Walking on Water
This documentary by Andrey Paounov about the environmental artist, Christo, and his journey to build The Floating Piers, a project he had conceived of with his creative partner and wife, Jeanne-Claude, feels as though it should be something akin to “Man on Wire,” the documentary about the man who sought to do a wire walk between the World Trade Center towers. The Floating Piers is a project to build a golden walkway floating across Lake Iseo in Italy, one that is sturdy enough to support hundreds of thousands of people, and in the concept art we see at the beginning of the film, it is a magnificent sight. I think the movie would have resonated with me more, however, if it had been about the creative partnership between Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who passed away in 2009, in general, rather than just this one project. The bureaucracy and buildup to the creation of the walkway, and then the unveiling of it to the masses, is interesting (especially when the unveiling to the public presents logistical issues that could compromise the whole thing), but I wish we had gotten more of a portrait of their work as a whole, and how they came to conceive it.
Christo is a fascinating individual to focus on, and he has big, bold ideas and little moments that make him endearing. We see him in meetings with designers, visiting school children, and doing public appearances in the lead up to the physical creation of the walkway. These early moments give us glimpses into Christo’s mind that make the later moments where he is struggling with the outside world, and how it impacts his ability to bring his art to an audience, more understandable. When The Floating Piers are complete, it is a breathtaking site, with the landscape it is constructed in being an essential part of the final product, but when the people on the mainland who are supposed to be involved with crowd control drop the ball, and more than expected people show up, endangering their whole endeavor, and resulting in delays, we feel his anxiety and frustration. Art requires an audience, Christo’s especially, in this case, but, by the time it is ready to show, few works of art are so dependent on outside elements and factors to have that emotional impact the artist intended to illicit. Moments like that bring “Walking on Water” to thrilling life, as the relationship between artist and their canvas is as tactile as we’ve ever seen. It’s a shame there aren’t many moments such as that in the film that has been made, and which brings Christo’s story to this particular audience.
Can’t wait to see this film. Thanks for the review.