Screenings
- Stenen Hoofd - Amsterdam
It’s Such a Beautiful Day
- short
- 62 min
- English subtitles
Don Hertzfeldt is an animation giant. You wouldn’t immediately think so from looking at his simplistic figures, but he really is.
If the Meister hides in Beschränkung, as they say, then Hertzfeldt is most definitely a Meister. And then some! With extremely simple figures, Hertzfeldt (a completely independent animator) makes short animations that are funny, painful, bloody and also – especially now he combined three shorts into one long film – sad and existential. It’s Such a Beautiful Day is about life and death. Protagonist Bill isn’t doing too well; he may be in the early stages of dementia. Through the simplest eyes imaginable – two dots – we see the world grow smaller, memory faltering, perception hallucinating, the flashes and white noise of a short circuit, panic and misunderstanding. It is often funny, but not necessarily fun. And not always easy to watch either: the confusion preying on Bill affects the viewer as well. But the result is cathartic. Memento mori, people.
KEES Driessen
Translation Marjan Westbroek
