The Happy Film (2016) User Reviews

A very thoughtful and human film.

[anthonyfuria · 10/10 · 12 January 2017]

The Happy Film begins with an introductory disclaimer: "This film will not make you happy". I can attest to the fact that in my experience, this introductory disclaimer was indeed wrong.

I found The Happy Film to be an entertaining and beautifully executed film with just the right amount of joy, humor, reflection, and despair. The exploration of a subject as revealing as one's own happiness is sure to be deeply personal at times, and Stefan Sagmeister's refreshingly candid journey from what makes us happy, to ultimately what holds us back from ever achieving it, doesn't shy away from uncomfortable introspection. The Happy Film succeeds as a very thoughtful and human film.

Just because..

[n_a_d_i · 10/10 · 6 April 2017]

I saw the exhibition in MAK museum by accident, without knowing who Stefan is, what is he doing or what's about, but it confused me nicely and it stayed in me long after I exited the museum. It touched me.. After a year or so, now I've seen the movie. And.. I still have butterflies in my stomach.. :) It's easy and hard and minimal and not.. And the soundtrack is amazing.. I can't get it out of my head.. A must watch..

A beautiful film

[ozbeknaz · 10/10 · 12 January 2017]

This was the most authentic, human, openly honest, and beautiful thing I've seen in a long while. So naked, so personal, yet so pertinent that it hurt, but in the best way possible. It made me feel, made me think, made me cry, made me laugh. It made me feel alive. It made me feel connected. It was like seeing the sun rise early in the morning, when the rest of the world seems to be asleep. Like witnessing something so rare, it has to be sacred. It's an incredibly human, humane, and fearless deconstruction of Sagmeister's life in front of the rest of the world, and a reminder of how beautiful, despite everything, life is to begin with. Please find a way to see it if you haven't done so already.

This film made me happier

[vladshumakovich · 10/10 · 19 January 2021]

I truly enjoyed watching this incredibly egotistical man completely fail to understand his ego. I found it hilarious that he was a hopeless romantic whose relationships kept failing. I do wonder if he would have been more successful had he stuck to a single method of attaining happiness for a longer period of time. The diversity of methods in quick succession that he chose ensured that he would not attain happiness nor peace in the long run. This is a man who, like many other creatives, is unhappy when he is not doing something new whether at work or in his personal life. And therein lies the paradox- by constantly chasing new experience he was ensuring that he will never attain the deeper happiness that he sought. Seeking a new high ensured to keep him low, however he never became low enough for his emotion to be grounded in reality outside of his endless stream of thought. I was waiting for him to say some key things that would make me believe that his experiences were truly changing him, but those words never came, not after meditating, not after the death of a close friend, not after reflection upon his long term relationship and not after falling in what he considered to be true love. All of that was to my amusement so he did succeed in the end; he made a movie that made me happy if not himself and I am grateful him for that. It is of none of my concern but I fear neither having kids nor being on the verge of death will make this man leave his ego behind, but that is the consequence of being successful in western society. Thanks for the movie, silly man.

A warm feeling of happiness

[nathaliekoutia · 9/10 · 1 April 2017]

The best way to know someone's opinion about a movie is by capturing their reactions all along the movie. It's true that The Happy Film's purpose is not to "make you happy" but it truly does give you a warm feeling of safeness and happiness. It touches a big part of us and leaves us with so many challenges to deal with.

There were tears, laughs and sadness. Learning from someone like Stefan, whom I truly admire, opened up our soul and mind through this movie.

You may get lost in between because you're caught up by the honest moments that have been shared or caught up by your own thoughts thinking about your conflicts now. But that's the beauty of the exercise.

Congratulations on this masterpiece, I would watch it again and again and still learn something new every single time.

Wasn't a great film. Wasn't a good film. It was bad.

[williamandrewsthefirst · 1/10 · 19 October 2017]

I thought this was a self-involved navel-gazing atrocity. I'm not even trying to be mean, just realistic. You cannot make a film about the self like this. Considering they're a design firm, their transitions are nice, however, this doesn't warrant making a movie. Graphic design doesn't translate to cinema. He just seems like a serial womanizer with unrealistic expectations. This could have been reduced to a good short on YouTube. He's pretty affluent and has nothing at all to be sad about. Champagne problems. The only place I can really see this being seriously screened is in a dentist's waiting room.

a great film. thank you

[rpolsterer · 10/10 · 15 January 2017]

To Mr. Sagmeister and all humans around you, who created that wonderful "artistic Life-Journey" of the search……….how can Mr. Sagmeister find his happiness in his self.   When you are allowed to look at your film……as I was, there I could find so much Happiness you sprayed all over us! Just to be able to create such pictures, you all did. Including main life subjects, pregnancy time & birth of this film, all your great faces and body expressions, your wishes and I could fall with all my senses into your wonderful animations. To give such a present to others, I wish it makes you all HAPPY deeply in Your hearts!   So this "Happy film" must be in all of you, otherwise this could not happen.   I watched the movie with friends at the Film Casino Wien, and everybody was deeply impressed.   Color of life, honesty in human being, the way how you worked the elements, earth, water, air wood and metal was represented by your mind……..hard to bang into Happiness;-)

A painfully beautiful film

[alisonbweber · 10/10 · 11 May 2017]

The Happy Film is painfully beautiful. Design legend Stefan Sagmeister has a distinct history of offering himself up for public consumption, and his first documentary is exceptional on the merits of artistic stimulation and voyeuristic thrill alone.

But the most extraordinary part of the story lies in watching him struggle with whether happiness can be constructed, and if he can find the heart of something in its dissected parts.

Sagmeister fans will appreciate how truly naked and starkly present he is, and those who struggle with emotions, chemicals, love, or life will see pieces of themselves everywhere in this film.

I loved it. It truly must be seen.

This Film Will Not Make You Happier But You'll Think About It

[melasbasic · 10/10 · 26 May 2017]

I saw The Happy Film screening in New York this week and really enjoyed the film. It didn't make me happier but it's nice to know that nobody really has this stuff figured out.

It is an in depth narrative into an incredibly talented graphic designer's life, which is dark at times and interesting all at once. There is an honesty and vulnerability that keeps you connected while you weave through beautiful designs that spell out Stefan's life lessons.

The overall thread in the story is his happiness experiments where he looks to try to find his own happiness. The tests are so strange that you can't help but wonder what is going to happen.

The narrative which started as a 'graphic design experiment' is very personal with a great balance of sad and hilarious moments as you get the know this funny tall man very well in this movie.

I still can't get it out of my head as it left me with a lot of questions regarding my own happiness and where that comes from. So if you're looking for some laughs, inspiration, some intrigue and some personal reflection - I highly recommend.

Big fun

[post-66807 · 10/10 · 18 March 2017]

We really liked this happy film: Entertaining, thoughtful, inspiring. It has everything a good film needs: Big questions (about the meaning of life, about the meaning of death, about the meaning of sex and drugs and music), a compassionate hero an his quest story with surprising, funny and beautiful moments. Thank you!

Having Guts Always Works Out

[conniewooddesign · 10/10 · 14 May 2017]

Having guts always works out for Stefan Sagmeister. The Happy Film is engaging, introspective, voyeuristic, truthful, humorous and poetically creative. It is bookmarked for the art history books of the future. A must see for fans of Sagmeister/Walsh and anyone seeking 93 minutes of happiness. Love this film.

Well Done.

[nomenow · 1/10 · 1 February 2018]

Hello,

This movie was so well done, with such beauty and cleverness. A true outlook on a topic. Well worth the time and or money to see. I highly recommend.

