The Gates (2005)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Directors:

Antonio Ferrera
Albert Maysles

Release Date:

2005 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A documentary on New York City's biggest public art project ever, an installation called "The Gates," by Christo and Jeanne Claude.

Plot Keywords:

Gates | Art | Mayor | Artist | Orange

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 20

9:00 AM

HBO

Cast

Christo	...	Himself
Jeanne-Claude	...	Herself

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Maysles Films

captures what it was like, and then some

I went to the Gates, the Cristo creation back in 2005, only once, but the experience lingered long after it ended (I even saw the director Al Maysles filming, oddly enough this time, changing his perspective, on mini-DV as opposed to film). It's a lush setting, maybe too lush, and full of the kind of vibrancy and other things to describe it that would take too long or sound too pretentious in this review. Suffice to say if you remembered what it was like, or were there, Maysles gets a superb lot of interviews- some, of course, with Cristo and Jean-Claude his wife/business partner as he does for all of the Cristo art movies- with just people who are walking around the park, people who go there frequently, tourists, foreigners, workers. And the images are sublime; film might have captured it in the best possible way, but on digital there's another level brought out. All those waving flags of orange, put to the backdrop of snow and dead trees and Central Park fixtures and landmarks have a rough but beautiful, crystal-perfect quality. I loved seeing those images again, and with such a sharp eye and mind that knows where to go for the right (or simply unexpected) detail and make it personal and true to expressing the spirit of Cristo, whatever that might be (open to interpretation for absolute certainty).

The documentary plays now and again on HBO (it did for about a month or so early in 2008), but if you can somehow find it on DVD it's a worthwhile purchase. Very few works from Cristo reach this ambition and, in fact, sublime manner in execution.