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helvetica_l
PUT ON A HAPPY FACE Helvetica's celebration of a graphic-design touchstone plays against type
Presented by Moviefone

Credits

Limited Release: Sep 12, 2007; Rated: Unrated; Length: 80 Minutes; Genre: Documentary
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By Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum is a film critic for EW

As Gary Hustwit's perceptive documentary makes wittily clear, there's nothing neutral about the unadorned, ubiquitous Helvetica typeface, brought forth upon the literate earth 50 years ago in a burst of modernist Swiss graphic design and now as common as the look of an IRS tax form. Some of the charming design mavens interviewed love the egalitarian simplicity of the letterforms; other type-y types hate the oppressive blandness. Even viewers who've never given a serif a second thought, though, are in for an exclamation point of joy from such a well-designed doc.


Posted Sep 19, 2007
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