Deeply Touched

[idana-94143 · 10/10 · 2 February 2017]

Just a half an hour ago I finished watching the film and I feel deeply touched. I am myself a graphic designer and I believe people like Stefan are keeping our profession considered as art. Existential questions and thoughts about happiness are a big part of my life for the past few years. They are leading me in many dilemmas through my life even though I don't have answers for them. I enjoyed the graphics of this movie so much it made me envy them. It's not common to share such intimacy with an audience in a documentary but in the film it felt natural and normal. I got so touched by this movie I felt like I'm taking part of it. Thank you.

Path to happiness, richer in questions

[niki-11830 · 10/10 · 6 February 2017]

The question about happiness is something crucial to mankind and yet profane to answer. I would not want to have a general answer, but after watching the happy film, I felt enriched with new questions to find my own answer to this question.

I have been at Stefans Happy Show in Vienna, several times, at it was so clear to me. It gave me clear and convertable inspiration on my own path to happiness. I did not leave the show with a question and I was purely happy, already.

With the film, I learned that no one can give me a path to my own happiness, although everything from the show still made a lot of sense, the film added the important questions to stay on the track towards happiness, because happiness is never a status to achieve longer than temporarily but always a status worth chasing long term.

Thank you, Stefan, for producing this. I feel empathetic about how many sets of emotions you must have gone through when re-living every scene of your life a hundred times.

An unexpected treat

[wallacebirdrules · 9/10 · 14 February 2017]

I saw the film @ the Victoria Film Festival and loved it. It is definitely quirky, but also educational and inspiring. Graphic artist Stefan Stagmeister undertakes a piece of first-person research to find out what makes him, and perhaps by extension us, happy. He consults experts and leads us through each step in the process looking into three possible routes to happiness, only to discover yet another. As interesting as that is, his exceptionally creative graphic eye provides truly amazing action illustrations to make his points. I hope it gets a wide distribution! (I also loved the musical score by the Canadian band Siskiyou.)

Great film

[lisaleksey · 9/10 · 11 March 2017]

Was following the making since the Happy Show Start. Got a chance to see at a local festival. Documenting Sagmeister's (systematic) experiment aimed at evaluating different ways of achieving happiness, mixed with real-life experiences. Honest, entertaining and inspirational.

Excellent

[khmilz · 10/10 · 15 January 2017]

Hello Stefan, I have seen a few days ago in the Metro-cinema in Bregenz together with my wife "The Happy Film". My wife and my two grown sons also saw the exhibition (I unfortunately not :-( .. so I wanted to see the film absolutely.

This was just terrific, brave (!), emotional, often to laugh, touching, very personal - just real! And this cornucopia of creativity just struck me from the chair.

I run a printing shop and I am constantly engaged in communication, typography and creative ideas - so I liked the implementation.

But, of course, you have dealt very well with the theme of the topics - it's all about "happiness".

My wife and I always talk about the film and have recommended this to our two guys and our friends - simply because this is so worth seeing.

Kind regards from the "Ländle" - keep it up! Karl Heinz

Waste of time

[thdoctortardis · 2/10 · 15 April 2020]

This movie was a waste of my time. It had nothing to do with graphic design besides a few pretty transition scenes. It was just a non coherent loose story line of the director trying to make himself happier by doing drugs and dating women. The bulk of the movie is just video clips of his therapy sessions and there is no real takeaway from the film. It seems like a diary he made for personal use.

Excellent Creative Film

[lornapate · 10/10 · 7 February 2017]

This is by far the most creative film I have seen at a film festival. Pay attention to the amazing attention to detail!This is a great documentary based on real life experiences. It gets you to think deeply about your own life, and the emotions that we experience on a daily basis.It has a great story line that has you eager to learn the outcome. It is a brilliant film filled with emotion,humour,and beautiful scenery! The film flows through Stefan's story seamlessly.I am so pleased that I saw this film. It is a life changer!I want to see it again to rediscover the creativity that bursts through continually throughout the film.The title is simple but says exactly what the film is about.

Everything I do always comes back to me.

