Home
Home

Helvetica (2007)

DVD Cover (Plexifilm)
Add to Collection
Sign up to add this to your collection
Add to Favorites
Sign up to add this to your favorites
Overall Rating 72%
Overall Rating
Ranked #4,892
...out of 20,203 movies
Check In? Sign up to check in!

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type. --IMDb
User Image
Review by bluemeanie
Added: January 25, 2008
You're probably thinking - how in God's name could anyone make a feature length documentary about a font? The answer is - I don't know. The more and more positive buzz I kept hearing about this picture, the more and more excited I became. Personally, I could care less about fonts and the history of typography. It just doesn't interest me. But, if a documentary could present itself in an entertaining way and still manage to educate me - alls the more amazing. That said, it did not. The film "Helvetica" had me for about the first fifteen minutes and then I stopped caring. They kept relying on the same patterns over and over again to get their point across - a point that was made at the beginning of the film, and a point that did not need to be beaten into the ground.

In this documentary, we learn everything there is to know about the font known as Helvetica. We meet the son of the man who invented the font. We meet the President of the company that now owns the font. We meet typographers the world over who explain the relevance of Helvetica in the world we live in today. And, throughout these interviews, we are handed an assortment of montages that show us signs all around the world that utilize Helvetica. The way these people make it sound, Helvetica is second only to Jesus Christ in terms of influence. I kept listening to them talk about this font like they were talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. - after a while, it became laughable. I do not doubt the importance of a font, but that importance is probably greater within the field of typography than it is with the rest of the world. I have a difficult time believing a font can change the way the world is going, or have any social or political impact whatsoever. I don't buy it.

So, if I didn't buy the premise, I didn't buy the documentary, and that just about sums up my feelings on the documentary "Helvetica". It's one thing to take a look at the font and show us what makes it so remarkable and so important, but it's quite another to build this font up as something greater than it is, or ever could be. After listening to these people talk about Helvetica, I feel sorry for a lot of them. For others, I can't help but think they should invest their attentions into more rewarding hobbies and careers. I am not saying a typographer is not needed - but no typographer should ever use the words 'font' and 'revolutionary' in the same sentence, especially when they are not referring to the field of typography. That said, am I constantly looking around at all the signs and deciding which ones are and are not Helvetica? Yes. Oddly enough, the first two I noticed were not Helvetica at all. There were Sans Serif. Some documentary, huh?

4/10.
Sign up to add your comment. Sign up to add your comment.
Recommended Movies
Betty Page: The Naked Truth Basquiat: Rage To Riches Page Three: The Naked Truth Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child Marwencol Bettie Page Reveals All Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years Of Jean-Michel Basquiat Here Is Always Somewhere Else Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed Behind Forgotten Eyes Halloween: 25 Years Of Terror Just Desserts: The Making Of 'Creepshow' Life Of Pryor: The Richard Pryor Story The Bridge The American Nightmare Nine Inch Nails And The Industrial Uprising Aileen: Life And Death Of A Serial Killer Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth
Layout, reviews and code © 2000-2024 | Privacy Policy
Contact: Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Review Updates