Unfortunately, many of the interviews are dry and not exceptionally deep or involved; the cinematography is lackluster, and Escher's prints aren't shown for long enough to let someone unfamiliar with them appreciate them fully. The film is fair enough but seems intended more for people familiar with Escher's work already; I'd have to say that it's not likely to create any fans, though it may pique some curiosity in the mathematical principles behind much of Escher's work.
3 Reviews
M.C. Escher Definitely Deserved Better Than This
StrictlyConfidential16 May 2020
To start off - I wanna say that this decidedly inferior documentary was not at all worthy of the wonderful talent that Maurits Cornelis Escher had as a gifted artist-of-the-fantastic.
Flat, dry, and uninspired, this decidedly low-budget documentary (which was chiefly made back in 1980) did not come anywhere near to doing Escher justice.
Even today, nearly 50 years after his death in 1972 (at the age of 74), M.C. Escher still remains one of the most popular graphic artists in the entire world.
With much of his work focusing in on intricate detail and impossible perspectives, Escher had a life-long fascination with architecture and distorted space. This, in turn, made much of his art some of the most interesting and appealing to the eye that the beholder is likely to see.
Personally, I think that a much more superior documentary needs to be made about the life and art of M.C. Escher.
*Note of Interest* - Escher was left-handed.
Flat, dry, and uninspired, this decidedly low-budget documentary (which was chiefly made back in 1980) did not come anywhere near to doing Escher justice.
Even today, nearly 50 years after his death in 1972 (at the age of 74), M.C. Escher still remains one of the most popular graphic artists in the entire world.
With much of his work focusing in on intricate detail and impossible perspectives, Escher had a life-long fascination with architecture and distorted space. This, in turn, made much of his art some of the most interesting and appealing to the eye that the beholder is likely to see.
Personally, I think that a much more superior documentary needs to be made about the life and art of M.C. Escher.
*Note of Interest* - Escher was left-handed.
Horrible; one of the worst docs I've ever seen
rosie_perera25 April 2014
There is very little chronological info that would actually situate Escher in time. Basic factual stuff like when/where was he born is missing. As I recall, only one date was mentioned in the whole film, and it was the date of some conference that one of the interviewees attended when he met Escher.
Most of artwork is shown with a dizzying zooming-in/rotating technique which the filmmaker seems obsessed with. It gets old after a couple of times. Very gimmicky. I'd rather have a chance to look long and hard at the whole piece and then zoom in to see details.
The movie also contains stunningly obvious statements. Escher was influenced by architecture. Duh. Anyone who has seen just one or two of his most famous pieces knows that. And that was supposedly the source of his uniqueness. Like no other artist was ever influenced by architecture?
My friend and I watched it all the way through in spite of how bad it was, because after a while it became fun to laugh at it. Don't waste your time on this, unless you want to show it to a film class to give them an example of how *not* to make a documentary.
Most of artwork is shown with a dizzying zooming-in/rotating technique which the filmmaker seems obsessed with. It gets old after a couple of times. Very gimmicky. I'd rather have a chance to look long and hard at the whole piece and then zoom in to see details.
The movie also contains stunningly obvious statements. Escher was influenced by architecture. Duh. Anyone who has seen just one or two of his most famous pieces knows that. And that was supposedly the source of his uniqueness. Like no other artist was ever influenced by architecture?
My friend and I watched it all the way through in spite of how bad it was, because after a while it became fun to laugh at it. Don't waste your time on this, unless you want to show it to a film class to give them an example of how *not* to make a documentary.
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