Review of The Architect (2008) by Walter M — 03 Aug 2007

[font=Century Gothic]In "The Architect," a long time resident, Tonya Neely(Viola Davis), of the Eden Court housing projects on the south side of Chicago has come to the conclusion that the inadequately repaired, poorly built, gang infested buildings are beyond hope and wishes to see them torn down.(Her son commited suicide a few years back. One daughter, Cammie(Serena Reeder), lives elsewhere while attending high school. Another, Missy(Marsha Stephanie Blake) already has a baby of her own.) She even tries to get the original architect, Leo Waters(Anthony LaPaglia), to help but he declines, not seeing a problem...[/font].

[font=Century Gothic]"The Architect" is a slight but intriguing movie about the difference between reform and revolution. In this case, it is the difference between continually repairing the projects or tearing them down and starting from scratch.(Tonya never does say what she wants to replace the projects with.) If I remember my urban history right, housing projects were built with the best of intentions but they also destroyed the cohesion of neighborhoods. Leo does not admit that there is a problem with the buildings he designed while not noticing his family falling apart around him.(Thus, saving the movie from the dreaded "rich white folks have problems, too" syndrome.) But we never get a true sense of what it is to live in these projects. [/font].