The Emoji Story

For an informative, entertaining glimpse at the story of emojis, look no further than, well, The Emoji Story.

The compelling, thorough documentary from directors Ian Cheney and Martha Shane delves into the history of those little pictograms on your phone, and incorporates additional modern flair by following a handful of applicants from around the world as they prepare to convince Silicon Valley’s Unicode Consortium to add their nominees to the global offerings.

While the selected subjects each make laudable arguments for their creations, the finalized iconography ranges from brilliantly straightforward to ill-conceived and confounding — though the people themselves are consistently pleasant and worthy of viewer support.

Between chronicling these missions and interviewing other figures who’ve played and continue to play key roles in the development of emojis, the filmmakers further enliven the proceedings with sharp, colorful graphics within a screen-like setting to explore the various ways in which emojis are used, as well as proposed additions to the lexicon that didn’t make the cut.

In the process, Cheney and Shane fortify a seemingly frivolous concept with such profundity as considering whether emojis have the power to enhance language or destroy it, and find scholars who present well-argued cases for each side.

It’s all bound to make you think twice before sending your next text — and wonder what imagery is missing that could make that message even more impactful.

Grade: B. Not rated, but with adult language and themes. Available to rent via grailmoviehouse.com

(Photo: Lucy Martens)