“Stopping time” to see a great architectural photographer up close

Perhaps regarded as a visual chieftain in architecture photography, Julius Schulman captured the quintessence of houses and buildings in ways that have never been replicated. The documentary Visual Acoustics approaches Schulman’s work using deft graphics and animations in a thrilling way. Designing deities (not to mention Dustin Hoffman’s narration) will, in human form, reel in pop-culture enthusiasts and furnish better than expected box office bottom lines.

When 20th Century architecture titans like Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra and Pierre Koenig were ready to unveil their latest additions they summoned Schulman, a local Los Angeles lenser who was then gaining a reputation as an unrivaled visualist.

A college dropout, Schulman was drawn to L.A. and in the mid-1930s happened onto a town that was in its most pivotal years. His daughter mused that L.A. and Schulman were siblings—growing together at the same time. Modernism and all its glory was rising, literally upward. Schulman perhaps had a gift, channeling the minimally conscious and technologically progressive buildings on the cityscape in his photographs. He seemed to hear these structures speaking; perhaps drawing closer to them than the architect himself.

The polished film is a study of Schulman in his later years. We see him with his cane, pacing around his preserved garden (or as he calls it his “church”) at his Hollywood estate. Schulman takes note of the ray of sun that spies through the trees and jests on how his orange blossoms are defying all odds because they are surrounded by competing plants that should normally siphon off its chances to bear fruit. Here’s a man who still shoots (though he has an assistant now) photos and has a vitality and a smile that light up those around him.

First-time helmer Eric Bricker enlisted a design studio to create the titles and graphics—even inserting a few witty animations into the mix—to spruce-up the format. The flows of stills move like the Los Angeles freeway system, constantly intersecting, stopping and going.

Schulman’s entire catalogue now resides at The Getty Museum in L.A., and though his work is in safe keeping Schulman is still interested in preservation. He quotes, “I’m beginning life everyday.” There is giddiness in this man who can’t move too fast or even speak as strongly as he did in earlier interviews. But his passion to be present in the here and now and “stop time” with his photographs is indicative of a mortal who has channeled the powers that be to make something that wasn’t there before: Art in its greatest sense.

Distributor: Arthouse Films
Directed/Produced: Eric Bricker
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 84 min.
Release date: October 9 NY, October 16 LA