framptonhollis From his beginnings as the animator of absurdist comedic shorts like "Rejected" and "Billy's Balloon", Don Hertzfeldt's career has always been promising and he has now become one of the finest filmmakers working today, a mature mastermind with a sense of humor that somehow manages to create stunning works of art using stick figures."It's Such a Beautiful Day" is a tragicomic combination of fantasy and reality, portraying the life and death of a seemingly normal man named Bill, a relatable extension of ourselves who lives a confusing yet mundane life that seems to have been wasted by year after year of nothing. Featuring a deadpan and often hilarious narration by Hertzfeldt himself, Bill's psychological and physical collapse is portrayed through the unique usage of flashbacks, dream sequences, absurdist gags, surrealist science fiction imagery, etc. All of these fragments of memories and crises and sad moments and happy moments and funny moments and stream of consciousness style musings on existentialist concepts of death and love and life all culminate to form something inexplicably beautiful. This is the story of a fragile man taking place over the course of his most fragile days as life seems to vanish in his socially awkward grasp. Of course, this is not a conventionally sad work, although it IS extremely tragic and heartbreaking throughout, for Hertzfeldt's often dark and occasionally even slightly juvenile and slyly bawdy sense of humor shines through even the most melancholic of moments. The result of this brilliant philosophical tale is a work of both intellectual and emotional mastery crafted by an underrated and unbelievably talented artist whose works can combine elements of comedy and tragedy and poetry using bland, almost poorly drawn stick figures. This filmmaker and this films are both movie miracles and prove that even in this modern age of repetitive corporate media cinema is not dead and can still be excellent and original!

Red_Identity I sought this out because of World of Tomorrow, which despite being shorter, does have more of a narrative drive and probably even more ideas than this. This, however, is still rather brilliant. It's easy to think that after a while it will get old and dull, but the ideas keep on flowing and they keep coming on. There's a narrative here, but it's the random, spontaneous moments that make the film shine. Despite such simple animation, it also works very well within what the film is trying to do. I don't think this is for everyone, but I definitely think that it will be able to find a sizable audience that will greatly appreciate it

peefyn This movie is a natural progression from Hertzfield's earlier works, like Rejected. While Rejected experimented with the very form of the animation paper, this movie experiments with film itself. Exposure and lights and mixing images together. It's still animation, but it's experimenting on a different level. His visual style is still very recognizable, and despite all the visual experimentation, Hertzfield manages to put it together in a way that serves the not only the purpose of communicating the story to the audience, but also reflects what is going on with the story.The story told is about Bill, who has some health problems that affect his memories. It's a journey through (parts of) his life and his memories, seen through him. In some ways it is similar to Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse Five, as it explores the same nonlinear storytelling as you find in it. It turns out that animation is a great way to explore corrupt/altered memories, and it's also a good outlet for Hertzfield's "silly" imagery.I wish Hertzfeld had spent more time on the ideas behind the short, and less on silly memories. While the are interwoven, it ultimately felt like he did not get as far under the surface as you would have hoped for a movie this length.

Broden Szetey (Note: this review is fairly vague as I believe that this film is best if you go into it not knowing a single thing) REVIEW: Oh sweet baby Jesus... Where do I even begin? It was just a normal Tuesday afternoon and I was scrolling through the Netflix home page looking for a quick fix when, amongst all the stylish film and TV icons, stood out the bland, simplistic cover of "It's such a beautiful day". I didn't know what to expect at first but curiosity got the better of me and I decided dive head first into what is possibly one of the greatest films I have ever seen. This 1 hour cartoon sent me through a roller coaster of emotions. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me question my own existence. I imagine that this film is not going to be for everyone but it's only an hour long so there is really no reason to not give it a go.