Two documentaries that we’d been wanting to see for some time! The first one was triggered by a visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which was celebrating the 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous 1969 Bed-in for Peace, held in Suite 1742 of Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. We decided to watch The US vs. John Lennon a few days after seeing the MMFA show. It was a good, straightforward documentary, following Lennon’s peace activism (including the bed-ins) and his battle with the USA who wanted to deport him. There were a few overused effects that highlighted attempts to add interesting visuals to the talking heads, which were overall a bit annoying. But such a great subject!
On the other hand, Helvetica is a documentary about a font. Yup! But it’s also, of course, about the impact of visual design on our everyday lives, which I found fascinating. It’s maybe a bit overlong but the montages showing the ubiquitus font in logos and signs are really well-done. Yes, it’s a beautiful font, but there were times when I thought, it would be terrible if EVERYTHING was in Helvetica. One designer in particular was denigrating “terrible 1950s design” which I love… however, other designers provided counterpoint by saying that yes, it would be very boring if there was nothing but clean design and Helvetica. Both documentaries highly recommended!
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