Sunday 27 March 2011

I M Pei - Building China Modern

This is an episode of an American series American Masters. We know this, because an intro tells us so, as well as reciting various people who have contributed money. And repeated as an outro as well. And also includes thanks to "Viewers like you" for giving money to PBS... hey, wait a minute. You mean this was shown for free to Americans and now I'm paying (a fair bit) to go see it in the theatre?

That said, this is about I M Pei, a Chinese architect who has designed a few major buildings, coming back to his home town of Suzhou to design a museum. It has to fit the design of the town, although Pei isn't known for exactly fitting in, so there's controversy there... although not to much. This was going to happen either way, with old buildings being torn down, which isn't as focused on as in other movies.

Anyway, we get to see a bit of Pei's life, some of his buildings, and... he's a nice guy! This is as much a celebration of Pei as it is about the building. Enjoyable wee documentary, not sure it was worth the price...


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