Before the mad dash to the suburbs, before white flight decimated their municipal import, cities were a country's life blood. From port side hubs of commerce to downtown skyscrapers highlighting affluence and power, the major metropolis remains an enigmatic, mysterious social experiment. Locations like New York slowly reveal their own private secrets, while everyday locales link people to at least part of their past. For documentarian Gary Hustwit, it's all a question of planning - just as his previous films in the "Design Trilogy" Helvetica (visual culture) and Objectified (manufacturing) indicate. In this case, the director follows the trials and tribulations of those who would brings millions of lives together. From both a practical and political standpoint, the results are revelatory.
First and foremost, fans of his previous efforts might find Urbanized a bit...metaphysical. Hustwit clearly believes that the old ways worked somewhat (especially in the realm of neighbor concern and transportation) and dislikes the sudden sprawl that came with the invention of the freeway and the deed restricted subdivision. In his mind - and those of the people he interviews - suburbia is the lazy, limited way to live. Instead of adding to the lumbering landscape of our fields and streams, Hustwit believes that modern technology can transform our dying urban spaces. With just some imagination, and help from politicians and planners, we could return to the days of personal interaction and shared space.
But there is also a problem within Urbanized that the filmmaker isn't willing to address: comfort. Indeed, what we learn throughout most of the movie is that people abandon cities for reasons other than fear of minorities and decaying infrastructure. In Phoenix, a resident chimes in with what has to be a design team's worst nightmare. People like their McMansions and their SUVs. They enjoy swimming pools and basketball courts and the other direct benefits of owning your own land. Aside from the obvious link to the dying American Dream (where everyone wants a mortgage and a money pit) Hustwit never seems to consider the anti-Field of Dreams: someone might want to build it, but what if no one wants to come?
That failing aside, the film actually does a terrific job of exposing the narrow minded perspective that keeps our collective cultural centers from becoming home. With imagery that both stirs the imagination (nothing is more gorgeous than a sprawling metropolis at twilight) and angers the inner moralist (how can something suggesting such great wealth begat slums and ghettos along their fringes?), Hustwit wins the war of words but not the battle of beats. Several times during Urbanized, the standard fact film tropes are trotted out, good guys and bad guys divided along logical and illustrative lines. Still, there is a great deal of good information to be found, as well as intriguing ideas straight out of a science fiction fantasy.
Because of its scope and the size of the problem/potential it is addressing, Urbanized can't help but feel a bit incomplete. Just as we think of some new variable for Hustwit to free association on, he's off on another aesthetic tangent. Even with a wealth of architects, engineers, and builders on his side, he can't quite seem to get over the other human hump. In the beginning, cities were the spaces where people found themselves - their careers, their sustainability, and their idealized inner visions. Today, that triptych seems to be stationed along a careful commute between dozens of escapist enclaves. Hustwit and his subjects may want to return to the days of being Urbanized. Finding others like them will be hard indeed.
But there is also a problem within Urbanized that the filmmaker isn't willing to address: comfort. Indeed, what we learn throughout most of the movie is that people abandon cities for reasons other than fear of minorities and decaying infrastructure. In Phoenix, a resident chimes in with what has to be a design team's worst nightmare. People like their McMansions and their SUVs. They enjoy swimming pools and basketball courts and the other direct benefits of owning your own land. Aside from the obvious link to the dying American Dream (where everyone wants a mortgage and a money pit) Hustwit never seems to consider the anti-Field of Dreams: someone might want to build it, but what if no one wants to come?
That failing aside, the film actually does a terrific job of exposing the narrow minded perspective that keeps our collective cultural centers from becoming home. With imagery that both stirs the imagination (nothing is more gorgeous than a sprawling metropolis at twilight) and angers the inner moralist (how can something suggesting such great wealth begat slums and ghettos along their fringes?), Hustwit wins the war of words but not the battle of beats. Several times during Urbanized, the standard fact film tropes are trotted out, good guys and bad guys divided along logical and illustrative lines. Still, there is a great deal of good information to be found, as well as intriguing ideas straight out of a science fiction fantasy.
Because of its scope and the size of the problem/potential it is addressing, Urbanized can't help but feel a bit incomplete. Just as we think of some new variable for Hustwit to free association on, he's off on another aesthetic tangent. Even with a wealth of architects, engineers, and builders on his side, he can't quite seem to get over the other human hump. In the beginning, cities were the spaces where people found themselves - their careers, their sustainability, and their idealized inner visions. Today, that triptych seems to be stationed along a careful commute between dozens of escapist enclaves. Hustwit and his subjects may want to return to the days of being Urbanized. Finding others like them will be hard indeed.
