Unexpected gem
Feb. 8th, 2015 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicWow, I had no idea Don Hertzfeldt of Rejected fame ("My spoon is too big," etc.) and that unforgettable Simpsons opener had made a full-length feature film: It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012).
Watched it just now. An ordinary [lower-middle-class white] guy losing his mind. Started out with his trademark morbid humor, horrifying and funny at the same time. A little slow to start, but so unusual it pulls you along. How often does a film take the point of view of someone who swings back and forth across the line between ruminating on the bizarreness of daily life and downright losing his grip on reality? Followed by a fabulous sequence in Chapter Two about family history.
It was bleak and absurd and disturbing and fascinating and many other adjectives. And then, starting about 3/4 of the way through, it became sublime. Memory and personhood and the nature of time and the construction of narrative. Mortality and the sense of self through the years. The fragility of human connection. The simple beauties of existing in the world. A question of whether premature death or immunity from death would be worse. Metaphors. Cosmology.
The animation style itself was also really interesting. And beautiful use of some favorite classical pieces (Smetana, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, others).
So good!
Village Voice review went so far as to compare it to Terence Malick and David Lynch. Both of which are accurate. Although for me personally, this movie shared some attributes with their works but stayed coherent enough and grounded enough in a story to keep me happy. Perhaps my brain just doesn't know how to handle more extended abstractions. I would add Tim O'Brien to the comparison list, if Tim O'Brien were a filmmaker.
ETA: Okay, so apparently he has made several other short films, also award-winning. Must check them out.
.
Speaking of absurdities: More snow is happening. Another snow day tomorrow. At this rate, my car will emerge from its ice cap in spring like a bulb.
Watched it just now. An ordinary [lower-middle-class white] guy losing his mind. Started out with his trademark morbid humor, horrifying and funny at the same time. A little slow to start, but so unusual it pulls you along. How often does a film take the point of view of someone who swings back and forth across the line between ruminating on the bizarreness of daily life and downright losing his grip on reality? Followed by a fabulous sequence in Chapter Two about family history.
It was bleak and absurd and disturbing and fascinating and many other adjectives. And then, starting about 3/4 of the way through, it became sublime. Memory and personhood and the nature of time and the construction of narrative. Mortality and the sense of self through the years. The fragility of human connection. The simple beauties of existing in the world. A question of whether premature death or immunity from death would be worse. Metaphors. Cosmology.
The animation style itself was also really interesting. And beautiful use of some favorite classical pieces (Smetana, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, others).
So good!
Village Voice review went so far as to compare it to Terence Malick and David Lynch. Both of which are accurate. Although for me personally, this movie shared some attributes with their works but stayed coherent enough and grounded enough in a story to keep me happy. Perhaps my brain just doesn't know how to handle more extended abstractions. I would add Tim O'Brien to the comparison list, if Tim O'Brien were a filmmaker.
ETA: Okay, so apparently he has made several other short films, also award-winning. Must check them out.
.
Speaking of absurdities: More snow is happening. Another snow day tomorrow. At this rate, my car will emerge from its ice cap in spring like a bulb.
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Date: Feb. 9th, 2015 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 9th, 2015 11:59 pm (UTC)