Film review: 'Meta-Mecano'
A disappointing short feature documentary about the building of a fantastical museum to house the extraordinary sculpture of Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, who died in 1991, "Meta-Mecano" is all but lifeless and not even close to mirroring the anarchistic spirit of its subject.
Too mechanical and static -- while Tinguely's bizarre and often huge kinetic wonders are anything but -- the Swiss production bowed recently at the 1998 Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival. More festival engagements are sure to follow, but overall, "Meta-Mecano" is more suitable for architecture and engineering students than fans of the artist.
With such works as "Communication at Your Work Place" on his resume, Swiss documentarian Rudolf Gerber, a New York University alumnus, knows his way around a construction site. But he's not much of a storyteller, and he uses interviews and archival material only sparingly.
What become almost unbearably frustrating are the endless shots of Tinguely's elaborate creations being dismantled, transported, reassembled and tested. Only in the final moments, for a far too brief payoff, does the film actually show the artist's surreal and delicate "festival of errors" come to life.
Instead of illuminating the themes and variations of Tinguely's works, which were donated by his widow, the film plays like a long advertisement for the state-of-the-art museum.
Overlooking the Rhine in Tinguely's hometown of Basel, the impressive structure is the work of architect Mario Botta, and it boasts 11-meter-high ceilings and retractable walls. The film exhaustively chronicles its building with dry precision, including a relatively riveting visit to a river where the blocks of stone for the outer walls are harvested.
Tinguely himself is seen only a few times in old footage that forms intriguing sound bites. The filmmaker thankfully breaks up the monotony with short but helpful visits with Tinguely's widow, the artist Niki de Saint Phalle -- herself a popular nouveau realist whose works are displayed in many European cities -- and with Tinguely's longtime assistant and welder Seppi Imhof, as well as with Pontus Hulten, director and curator the museum.
META-MECANO
ZAS Film
Director-writer-producer: Rudolf Gerber
Associate producer: Ted Scapa
Director of photography: Patrick Lindenmaier
Editor: Mirjam Krakenberger
Sound: Dieter Lengacher
Music: Vinz Vonlanthen
Color/stereo
With: Mario Botta, Niki de Saint Phalle, Seppi Imhof, Pontus Hulten, Jean Tinguely
Running time -- 64 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Too mechanical and static -- while Tinguely's bizarre and often huge kinetic wonders are anything but -- the Swiss production bowed recently at the 1998 Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival. More festival engagements are sure to follow, but overall, "Meta-Mecano" is more suitable for architecture and engineering students than fans of the artist.
With such works as "Communication at Your Work Place" on his resume, Swiss documentarian Rudolf Gerber, a New York University alumnus, knows his way around a construction site. But he's not much of a storyteller, and he uses interviews and archival material only sparingly.
What become almost unbearably frustrating are the endless shots of Tinguely's elaborate creations being dismantled, transported, reassembled and tested. Only in the final moments, for a far too brief payoff, does the film actually show the artist's surreal and delicate "festival of errors" come to life.
Instead of illuminating the themes and variations of Tinguely's works, which were donated by his widow, the film plays like a long advertisement for the state-of-the-art museum.
Overlooking the Rhine in Tinguely's hometown of Basel, the impressive structure is the work of architect Mario Botta, and it boasts 11-meter-high ceilings and retractable walls. The film exhaustively chronicles its building with dry precision, including a relatively riveting visit to a river where the blocks of stone for the outer walls are harvested.
Tinguely himself is seen only a few times in old footage that forms intriguing sound bites. The filmmaker thankfully breaks up the monotony with short but helpful visits with Tinguely's widow, the artist Niki de Saint Phalle -- herself a popular nouveau realist whose works are displayed in many European cities -- and with Tinguely's longtime assistant and welder Seppi Imhof, as well as with Pontus Hulten, director and curator the museum.
META-MECANO
ZAS Film
Director-writer-producer: Rudolf Gerber
Associate producer: Ted Scapa
Director of photography: Patrick Lindenmaier
Editor: Mirjam Krakenberger
Sound: Dieter Lengacher
Music: Vinz Vonlanthen
Color/stereo
With: Mario Botta, Niki de Saint Phalle, Seppi Imhof, Pontus Hulten, Jean Tinguely
Running time -- 64 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/4/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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