Bill is a pencil-drawn stick man. He has a circle for a head
and his eyes are merely two small black dots. He doesn't speak, and his only
distinguishing feature is the hat that is permanently perched on his head. Bill
is the star on Don Hertzfeldt's first feature film It's Such a Beautiful Day,
and although we spend little over an hour in his company, the brilliance of Hertzfeldt's craft ensures that Bill is one of the most fully
realised characters you'll see in a movie all year. You won't believe how much
emotion Hertzfeldt can elicit from that simple little black-and-white creation.
Of course, we've already seen Don Hertzfeldt work wonders
with stick men in his acclaimed short films. In Rejected, he created an
increasingly anarchic series of comic commercials before the whole film
deteriorated and collapsed in on itself, while The Meaning of Life incorporated
dazzling in-camera effects to take us on a journey through time and space. The
short films he has made show an artist gradually growing in confidence and
technique, and testing the boundaries of what his chosen medium can do, but
nothing can prepare you for the advances he has made in his latest work. It's
Such a Beautiful Day consists of three short films (Everything will be OK, I Am
So Proud of You and It's Such a Beautiful Day) that Hertzfeldt has edited into
single work, and the complexity and depth of the film, both in its storytelling
and emotional content, is simply staggering.
As Hertzfeldt's visual and thematic ambitions have moved forward, the one constant in his work has been the simplicity of his
protagonists. Bill remains a simple stick man, whose lack of defining characteristics
only serve to make him more relatable to the viewer. When placed against the
live-action footage and optical effects that Hertzfeldt layers into the film,
the subtle manipulations of Bill's few features imbue him with an extraordinary
depth and humanity. When he leans forward to look at the words "I love
you" written in the sand, the manner in which he moves and peers intently expresses
a whole range of feelings – curiosity, sadness, confusion, hope – and Hertzfeldt
creates such moments throughout the film, often simply through a minute
variance in the positioning of his eyes or hands. When Bill receives an
unwelcome diagnosis from his doctor, he removes his hat from his head and
disconsolately rubs his head with his hand. It's one of the most surprising
moments in the film, and it carries an incredible power.
It's Such a Beautiful Day begins by taking us through the
mundane episodes of Bill's nondescript life, all of which is narrated by
Hertzfeldt in a dispassionate, deadpan style. Some of these brief vignettes are
funny and surreal, such as Bill's reasons for pulling fruit from the back of the
supermarket shelves, or his vision of humans as little more than brains and
spinal cords wandering around independently, but gradually the tone darkens.
It's Such a Beautiful Day is a film about Bill's failing mind and body,
territory that Hertzfeldt charts fearlessly but with a tangible tenderness. The
film's non-chronological structure shuttles back and forth between Bill's
present-day experiences and his often-troubling memories of growing up in a
family embattled by mental illness. A Proustian instinctiveness drives
Hertzfeldt's exploration of Bill's world, with memories being sparked by
objects or emotions and then connections being drawn with other experiences,
but he never allows the audience to feel lost as we pinball around inside this
emotionally wrenching tale, even as the complexity of his visual and aural design
threatens to overwhelm.
It's hard to think of another recent film that has explores
themes of life and death with such a light but perceptive touch. The
construction of It's Such a Beautiful Day (along with some shared musical
choices) recalls Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, but in truth there is
nothing to compare it with because Hertzfeldt is a truly original voice. It's
Such a Beautiful Day a miniature epic; a film replete with sublime, heart-stopping moments that manages
to detail the whole of a man's life, laying bare his heart and soul, in just 61
minutes. Don Hertzfeldt has always been a singular talent, but this film shows
us a maturation and refinement of his artistry, and his deepening humanism. His
earlier short films were often cruel and nihilistic, but It's Such a Beautiful
Day has a lingering hopefulness, even in death. Bill may only be a few pencil
markings on a piece of paper, but Hertzfeldt has created a character who will live
forever.
It's Such a Beautiful Day is available to watch here.
