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Visual Acoustics

EMAILPRINTArthouse Films

Visual Acoustics reviews
68
N/A User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 10 critic reviews
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Based on 0 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by: Eric Bricker
Phil Ethington
Lisa Hughes
Jessica Hundley

Directed by: Eric Bricker

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 9, 2009

Running Time: 83 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Frances Anderton, Tom Ford, Frank O. Gehry, Recardo Legorreta, and Kelly Lynch

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world’s greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California’s modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images. (Arthouse Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Shulman was around so long that he even got to weigh in on Frank Gehry's Disney Hall. He was skeptical once but came to love it.

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80

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A really terrific, intensely focused documentary on a fascinating personality.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

Something of an elegy to modernism.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Shulman photographed buildings as if they were movie stars: He found their best angles and immortalized them.

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75

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

This stylish film reminds us that great images endure after bodies and buildings crumble.

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70

The New York Times Andy Webster

It’s about lovely photographs of graceful buildings and those who can afford the real estate. But it does pay proper respect to a deserving artist.

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70

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Nominally about the life and career of landmark Southern California architectural photographer Julius Shulman, but it's more about the buildings he photographed than it is about him. Which is probably the way he'd like it.

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70

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Enjoyable as it is, Bricker's giddy hagiography could have used a little pushback, especially in the matter of Shulman's airy dismissal of the postmodernism that, he claimed, forced him into "retirement."

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60

Time Out New York Keith Uhlich

Visual Acoustics goes out of its way to remain as kindly and pleasing as Shulman himself.

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50

Chicago Reader Fred Camper

This documentary tells this story reasonably well, though one might question whether director Eric Bricker's jazzy montages, collages, and rapid camera movements are appropriate to the contemplation of still photographs.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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