carrying member of the Rancho Gordo Bean Club, I evangelize their wares every chance I get. It’s very easy to cook dried beans, and the taste and texture are superior to the canned stuff. Just don’t simmer them with tomatoes or other acids!

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Movie Agenda

If you’ve ever wondered what movies I have on my calendar, here’s what I want to see in August! It’s a crowded list. (And I’ve still yet to see KPop Demon Hunters, which I hear has given us a Song of the Summer.) I haven’t seen any of these yet, besides the bolded titles, which are on here if I recommend them.

• 8/1: Together, The Naked Gun, Souleymane’s Story

• 8/8: Weapons, Freakier Friday, Boys Go to Jupiter

• 8/15: Highest 2 Lowest

• 8/22: Splitsville, Relay, Lurker

• 8/29: Caught Stealing, The Roses, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass

Repertory Programming

• Silent Movie Week, MoMA, thru 8/5

  • Most screenings have live piano accompaniment. Bless the MoMA for being the only theater in the city that regularly programs silents!

• Parallel Days/Bollywood Nights, Asia Society, 8/8-9 & 8/22-23

  • A rare opportunity to see the classics of Bollywood and Parallel Cinema in a theater; the remaining Bollywood titles are projected from 35mm prints which is extra special. I have my eye on seeing Mughal-e-Azam.

• Night at the Movies: An M. Night Shyamalan Retrospective, Lincoln Center, 8/22-9/4

  • Most of Shyamalan’s films are screened in a double bill, so you get two movies for the price of one ticket! Am already seated for The Sixth Sense + The Haunting and Signs + Night of the Living Dead. Wish I could make it to Lady in the Water + The Princess Bride and Trap + Shadow of a Doubt because those sound like such fun pairings.

1. After all, this is being released by A24, not A48.

2. If you’re wondering what direction A24 is heading in, at the end of this month they are releasing an English dub of Ne Zha 2, a Chinese animated family flick that is by far the highest-grossing movie this year. Even taking into account their recent overtures towards explicitly mainstream fare, this is kind of a weird move.