Posted May 7, 2007
The Gates
Starring: Christo, Jeanne-Claude
Director: Albert Maysles and Antonio Ferrera

The Gates

The question isn't just "who gets to call it art?" but "who gets to enforce their 'art' upon others?" Vérité extraordinaire Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter) leaves it open-ended in his sixth feature to document the gargantuan scope of environmental installation artist Christo and his assistant-by-marriage, Jeanne-Claude. They've wrapped the Reichstag and the Pont Neuf Bridge in vibrantly colored fabric, opened thousands of umbrellas on the coasts of California and Japan, and in 2005, the Christos organized the manufacturing and posting of 23 miles' worth of orange metal gateways and saffron-colored vinyl drapings throughout Central Park. More impressive than it being New York City's biggest and most expensive public art project on record, the husband-and-wife team paid for the whole she-bang themselves.

As an artist's procedural, we're privy to the anecdotal behind-the-scenes glimpses found in most Maysles films, such as Christo's "unstoppable urge" to dedicate himself to extravagant works that he finds little depth in, merely pretty aesthetics. As a festive character portrait of the diverse New York community getting some fresh air uptown, we experience the wide-eyed wonderment of tourists and youngsters amidst the pithy dismissals of aging and jaded natives (best line of humbug: "If I shit on your lawn and call it beautiful, is it for everybody?"). As a time capsule, the film flashes back 25 years to the first sit-downs with city commissioners, who become irrationally afraid of stepping on toes by greenlighting the project. (Maybe they had a point: at a later town-hall meeting circa 1979, an African-American man complains that it'll serve as a reminder that only the white man can appreciate them: "We don't have no high rise!") Furthermore, the film works as a testament to old friends: there's David Maysles onscreen, Albert's brother and arguably more influential collaborator who died in 1987, shooting some moments that will have already lived on two decades past when the film is officially released.

Co-directed by Antonio Ferrera, The Gates is a greater work of art than those 7,503 banalities that salted Central Park for two weeks. While the doc milks the installation's potential for stunning HD images by framing it at every possible angle, times of day, and atmospheric condition, the millions of orange dollars on display render the Christos' work the most expensive form of the old "weather rock" joke ever made (if it's wet, it's raining; if it's swinging, it's windy; if it's gone, there's a tornado). Cut just 15 minutes of footage from that which gives the film its name, and this charming ode to the subjective effects of man-made beauty would rank with the Maysles brothers' best.

— Aaron Hillis