“Every object tells a story if you know how essay writing services to read it.”  That’s a quote from Henry Ford.  It’s also one way to sum up the movie I’m going to talk about today.  As its name not so subtly suggests, Objectified is a documentary about objects.  In its hour and fifteen minute runtime, the movie tackles quite a few subjects.  What is design?  Are all objects designed, even those seemingly commonplace things we use every day and take for granted?  Is there a relationship between form and function?  Is Apple not the coolest company on planet Earth?

Gary Hustwit, the man behind Helvetica, is the director and the producer.  He lets his movie tell us its story from the mouths of other people.  Through a series of interviews we see what goes into the design of handles, toothbrushes, dust bins and other assortments of odds and ends.  This may seem a bit boring, and perhaps some people may say the same about this film, but I believe that those of us who enjoy exploring unfamiliar ideas or appreciate the origins of things and their evolution would disagree.  Just to clarify, I’m one of those people who disagree.

The people featured in Objectified hail from industries all over and the topics they comment on, while strongly grounded in design, broaden as the movie progresses.  Focus moves from the nuts and bolts of the design process to a discussion on the acceptance of design as a way to differentiate products and add value (a concept that the film suggests has been proliferated in popular culture by companies like Target and IKEA).  With current political climes, it’s a bit unsurprising that environmental responsibility and how that might relate to design sneaks into the mix.

Overall, I enjoyed the film.  Though, it was not without its shortfalls.  For me, the biggest thing I can point to is that it seemed a bit odd the emphasis Apple received.  People will disagree and I’m not saying there was any lapse in objectivity here (I’m sorry.  I really wasn’t trying to be funny there).   At the same time, you don’t have to look very closely at the video montage early on in the film to see what I’m talking about.  The montage features products of all sorts, including a MacBook Pro.  Why do I know it’s the Pro and not just the plain old vanilla version, you ask?  Well, that’s because of all the products featured in the opening montage, the MacBook is the only one to have its very own snazzy little text animation on top of it with the words “MacBook Pro” in the middle of the screen.  Though I’m sure that was a clip provided by Apple (I hope), it coloured the way I looked at the rest of the movie.

When former Braun man, Dieter Rams, said Apple is one of the few companies who take design seriously I said “Really?”  When I saw Jonathan Ive, an Apple design big wig, get interviewed I said to myself, “Ah.

I see.”  The funny thing is I believe them.  I know that Apple has some of the most well designed products out there.

Rams’ statement and Ive’s interview alone would have probably not set off any alarm bells but I smelled something strange when that laptop first appeared in the movie that I couldn’t quite forget.

Bearing all this in mind, my take on this film is:

Did I like it? Yes

Will You like it? Maybe.  But if you’re not into documentaries or movies that go for the informative over the entertaining, then maybe not.

How would I rate it? 6.0

How can you watch it? Click on the fancy iTunes button below.

Note: I just want to make something clear.  Some people believe that movie ratings work like high school grades.  For me, it doesn’t work that way.  0 is awful, 5 is average and 10 is excellent.  So, anything above 5 is just a different level of good.