The Architect (2006)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: B-     Feature: B-

 

 

In what is turning into a cycle of films trying to emulate Robert Altman pictures by way of Crash (reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site), Matt Tauber’s The Architect (2006) tries to have it both ways by telling multiple storylines, yet makes it more about the title character (Anthony LaPaglia in a good role and performance) as a man who has built a school that was supposed to make education and a neighborhood better, but instead made it into a not-so-gilded-cage.

 

He is not quite aware of this due to his somewhat unhappy life, marriage not going so well with his wife (Isabella Rossellini) and two children coming of age who are unsure where their future is going.  His daughter Christina (Hayden Panettiere) is getting possibly involved with an older man (Walton Goggins) while his son Martin (Sebastian Stan) is questioning his sexuality and may befriend the explicitly gay Shawn (Paul James).

 

Unfortunately, the son’s subplot is very badly handled, while the daughter’s (as the outtakes clearly show) is heavily cut from the final cut.  Tauber co-wrote the screenplay with David Greig and though it is smart, even the main conflict between LaPaglia’s Leo and Viola Davis activist neighborhood resident Tonya does not see the issues all the way through, despite being so good at bringing them up.  The “Spike Lee” argument would be that white directors/writers cannot handle such urban material, but the limits here are more to do with guts and finishing what you start than color dichotomies.  With that said, The Architect has enough good moments and performances to give it a look.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot in digital High Definition and has detail limits, but veteran cinematographer John Bailey whose interesting previous work includes films for Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Cat People, Mishima), Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Silverado), Clint Eastwood’s In The Line Of Fire and even the classic Cyndi Lauper Music Video for “True Colors” directed by Pat Birch (Grease 2), he is a great cameraman and still has the talent and knack very apparently here.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is better than the 2.0 Stereo mix with Pro Logic surrounds, though surrounds are not overpowering as this is a dialogue-based film.  Marcelo Zarvos’ score also works.  Extras include director’s audio commentary track, episode of HDNet’s Higher Definition series totally devoted to this release and deleted scenes with optional commentary that show a cut-out subplot.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo