Squaring the Circle

I wasn't sure I could watch 101 minutes of this but it went by quickly. I could've watched another couple hours with these stories, although not likely in one sitting.

I laughed multiple times at the anecdotes about Storm's personality. It was great to see them told by people, musicians and friends, with firsthand knowledge and not just by fans. It was very well done.

I appreciate the work of Hipgnosis, and have been familiar with them for many years, although I prefer the work done by Peter Saville more.

Storm did design the cover for one of my all time favorite albums though, the Catherine Wheel's Chrome, from 1993.

The stories in this documentary have been told before, but never quite like this. Every shot in this documentary is designed and perfectly matches the period and persons it depicts. We follow the rise and fall of design studio hypgnosis, where the story is being told by the two main designers and their in those days larger than live clients. It is very interesting to hear the memories of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Paul mc Cartney and others about the period where their fame and ambition was limitless and to see how everything that was once new and happening becomes old and history. Music and photography could not have been done better and is a testament to the brilliance of Anton Korbijn.

A huge part of my childhood and most people from my generation, growing up in the 60's & 70's, was staring at album covers, reading every word of the liner notes just visually ingesting art, for art's sake. This documentary gives us a glorious, backstage, pass to the inner workings of some of the biggest bands of the era. Hearing Noel Gallagher detail about how his daughter didn't understand that album artwork was a thing was absolutely heartbreaking. We would literally just stare at the album cover while listening to the album much like we sat at the breakfast table and stared at the cereal box and read every word on the front and back and sides when we were eating cereal in the mornings. It just brought back so many great memories and the thrill of physically holding an album the smell of the album cover You felt going through the motions of opening the sleeve, putting the album on the turntable and then sitting back and waiting to hear something you've never heard. It really was a beautiful time to be a music and art lover. This gargantuan outlet for artists is now, as Noel said, just a tiny square, on iTunes.

This documentary might seem a bit of a deep cut from the outside. The story of a design studio focused on record sleeves. Is it not all a bit boffiny. Well yes a little, but Hipgnosis do have quite a pedigree and with Anton Corbijn at the helm here, what transpires is a celebration of experimentation and creative expression. We all know the artwork. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, T-Rex, Wings... er, 10CC but who was behind it all? Storm Thorgerson has a profile doesn't he. That's the (excellent) name you think of, certainly if you've been through art school. Po Powell though might be a bit more obscure. The other cofounder, he leads us through the 60s psychedelic boom, those early fumblings as they figured things out, LSD indulgence, riding their luck and falling on their feet, all whilst playing with visuals not seen anywhere else in pop culture. There's lots of voices here though, Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters (not together of course), Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher who sums things up beautifully saying "They represent the golden age of the music business, where people believed that music was art and it could change the world. Whereas now music is a commodity". There's as much about the environment and culture they worked in as how they actually created some of these works, but there's enough to keep every viewer happy. Whether it's terrifying stories of Zep's fearsome manager Peter Grant or Peter Saville hinting his inspiration for Joy Division's Unknown Pleaures. It's a fascinating story, made up of hundreds of little stories that paint a picture of a dizzying group of artists all feeding off one another, both good and bad. Egos, excess, flying pigs.

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)" is a documentary about Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey "Po" Powell, the creative geniuses behind the iconic album art design studio, Hipgnosis, responsible for some of the most recognizable album covers of all time. This is director Anton Corbijn's first documentary feature and for the most part, it was pretty entertaining and well-informed.

Prior to seeing this I had knew about Storm Thorgerson's work and his impact with album covers and I was a big fan of Pink Floyd growing up and this documentary was pretty interesting to learn about the personal stories behind the iconic album covers, the life of Thorgerson's work, and listening to many well-known musicals explain their sides of the story and the personal impacts.

The visual presentations was pretty good, the interviews from each participants all felt purposeful and informative, and the overall experience of this documentary was a joy to watch. Some complaints I have were that since the soundtrack relies mostly on songs from Pink Floyd, some of the songs were used inappropriately where the tone and soundtrack didn't mention the scenario. Including there were some segments that could have been edited out as they felt like filler.

But the overall experience was pretty fun. Fans of Pink Floyd or well known 60s, 70s, or 80s music fans will have a good time watching this film.

Rating: B.