Filmmakers Edward Landler and Brad Byer's I Build the Tower offers a tribute to the strangely beautiful structures known as the Watts Towers in Los Angeles and their decidedly eccentric creator Sabato “Sam” Rodia (1879-1965). An Italian immigrant who abandoned his wife and children and lived as a vagabond on the West Coast before settling in L.A., Rodia began building the towers—comprised of nearly 20 sculptures made of steel, wire mesh, and mortar, decorated with bits of broken glass and tile (two rise to a height of nearly 100 feet)—on a residential site around 1921, and continued the work entirely alone by hand for more than 30 years before moving away and effectively abandoning the project. Employing a collage of archival materials and extensive audio interviews with the voluble Rodia (in which he expresses some wild opinions and weird historical interpretations), recollections from his nieces and nephews, comments from admirers (most notably Buckminster Fuller, a kindred idiosyncratic soul), and loving close-ups of the towers, I Build the Tower is a fascinating portrait of a driven man, as well as an appreciation of the Watts Towers (a centerpiece of community pride and a national landmark). DVD extras on a bonus second disc include the full 40-minute version of the Fuller interview (his last), and a slide show. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
I Build the Tower
(2006) 2 discs. 87 min. DVD: $24.95 ($249.95 w/PPR). National Film Network. ISBN: 978-0-8026-0965-6. Volume 23, Issue 5
I Build the Tower
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