āSomeone sits on the shore and tells him how the waves have been there long before Bill existed, and that theyād still be there long after heās gone. Bill looks out at the water and thinks of all the wonderful things he will do with his life.ā
I put Don Hertzfeld in 11th place and never expected him to make the big 75, but Iāll happily use this idea to shout about his wonderful animations, specifically āItās Such A Beautiful Dayā. Itās formed of three shorts merged into one feature, and utilises his misleadingly simple looking animation style. We follow idiosyncratic stick figure Bill as he suffers a breakdown, his memories fade and his health deteriorates. Ideas on memory, loneliness and time are explored in both minute and grandiose ways, via the transcendental.
Darkly comic and wonderfully absurd āItās Such A Beautiful Dayā deals with more ideas in its hour duration than most directors manage across their entire filmography. Profound, heartbreaking and philosophical in equal measures, itās one of (if not the) finest explorations of the human condition captured in any medium. Friends have found it depressing but by the end I find it an incredibly life affirming experience, and a film of great beauty.
You can rent it for Ā£2.88 on Vimeo, and I couldnāt recommend it more: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/itssuchabeautifulday
Sam x
