Giacometti

Actually comprised of two documentaries about the famed sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti--What Is a Head? and A Man Among Men--this DVD is being released to coincide with major exhibitions of his work at the Museum of Modern Art and elsewhere. Michael Van Zele's What Is a Head? (2000) is the more stylish of the two, focusing on Giacometti's self-described difficulties dealing with the human head, but also covering wider ground, including a look at the tiny figurative sculptures Giacometti did while he was living in Switzerland during World War II. Van Zele's film benefits enormously from the commentary of many of Giacometti's friends, fellow artists, and models. A Man Among Men--which sports a copyright date of 1963, but comments regarding Giacometti's passing indicate that the film was amended sometime after the artist's death in 1966--features a good deal more of Giacometti than What Is a Head?, and boasts an especially satisfying look at Giacometti's sculptures. Unfortunately, the host is a '60s French intellectual who seems to be constantly reaching for some great metaphysical truth in Giacometti's work; an intellectual pretension that wears thin after 50 minutes. Taken together, however, this documentary duo provides a very useful insight into Giacometti's world (including his paintings), as well as a solid representation of his later, most successful work. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Van Vleck)