View Poll Results: It's Such a Beautiful Day (Don Hertzfeldt)

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Thread: It's Such a Beautiful Day (Don Hertzfeldt)

  1. #26
    Shocking Seductive Spiral Thirdmango's Avatar
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    I'm so glad everyone likes it as much as me.

  2. #27
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    You can now watch this online for a mere 2 dollars.

    You have no excuse not to now. Everyone should watch it.
    Sure why not?

    STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Rian Johnson) - 9
    STRONGER (David Gordon Green) - 6
    THE DISASTER ARTIST (James Franco) - 7
    THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) - 9
    LADY BIRD (Greta Gerwig) - 8


    "Hitchcock is really bad at suspense."
    - Stay Puft

  3. #28
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    We've watched the first two shorts just before going to bed the last two nights. The second one was especially traumatic (and another successful use of Das Rheingold--has that song never not worked to suggest magisterial heights?), and successfully gut-punched us twice with its nontemporal chronology. It was cute to listen to Hertzfeldt himself start to crack up when discussing another relative struck by a train, but it's also morphing into a powerful study of the psychological trauma left on a whole family.

    The start of the second one, with the child running right into the ocean, was just jaw-dropping in its immediacy and overall symbolism.
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  4. #29
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    I almost wish that Hertzfeldt had ended this one at the first cut-to-black. Overall, the film beautifully complicates what has come before and makes us doubt the truth of some of the excessiveness in the second film. It's likely the most aesthetically pleasing, bringing in color and background more fully into the mix. But some of the "Bill existing on and on" business seems contrary to the finitude before it. Certainly it reshapes the expectations of the film's structure, but it didn't quite complete the landing for me. It was a little too messy in that sequence and didn't quite portend enough for the duration of what it strove for. That's all a bit abstract of a criticism, but the film would have meant more before the extended coda...
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  5. #30
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    Wait. You're not taking that "Bill living on and on" literally? I think those closing moments are beautiful.
    Sure why not?

    STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Rian Johnson) - 9
    STRONGER (David Gordon Green) - 6
    THE DISASTER ARTIST (James Franco) - 7
    THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) - 9
    LADY BIRD (Greta Gerwig) - 8


    "Hitchcock is really bad at suspense."
    - Stay Puft

  6. #31
    Montage, s'il vous plait? Raiders's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Watashi (view post)
    You can now watch this online for a mere 2 dollars.

    You have no excuse not to now. Everyone should watch it.
    Sweet. Thanks for this. Just watched it. Now only need Holy Motors and I think I am ready to post my year-end thread.
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  7. #32
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Raiders (view post)
    Sweet. Thanks for this. Just watched it. Now only need Holy Motors and I think I am ready to post my year-end thread.
    Glad you're doing this. Any brief thoughts on which of the trilogy you find strongest? Sarah felt the second one was the most powerful. I might just agree with her...
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  8. #33
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Yeah, this was very good.

  9. #34
    Moderator Dead & Messed Up's Avatar
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    Made the mistake of watching this while feeling low. Seriously debating calling in sick. Equally brilliant and unbearable.

  10. #35
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    Haunting. Funny. Heartbreaking. Masterful.

    It's the kind of film that could actually change someone's life, I expect.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  11. #36
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    Absolutely. I go back every few months and at least play out this last feature in Hertzfeldt's trilogy. The way in which he utilizes real actors this time and blurs them into his aesthetic, and how the visit to the father plays out, and even the whole business with the bathmat; it's all breathtaking and fully realized.

    I get a awe-inspiring wonder from this film that I haven't had from a new film since Tree of Life.
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  12. #37
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Spinal (view post)
    Haunting. Funny. Heartbreaking. Masterful.

    It's the kind of film that could actually change someone's life, I expect.
    It did mine. Now you must watch World of Tomorrow.
    Sure why not?

    STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Rian Johnson) - 9
    STRONGER (David Gordon Green) - 6
    THE DISASTER ARTIST (James Franco) - 7
    THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) - 9
    LADY BIRD (Greta Gerwig) - 8


    "Hitchcock is really bad at suspense."
    - Stay Puft

  13. #38
    Bark! Go away Russ's Avatar
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    Really, really good, not so sure about really, really great.

    The abundance of narration did this film no favors.
    "We eventually managed to find them near Biskupin, where demonstrations of prehistoric farming are organized. These oxen couldn't be transported to anywhere else, so we had to built the entire studio around them. A scene that lasted twenty-something seconds took us a year and a half to prepare."

  14. #39
    Winston* Classic Winston*'s Avatar
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    Thank you for recommending this film, guys.

  15. #40
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    I watched this at exactly the wrong time, but I found this entire experience cloying and awful and most of its observations trite. Like, this isn't just a bad narrative, it's a bad film and it abuses both cinema and animation.

    The most human thing in it is the "really nice day" sequence where Bill forgets he's been on a walk around the neighborhood and keeps buying groceries for himself until they inexplicably stack up in his kitchen. That was sad and heartbreaking.

    Everything else: Ugh.

    Film has a hard limitation in that the camera always imposes an omniscient viewpoint on the action. Some films know this and play to it. Others try to subvert that limit (and almost always fail). This movie seems completely unaware of it and doubles down with an extended, third person narration. The film becomes less a story about one man's life and more a bizarre documentary about a stick figure, because we're now two levels removed from the protagonist (if he can even be called that). We never get his voice from his point of view, and as a result the film must over explain and interpret every moment and every detail it presents to us. (The "I'm so proud of you sequence is particularly bad here. The emotional force when Bill discovers his mothers practice notebook is stunted because the narrator immediately steps in an flatly explains what it all means. A more deftly written film, even a short, would have taken a lighter touch and allowed the audience to make important connections).

