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Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf poster

Film · 2019

Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf

Directed by Thomas Piper

  • 1 h 15 min
  • Documentary
  • USA
  • Released in the UK 13 June 2019

Synopsis

'Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf' is a documentary that follows the acclaimed landscape designer, Piet Oudolf, over five seasons worth of his life and career. The documentary allows audiences a glimpse into the mind behind some of the most ambitious landscape gardening projects of recent years, such as his 2006 New York's High Line, in which Oudolf took some abandoned railroad in Manhattan and transformed it into a natural idyll near New York City that has since become one of the city's foremost attractions.

Director Thomas Piper uses the documentary as an opportunity to consider both the artistry and the thought processes behind them, highlighting, for example, Oudolf's interesting emphasis on the process of decay of flowers. Alongside this analysis of his works, Piper explores a variety of projects under Oudolf's name such as Chicago's Millenium Park and even the landscape designer's own personal gardens at his home in the Netherlands. Audiences also have the chance to watch Oudolf design and create a new commission for the Hauser & Wirth Somerset arts centre in England, which he considers his best work as of yet.

Director Thomas Piper's former documental works include 'Inventing Cornell Tech: The Vision' and 'Eric Fischi: The Process of Painting'.

The essentials

Runtime
75 min1 hour and 15 minutes
How long is Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf?
1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes).
When was Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf released in the UK?
It was released in the UK on 13 June 2019.
Who directed Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf?
Thomas Piper.
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Director
Thomas Piper
Producers
Thomas Piper
Cinematography
Thomas Piper

Videos and trailers

All 2 videos

Photos and posters

All 5 photos

Reviews

All 3 reviews

What the critics say average 6.7 from 3 outlets

  • 8.0 Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan "'Five Seasons' reveals gardens you'd look forward to getting lost in, gardens that brilliantly use the interplay of form and color to do wonderful things to your soul". Read
  • 7.0 The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden "The film is, at its strongest, an inspiring sensory immersion in that performance, one in which the (mostly unidentified) plants are the stars. [...] however lovely, lacks an essential dynamism… Read
  • 5.0 New York TimesBen Kenigsberg "'Five Seasons' is least dull when capturing the artist at his most spontaneous, showing his joy, for instance, at seeing Texas wildflowers. But the director Thomas Piper [...] never finds a way to… Read
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