Objectified (2009)

A feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Director:

Gary Hustwit

Stars:

Paola Antonelli, Chris Bangle, Andrew Blauvelt

Cast

Credited cast:
Paola Antonelli	...	Self - Design Curator, Museum of Modern Art (New York)
Chris Bangle	...	Self - Former Design Director, BMW Group (Munich)
Andrew Blauvelt	...	Self - Design Curator, Walker Art Center
Erwan Bouroullec	...	Self - Designer (Paris)
Ronan Bouroullec	...	Self - Designer (Paris)
Anthony Dunne	...	Self - Designer (London)
Agnete Enga	...	Self - Senior Industrial Designer, Smart Design
Dan Formosa	...	Self - Design & Research, Smart Design (New York)
Naoto Fukasawa	...	Self - Designer (Tokyo)
Jonathan Ive	...	Self - Senior VP Industrial Design, Apple (Cupertino)
Hella Jongerius	...	Self - Designer (Rotterdam)
Bill Moggridge	...	Self - co-founder IDEO
Marc Newson	...	Self - Designer (Paris)
Fiona Raby	...	Self - Designer (London)
Dieter Rams	...	Self - Former Design Director, Braun Kronberg (Germany)

Storyline

A feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

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Plot Keywords:

design | waste | trash | social documentary | production | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Quotes

Karim Rashid - Designer: If the shelf life of a high-tech object is less than eleven months, it should be all 100% disposable. You know, I think my laptop, in a way, should be made of cardboard or my mobile phone could be a piece of cardboard or it could be just made out of something like, I don't know, sugar cane or some bio-plastic, etc. Why on Earth does anything have to be built to be permanent?

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Connections

Follows Helvetica (2007)

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Soundtracks

I Like Van Halen Because My Sisters Says They Are Cool
By El Ten Eleven

User Reviews

Don't have an Ambien?

I'm into this kind of stuff, but, man, dull, dull, dull.

It starts off with some promise, but gets slower and slower and more and more boring as it goes along. The talking heads (some of whom are quite famous) get more and more full of themselves as the agony progresses, although, surprisingly, there aren't quite as many skinny jeans and narrow rectangular glass frames as expected (and where were all of the black tee shirts?). On the bright side, this film may be perfect for the hipster-in-training.

There were hardly any actual objects of interesting industrial design (really hardly any objects at all), a deficiency, I guess, that was supposed to be compensated by the rich and sumptuous feast of self-important blather.

I occasionally subscribe to "Dwell" and "Architectural Record", as much for the cool things, as for the entertainingly complex, pseudo-intellectual claptrap that "designers" and architects spout. Unfortunately, this program has few very few cool things, but an awful lot of very tedious designers (!!!) very tediously elucidating their very tedious design philosophies. (I'm pretty sure that after most of the interviews were finished the subjects lay back, cuddled with their laptops, and smoked a cigarette.)

In the end, it just became all too much (or is that, too little?), so I didn't quite make it to the bitter end--I had to do the dishes. On the other hand, if you're having trouble falling asleep...

Details

Official Sites:

Official site PBS

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Dutch Japanese

Release Date:

22 May 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

Objectified

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,185

Company Credits

Production Co:

Plexi Productions, Swiss Dots

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1