Diagonaldi Very well executed

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Ersbel Oraph The maker wanted to so something new, something different. And it is so nice that the employer allowed this experiment. And that is about it.Maybe if the whole thing would have been 20-35 minutes long it would have been wonderful. But there is way too much space filler. So either that is bad planning by shooting too little or somebody was too attached to the footage that nothing could be dumped.Amusingly the story has no apparent structure, yet there is a clear and conventional ending. And the interviews seem to be thrown in as some of the speakers are against Helvetica usage, while most are in favor, but the selection criteria is not obvious to me.One argument this is plain bad work: there is a lot of talk of design, yet there are lots of pictures sliding in with logos written in Helvetica. This all looks like a silly advert from the 1980s. The purpose seems to be something along the lines of "you have to be initiated in order to see it".Still, I had a good laugh with the German designer calling the Swiss militarists (german joke, I know) and telling with a straight face how he is always late, one year late, but to the second.Bottom line: if you are curious about Helvetica and have two hours to waste, knock yourself out. Otherwise, this is a total waste of time.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

spelvini A film more for the designer or artist than for the average movie-goer, Helvetica seems to float by until the viewer realizes that the various faces and opinions that the movie features are so completely subjective that the film never anchors itself and feels like a stream of talking heads.That isn't saying much, for the topic is as nebulous and fuzzy as trying to describe the color blue might be. The Helvetica font was born in the fifties and immediately impressed designers, craftsmen, typesetters, and artists with its simplicity and overall allure. As the film progresses the viewer may feel that he is being seduced into believing some subversive things, and this may be the filmmakers overall intention.The impetus for this intriguing documentary may be the number of award-winning ads that appeared in 2007 featuring the Helvetica font. One particular item is Massimo Vignelli's design for the New York City Subway map, which not only features the attractive Helvetica font, but also manages to reduce the craggy map of Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the snaking underground train lines into smooth helveticized images.Interviews in the film with Massimo Vignelli feature a cheerful self-satisfied man who seems on the constant verge of a chuckle as he talks about the indescribable allure of shapes and the feeling one gets from the Helvetica font. The man seems perfectly convinced of the belief in what he says like: "You can say, "I love you," in Helvetica. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work." Director / Producer Gary Hustwit made the documentary in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the font, and besides just making a film that wallows in the touchy-feely stuff that the aesthete deals with, he basically imparts a bombardment of the Helvetica font on the screen to let the viewer see how pervasive it has become, and also to suggest that the font itself may carry some subversive suggestion that possibly world peace is imaginable, and thus attainable.This may sound like a tall tale but when some of the artists intone their love of the font just "because" it feels right to them, the viewer isn't left with a whole lot of objective stuff to support sticking with the movie. In fact your eyes may begin to gloss over without some overriding point to move toward, but you will be massaged visually.Even though the majority of the film feels like a fluffy valentine to an innocuous subject (I wonder how many people really gush so over a font!), it is quite an engaging look at something that, to be useful, should seem transparent. In the eyes of most of the professionals who use Helvetica and speak glowingly about it, the font is used endlessly by everyone including pros, and amateurs alike because it has such a durable consistency and yet can be used often without becoming disengaging.Filled with examples from every corner of the world, the film may have you peering for longer periods at simple signage just for the pleasure of moving your eyes over the friendly font. Hmmm.

bob the moo As many others have already said – a documentary film that appears to be about the font Helvetica (or indeed any font) is hardly something that is screaming out to a wide audience or likely to be screening to packed crowds in the American heartlands. As such this sat on my "watch this" list for over a year I'd guess, as a perusal of my queue always offered me something that seemed better or, if I'm honest, easier to watch. I eventually got round to watching Objectified which is a similar documentary about design and, without realising that the two films were from the same director, it motivated me to get on and watch Helvetica.Like Objectified I found that the film did a great job of laying out the topic in a clear and accessible manner. It builds a very effective and engaging discussion on the font in particular but also the wider arena of graphic design and typefaces that are all around us. The structure of the film is the foundation that makes it work – it doesn't jump into the deep end of the topic and it manages to be suitable for the casual viewer (which I am) while also avoiding being patronising to those that work in this sector. This is the groundwork and it is well built on by the selection and use of a very good collection of designers and experts in the field – almost all of whom are passionate, well spoken, interesting and, most importantly, not "up themselves" or self-important in the way that some of those in design or art can be.These talking heads help the film maintain an open, accessible approach while the visual design and packaging of the film itself keeps everything lively for the eye and the ear as well – never going into the realm of a dry academic approach to the topic. So yes, Helvetica may sound like it is going to be a very niche film and as much fun as a holiday slideshow from a dull uncle but it is actually light, accessible and engaging due to the structure and design of the film and a great selection of contributors.

barbheninger This movie is brilliant. It's a documentary about the creation of the Helvetica font, sure. But it's also: a musing on the history of modern graphic design. A diatribe (by some) about a font seen as style-killingly ubiquitous. A visit to favorite graphic designs of years past. A reflection about what our fonts say about us. If you are a graphic designer, you'll love it. If you live with a graphic designer, you'll shake your head and say, "Yup" in recognition. If you don't pay any attention to graphic design, you may think about it just a tiny bit more after seeing this movie. And you will definitely come out of it with SOME opinion about the Helvetica font.