[thelindalam · 10/10 · 14 May 2017]

Stefan Sagmeister didn't disappoint with this visually pleasing documentary that has been highly anticipated since I heard of the announcement on Kickstarter in 2011.

Being a big Sagmeister fan myself, I've come to know that his ideas are often so brilliant and out of the ordinary and with the film it was consistent and evoked so many emotions. He's so candid with life -- with the raw unfiltered thoughts throughout his journey and experiment, to the hilarious behind the scene snippets behind his life mantras.

I never thought I could relate to his story, but I ended up finding a bit of comfort and understanding through his personal experiences, especially when he touched upon love and relationships over the years. I'm definitely eager to see this film again.

Contextually Content

[vuthipratuma · 10/10 · 20 May 2017]

This film is an absolute gem, and everyone wanting to live life through another's eyes (when they are actually their own) must experience this pleasure. The film clenched me to the edge of my seat, and I long to continue the ride Sagmeister, Nabors, and all set up at the carnival! A crafty and consciously human serving. I only hope my German architect is surviving his NYC internship...

I absolutely loved the film and recommend it to people who want to discover more their personal creativity.

[danialeman · 10/10 · 10 March 2017]

I am a admirer of Sagmeister and saw The Happy Film yesterday evening. I felt really captivated and identified by it.

My final project for my university is about leaving behind my obsession for control and start this specific project avoiding it. I am having a lot of spots, imperfections and abstract forms. Then I created a textile collection with all this processes.

>Somehow our projects are so different, but so similar at the same time. It really encouraged me to see that I am not the only freak out there experimenting with myself and getting out of my comfort zone due to my own idea. Totally hard and discomforting.... and then you get so much from it.

I absolutely loved the film and recommend it to people who want to discover more their personal creativity.

The Art of Excellence, Honesty and Creativity

[lotharlehner · 10/10 · 4 October 2017]

Well - after I discovered this film on Austrian TV, I had to re-watch it with several friends at least 3 times - and then order the DVDs.... because it will never ever bore me.

The artistic mix of sensitivity, a classy humor, the amazing stylish clips, that are involved in the whole story, and the touching story, wrapped in the intelligence and honesty of the movies creators...

Some of you might have problems to get into the special way, the very personal narrative style of Mister Sagmeister... but for most of you it will work. Take a seat, relax and open your eyes, and this film might open your heart in a way that you did not experience before.

Happiness and empathy for all of us! We need more of that everywhere!

****

But this is the human nature isn't it?

[eerikm · 10/10 · 4 October 2017]

Just wanted to write about the last comment of Haidt - that you should have done a movie about your weaknesses. I consider him a great social psychologist, but I doubt if he was connecting with your situation 100% objectively, as he also kind of had his book to "defend". What I saw in the film was nothing weak - everyone else is like that too. I'm a sexologist, a social psychologist and a counselor and falling in love and how it is a lot influenced by looks and youth is a well researched subject. It seems people get attracted to, and fall in love with, the people they find to be the most attractive that they believe they have a chance to form a couple with. They then superimpose a ton of rationale afterwards to come up with less superficial answers to the question "why this particular person?". Mutual attraction then actually does create positive interaction experiences in the couple that is in love, and we usually can not honestly see that looks and attraction generally is the main root of the phenomena called "falling in love". Anyway, you were just more open and honest about something that is completely normal. It is a great gift for people, because if they want to have a happy life, alone or with someone else, they need to honestly see how their sexuality works and accept it as it is - with all its superficiality. My honest opinion is that you're not weak - we're all like this, weather we want to admit it or not.

Sweet treat

[sarahstree · 10/10 · 27 June 2017]

5 years ago I caught a glimpse of the happy film at the DSee event in D.C. Thanks to social media, and Stefan capturing my attention, I was able to watch it this past weekend. There were many times over the years I wished it was ready to view. I am so thankful it took on a journey and life of its own. It was the perfect day to watch it. It is captivating, hilarious and sweet!