Helvetica (Gary Hustwit, 2007)

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Jem · #1 Post by **Jem** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:41 pm

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.

Official site

Rumsey Taylor review.

#2 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:48 pm

I think it says a lot about a person when they get excited about a movie revolving around typefaces. And I'm one of those people, this sounds great.

Antoine Doinel · #3 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:59 pm

The Globe And Mail interviews director Gary Hustwit.

#4 Post by **zedz** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:09 pm

domino harvey wrote:I think it says a lot about a person when they get excited about a movie revolving around typefaces. And I'm one of those people, this sounds great.

You're probably not alone. It's a good solid film, the gets into the recent history, philosophy and politics of typography and features some memorably manic graphic designers airing their pro- and anti-Helvetica obsessions.

Antoine Doinel · #5 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Sat May 05, 2007 11:37 pm

Saw this tonight at a free screening (with Q&A by the director) as part of a typography and design conference in Montreal. Great film, with a bevy of interesting personalities and will even interest those not involved in the field.

#6 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:21 pm

This has to be one of the most fascinating documentaries I've seen. Really shows how anything can be interesting if you find someone passionate about it. Plus like everything out of Erik Spiekermann's mouth was hilariously bitchy.

Antoine Doinel · #7 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:36 pm

Plexifilm, in addition to the regular DVD version, will be releasing this is a pretty badass limited edition BluRay version as well.

#8 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:44 pm

It's so wonderfully impractical, I love it

Svevan · #9 Post by **Svevan** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:46 am

I loved this film's philosophy of typeface, which really is a philosophy of life; it treats the shape of things as the most important piece, rather than the function. A great film about the importance of art and culture, in my mind.

#10 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Mar 21, 2020 4:12 pm

Streaming free through the 24th courtesy of the director

therewillbeblus · #11 Post by **therewillbeblus** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:28 am

This was a terrific film because it didn’t just hit on the interesting topics of subliminal psychological stimulation through advertising, but the subjective interpretations of the interviewers revealed far more about them than any definitive philosophy of the people they refer to in masses. The cumulative effect is one where we can consider but not know, except that psychology is individualized far more than a generalized collective consciousness of “the public,” mystery still in tact, and the interviewers who get too specific with their theories are perhaps more intriguing but also become more transparent as limited in their own blurry perspectives.

While Spiekermann is a bit obnoxious, his broad comprehension of the popularity as what is familiar and comfortable, as well as the influence of such comfort as that of a cradling icon by comparing why we are drawn to an artist by association, is easily the most honest and objectively right of the bunch. This is because he allows the psychological process to be simple and based on our comfort with simplicity, not just in the dimensions of the typeface but in our practice of choosing and ultimate default to complacency. His own mission is to fight that complacency while retaining the framework of some structure, as he attempts to describe with his flexibility yet magnetic ties to his own culture. I actually related a lot to that conscious attempt to issue personal change in that department, while his humility (yes, apparent even in an egotistical rant) in refusing to assign concrete objective significance to human behavior, and admitting his own inability to completely divorce himself from these confines he resents, was rather moving in a very subtle way.

The film is a great reminder of how even the talking head experts in docs are only humans too, and when you take away the breadth of knowledge and experience you still get just a person who is evolving their own philosophical principles and analytical stances based on a unique context, regardless of co-existing in the same field. I came away appreciating my ability to accept my own way of approaching analysis more than subscribing to theirs while still welcoming ideas to help develop eclectic hypotheses, and that’s a pretty rare response for a doc in its complexity, and a beautiful thing.

Helvetica (Gary Hustwit, 2007)

Helvetica (Gary Hustwit, 2007)

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Re: Helvetica (Gary Hustwit, 2007)