It's Such a Beautiful DayArt can be described as a means of expressing a concept or idea, often in a way to afford the audience a new perspective on the world and life itself. Art can also be abstract and representative of reality in a way which provokes thought in an indirect way. Some of history's earliest recorded forms of art have been in the way of crude, but identifiable, depictions of people engaged in the activities of their lives, an account and chronicle of the world as seen by the primitive artist, even if only on the walls of caves. It's Such a Beautiful Day carries on this artistic tradition by telling the story of Bill and his strange, wonderful life.
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It's Such a Beautiful Day is actually a composition of three animated shorts--Everything Will Be OK, I Am So Proud of You, and It's Such a Beautiful Day--all cut together into a cohesive feature film. The film is an effort crafted by animation auteur, Don Hertzfeldt--who also narrates--and the three short films were released between 2006 and 2012, although the inception of Bill and his life's story goes back farther toward the turn of the millennium. Before talking more about It's Such a Beautiful Day, I want to discuss the rare significance of Hertzfeldt's contribution to the medium of animation. Watching this film--as many others in the animator's body of work--one might be led into a sense of minimal effort on the part of the creator's prolific use of stick figures. However, Hertzfeldt represents a rarity in animation these days; that is, he animates the content by hand, without the aid of computer animation assistance, keeping this art alive in an era where computerization makes it increasingly uncommon. Hertzfeldt rose to underground acclaim with his short film, Rejected, heralding his signature style, with a bizarre, absurd sense of humor, still tinged with dark, insightful existentialism. Rejected also hints at his disdain for consumer culture, an irony no doubt appreciated by the filmmaker in light of imitators of his work, featured in advertisements like those for toaster pastries. His work which has come before serves as a primer for It's Such a Beautiful Day, offering insight into the artist's style and the scope of the piece.
To describe It's Such a Beautiful Day solely by plot would lose much of the impact of the film. That said, it is the story of a man named Bill, who we discover suffers from an undisclosed condition which causes him hallucinations and memory damage. This condition is first inferred, then outright addressed, in Everything Will Be OK, as he begins his descent into a psychological breakdown. His life seems ordinary enough at first, and even his interactions with other people, but little by little, via the narration and Bill's increasingly strange actions, we uncover that he cannot be experiencing the world as a "normal" person would. Between a man on bus with a bull's head, his strange dreams about a fish growing out of his own head, and other unsettling events, Bill's life quickly becomes unrecognizable as reality. After stabilizing, Bill recalls his strange and revealing family history in I Am So Proud of You, especially his memories of his mother, and other moments which suggest that this condition of Bill's may be hereditary. And even these perceptions and observations are subverted in It's Such a Beautiful Day, when revelations about Bill's condition and the finality of it leads Bill on a journey of soul-searching, detaching itself from reality, set adrift in the stars above.
Superficially, it is a tragedy about mental and physiological illness; but It's Such a Beautiful Day is really a life-affirming tale, which invariably prompts viewers to assess their own place in the cosmos and the significance of their lives. Powerful classical music selections by the likes of Chopin and Wagner give gravitas to the film, and instill the sense that as Bill's life is extraordinary, so too are ours. The narrator comments that Bill considers the small, tedious moments of his life to actually be his life proper, with the strange, exciting moments the exception. Moments of brushing teeth or dropping keys on a counter are instantly identifiable and familiar moments in our own lives--and we empathize with Bill, making the tragic experience of his condition which follows so shattering and important. Rarely are scenes shown in the fullness of the screen, but through spotlights of action, like tiny peepholes we peek through to watch Bill's story unfold, a framing convention also used to distinguish space and create a sense of distance and separation at times for Bill from the enormity of the world. It's Such a Beautiful Day highlights the inherent paradox which Bill (and many others) face, a sense of alienation while simultaneously being surrounded by many people, as well as the inability to relate to others, as is the case with Bill and his ex-girlfriend. And as the events in the final third of the film come to a head, the "stick figure" perspective is given greater context as Bill's perspective of the world alters to reveal more than he--and us--had seen before, creating a powerful special effect in a simple, yet elegant, way. Artwork will always be fundamentally a subjective experience, one influenced by individual perspective; this idea is key in an animated work of art like It's Such a Beautiful Day. And yet it is a journey of the soul, of great universal importance, an odyssey designed to provoke introspection into one's own history of the self.
Recommended for: Fans of a bold and imaginative work of art by a unique animation artist. It is delightfully challenging and produced with loving care by traditional animation methods, remaining fresh and wholly original all the same. It is funny, sad, heart-warming, intense, and joyful all at once.
To describe It's Such a Beautiful Day solely by plot would lose much of the impact of the film. That said, it is the story of a man named Bill, who we discover suffers from an undisclosed condition which causes him hallucinations and memory damage. This condition is first inferred, then outright addressed, in Everything Will Be OK, as he begins his descent into a psychological breakdown. His life seems ordinary enough at first, and even his interactions with other people, but little by little, via the narration and Bill's increasingly strange actions, we uncover that he cannot be experiencing the world as a "normal" person would. Between a man on bus with a bull's head, his strange dreams about a fish growing out of his own head, and other unsettling events, Bill's life quickly becomes unrecognizable as reality. After stabilizing, Bill recalls his strange and revealing family history in I Am So Proud of You, especially his memories of his mother, and other moments which suggest that this condition of Bill's may be hereditary. And even these perceptions and observations are subverted in It's Such a Beautiful Day, when revelations about Bill's condition and the finality of it leads Bill on a journey of soul-searching, detaching itself from reality, set adrift in the stars above.
Superficially, it is a tragedy about mental and physiological illness; but It's Such a Beautiful Day is really a life-affirming tale, which invariably prompts viewers to assess their own place in the cosmos and the significance of their lives. Powerful classical music selections by the likes of Chopin and Wagner give gravitas to the film, and instill the sense that as Bill's life is extraordinary, so too are ours. The narrator comments that Bill considers the small, tedious moments of his life to actually be his life proper, with the strange, exciting moments the exception. Moments of brushing teeth or dropping keys on a counter are instantly identifiable and familiar moments in our own lives--and we empathize with Bill, making the tragic experience of his condition which follows so shattering and important. Rarely are scenes shown in the fullness of the screen, but through spotlights of action, like tiny peepholes we peek through to watch Bill's story unfold, a framing convention also used to distinguish space and create a sense of distance and separation at times for Bill from the enormity of the world. It's Such a Beautiful Day highlights the inherent paradox which Bill (and many others) face, a sense of alienation while simultaneously being surrounded by many people, as well as the inability to relate to others, as is the case with Bill and his ex-girlfriend. And as the events in the final third of the film come to a head, the "stick figure" perspective is given greater context as Bill's perspective of the world alters to reveal more than he--and us--had seen before, creating a powerful special effect in a simple, yet elegant, way. Artwork will always be fundamentally a subjective experience, one influenced by individual perspective; this idea is key in an animated work of art like It's Such a Beautiful Day. And yet it is a journey of the soul, of great universal importance, an odyssey designed to provoke introspection into one's own history of the self.
Recommended for: Fans of a bold and imaginative work of art by a unique animation artist. It is delightfully challenging and produced with loving care by traditional animation methods, remaining fresh and wholly original all the same. It is funny, sad, heart-warming, intense, and joyful all at once.