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Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

Play trailer Poster for Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) Released Jun 7, 2023 1h 41m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
92% Tomatometer 49 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Celebrated photographer, creative director and filmmaker Anton Corbijn's first feature documentary SQUARING THE CIRCLE (THE STORY OF HIPGNOSIS) tells the story of 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. They formed Hipgnosis in Cambridge during the ferment of the sixties and became rock royalty during the boom time of the seventies. They conjured into existence sights that no one had previously thought possible, produced visuals which popularized music that had previously been considered fringe, and were at the white-hot center of the maddest, funniest and most creative era in the history of popular music. During this period, record companies didn't dictate to acts like Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney what their LP covers should look like -- Storm and Po did. They made money; they lost money. They did great things; they did silly things. They fell out bitterly; they made up. They never played a note, but they changed music.

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Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

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Critics Consensus

If it's nowhere near as distinctive as the groundbreaking work of the studio that inspired it, Squaring the Circle remains an informative primer on The Story of Hipgnosis.

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Critics Reviews

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Wendy Ide Observer (UK) A fascinating and suitably maverick snapshot of a richly creative moment in music history, told through a couple of disreputable hippies who designed some of the most iconic album covers of all time. Rated: 4/5 Jul 16, 2023 Full Review Leslie Felperin Financial Times Corbijn, originally a band photographer himself, gets high-quality anecdotes out of the interviewees and there are enough scandals and spilled beans to distract from the fact that this is a pretty conventional talking-heads-and-archive-footage affair... Rated: 3/5 Jul 14, 2023 Full Review Peter Bradshaw Guardian Hipgnosis played a huge part in persuading us that albums were what an educated consumer prefers, and not silly jangly singles. Rated: 4/5 Jul 12, 2023 Full Review Calum Baker Radio Times Overall, the film certainly succeeds as a portrait of two under-sung but significant late twentieth century artists. Rated: 3/5 Jan 25, 2024 Full Review Annette Basile FILMINK (Australia) Absorbing and occasionally poignant, Squaring the Circle has much to offer a general audience, but rock palaeontologists will be especially enamoured. Rated: 18.5/20 Oct 24, 2023 Full Review Ard Vijn ScreenAnarchy It should not be a surprise that as a subject for his first documentary film, the Dutch director chose a legendary design studio known for iconic sleeve art. What may be surprising is how enjoyable and generally light-hearted the end result is. Rated: 4/5 Sep 26, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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JasoV Great Music, Interesting Stories. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/21/23 Full Review Rodney M if you love 70's classic rock, this is a must see. a beautiful slice of 70's culture, represented by the people that lived through it and survived to tell the story. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/21/23 Full Review Cassy B What a gift of art and music history! I grew up on this music and looking at these covers not knowing what was behind them. Great telling of the creative genius and interpersonal relationships that delivered art in the most unique way! There were funny, sad and poignant stories aplenty! So glad to enjoy the theater showing. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/21/23 Full Review Mister Peaches The film was a quite good dive into the formation, work, and demise of Hipgnosis and featured great interviews with many surviving members of the bands they worked with, and a few personalities they didn't. I would've gone higher, except I got the feeling they didn't quite know how to end it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/21/23 Full Review Kim Great documentary film!! Any child of the 70s, anyone interested in design or photography with regard to iconic album covers will love this story. Well done, interesting, exciting! A MUST SEE! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/29/23 Full Review Miles O Probably the best documentary I've watched, really interesting stuff if you're into music Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/22/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

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Cast & Crew

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Anton Corbijn

Director

Roger Waters

Self

David Gilmour

Self

Nick Mason

Self

Jimmy Page

Self

Robert Plant

Self

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Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis (2022) Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis (2022) Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis (2022) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Celebrated photographer, creative director and filmmaker Anton Corbijn's first feature documentary SQUARING THE CIRCLE (THE STORY OF HIPGNOSIS) tells the story of 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. They formed Hipgnosis in Cambridge during the ferment of the sixties and became rock royalty during the boom time of the seventies. They conjured into existence sights that no one had previously thought possible, produced visuals which popularized music that had previously been considered fringe, and were at the white-hot center of the maddest, funniest and most creative era in the history of popular music. During this period, record companies didn't dictate to acts like Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney what their LP covers should look like -- Storm and Po did. They made money; they lost money. They did great things; they did silly things. They fell out bitterly; they made up. They never played a note, but they changed music.
Director
Anton Corbijn
Producer
Trish D Chetty, Ged Doherty, Colin Firth
Screenwriter
Trish D Chetty
Distributor
Utopia
Production Co
Raindog Films
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
British English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 7, 2023, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA)
$111.4K
Runtime
1h 41m
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