The chance to hear Yo La Tengo may have brought many fans to the Wellmont Theater on Thursday night to catch “The Lovesong of R. Buckminster Fuller,” but viewers come away with a new hero in Fuller, brought to life by Sam Green, director and narrator of the live documentary, a follow-up to his internationally-acclaimed 2010 live film Utopia in Four Movements.
Green was commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to create the documentary of the futurist inventer/designer and made good use of Fuller’s extensive archives as source material.
Green narrates the film in person and cues images from a laptop while Yo La Tengo performs their original score. We learn about Fuller’s inventions, including the Dymaxion Car, and his vision of “doing more with less” executed in the geodesic dome, and enter the world of a man who suffered many setbacks and sorrows, but displayed amazing resilience and hope for the future.
Green is spontaneous and engaging in his narration, taking the audience on both a nostalgic and poignant ride through Fuller’s amazing life, perfectly accompanied by the sensitive, thoughtful live score provided by Yo La Tengo.
