Tribeca Film Festival Review: ‘The Happy Film’ is surprisingly introspective

the happy film

What makes you happy? Scratch that, it doesn’t matter, it’s not something you attain, its something in the moment.

The Happy Film is a feature-length documentary in which graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister undergoes a series of self-experiments outlined by popular psychology to test once and for all if it’s possible for a person to have a meaningful impact on their own happiness.

The star of the film is the design, as it’s inventive and creative, and delightful. In essence, that’s what makes the designer happy, and he doesn’t even realize it.

What I enjoyed about this film was that even though something happened over and over again, it wasn’t predictable. I completely empathized with Sagmeister and he had an incredible journey making this film. The film is very meta, and it’s as much about making it, as it is about his happiness.

The Happy Film (festival trailer) from {group theory} on Vimeo.