Helvetica
(2007/Documentary/Graphics)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B
Though we
are in the digital age, fonts are as important as ever and you can never have
enough to choose from. Since its
introduction in 1957, created by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, the font
known as Helvetica has shown a
profound acceptance and became the most important graphic of the later half of
the 20th Century. Alive and
well on its 50th Anniversary, Producer Gary Hustwit (see I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Moog and Drive Well, Sleep Carefully elsewhere on this site) makes his
directorial debut with a new documentary about its rise and phenomenal success.
The look
of the text has become international, timeless (not worthless) and as early as
the 1960s, Stanley Kubrick realized its distinction enough to include it in
promotion for his films and his actual films before any other filmmaker, an
aspect of its success and exposure this work actually misses. However, Kubrick was not the only one so
impressed and it also became the font of modernism, part of malls, art
galleries, corporate logos, government campaigns and so many other aspects of
print that only by seeing this amazing documentary can you realize it is The
Beatles of fonts.
But
why? How did this become so
successful? It is the clean lines? The somewhat natural/organic look? The form so smooth that it does not draw
attention to itself that it is a graphic?
That it has the same mood no matter what language it is
representing? No matter, Hustwit tries
to answer these questions to some extent and we see graphic artists and
creators trying to rebel against its success with only so much success. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” they say,
but after watching all 80 minutes (and this could have gone on much longer as
far as I was concerned) of this impressive piece with all of its research,
Helvetica is here to stay for a long time to come. As that becomes more obvious, this will be
seen as the valuable document it is.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is softer than expected throughout
despite this being a recent shoot, but the graphics come across more than clear
enough. Maybe an HD format will show how
good this was shot by Director of Photography Luke Geissbuhler, but the picture
is just too soft throughout. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo is just fine for a simple documentary, especially one on
visual graphics, so no complaints there.
Kristian Dunn’s score is not bad either.
The only extra is a large set of extras interview segments all worth
your time featuring the many subjects we meet throughout the program.
This is
one of the must-see documentaries of the year and because it is not about
politics, genocide or something very dramatic and immediate, you might miss
it. Don’t let that happen.
- Nicholas Sheffo