    The ending struck me as a huge cheat that undercut at least part of what the rest of the film tried to say. He lets the audience off the hook and he shouldn't have. But I think somebody felt an overwhelming need to give the audience some kind of hopeful lift after nearly an hour of "life is amazing and we're all gonna die."

    I dig Hertzfeldt and love his visual style but this landed with a serious thud.

  16. #41
    I actually just watched this as well.

    It was interesting to see it as part of an unintended double-feature starting with Upstream Color. On the one hand, you have Shane Carruth's film, which is really a rather straight-forward and linear narrative that gets obfuscated by technique to near impenetrability. On the other, you have Hertzfeldt's film, which is actually far more ambitious and complex from a narrative level, but at the same time, far more inclusive to the audience due to its abundant "explaining." I won't say either approach is necessarily without merit, but Hertzfeldt's film is certainly the one that allowed for more contemplation of its ideas and themes while immersed in the story. Carruth's film is a narrative puzzle, not because it is necessarily a mystery or overly complex -- there's just a lack of overt information being offered to the audience. Almost every story detail gleaned from Carruth's film is done so through inference. By the time Upstream Color gives you enough fragments to sketch its story, it's over. It's a film that is almost entirely a sensory experience upon initial viewing and only really works as a complete narrative upon reflection or subsequent viewing. The initial viewing of It's Such a Beautiful Day is a different experience -- one that allows immersion in both its story and its ideas concurrent with the viewing, but one that also has to explain everything by third party due to the nature of its construction. That usually causes a sort of obstacle to immediacy, but it's an obstacle that I think Hertzfeldt is able to minimize due to the sort of universality of the film's themes.

    I don't really have any major point to make by comparing the two films. I just happened to watch them back-to-back. I found them both worthwhile but for different reasons. I would stop short of calling either a game-changer, but I'm glad to have seen both. It's Such a Beautiful Day, in particular, I found to be an impressive feat of storytelling via narration and minimal, yet profound, imagery.
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    A Star is Born (2018) **1/2
    Unforgiven (1992) ***1/2
    The Sisters Brothers (2018) **
    Crazy Rich Asians (2018) ***
    The Informant! (2009) ***1/2
    BlacKkKlansman (2018) ***1/2
    Sorry to Bother You (2018) **1/2
    Eighth Grade (2018) ***
    Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) ***
    Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018) **1/2

  17. #42
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    I love the narration. The stream-of-consciousness perfectly compliments Bill's paranoia and his eventual slide into dementia. While some think the narration as expository, I see it as the omnipresent narrator articulating how Bill's mind works. It's one of the best visual portrayals of schizophrenia.

    You guys are forgetting the two moments where Hertzfeldt forgoes his narration: when Bill is sitting in the doctor's office and takes off his hat and the scene where he watches the leaf blower. Two of the most of the gut-punching scenes in the trilogy. Hertzfeldt knows when to restrain himself. His narration serves a purpose beyond just "explaining everything."

    As for Irish's post. That shit's cray.
    Sure why not?

    STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Rian Johnson) - 9
    STRONGER (David Gordon Green) - 6
    THE DISASTER ARTIST (James Franco) - 7
    THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) - 9
    LADY BIRD (Greta Gerwig) - 8


    "Hitchcock is really bad at suspense."
    - Stay Puft

  18. #43
    Winston* Classic Winston*'s Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Irish (view post)
    The ending struck me as a huge cheat that undercut at least part of what the rest of the film tried to say. He lets the audience off the hook and he shouldn't have. But I think somebody felt an overwhelming need to give the audience some kind of hopeful lift after nearly an hour of "life is amazing and we're all gonna die."
    Come on. The ending is ironic. It's not literally suggesting he lives forever.

  19. #44
    Quote Quoting Watashi (view post)
    I love the narration. The stream-of-consciousness perfectly compliments Bill's paranoia and his eventual slide into dementia. While some think the narration as expository, I see it as the omnipresent narrator articulating how Bill's mind works. It's one of the best visual portrayals of schizophrenia.

    You guys are forgetting the two moments where Hertzfeldt forgoes his narration: when Bill is sitting in the doctor's office and takes off his hat and the scene where he watches the leaf blower. Two of the most of the gut-punching scenes in the trilogy. Hertzfeldt knows when to restrain himself. His narration serves a purpose beyond just "explaining everything."

    As for Irish's post. That shit's cray.
    True, I personally didn't find the narration to be particularly troublesome. However, I can see why others might feel distanced by it. I wouldn't go as far as to call it an outright flaw or mistake since its so woven into the fabric of the film. You sort of have to judge it on its own terms rather than a "narration = bad" sort of thing.
    letterboxd.

    A Star is Born (2018) **1/2
    Unforgiven (1992) ***1/2
    The Sisters Brothers (2018) **
    Crazy Rich Asians (2018) ***
    The Informant! (2009) ***1/2
    BlacKkKlansman (2018) ***1/2
    Sorry to Bother You (2018) **1/2
    Eighth Grade (2018) ***
    Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) ***
    Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018) **1/2

  20. #45
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    Quote Quoting Winston* (view post)
    Come on. The ending is ironic. It's not literally suggesting he lives forever.
    It's a movie that deals heavily in death, dying, and the meaning of life yet never once mentions religion. The subject matter makes it difficult to watch. If Bill died and it cut to black-- implying that's it, nothingness, it's over-- it would be a serious downer.

    Instead, the narration at the end gives us a small lift by implying that Bill's spirit continues, after a fashion, and it does it in a way that draws on both Buddhist and Judeo-Christian belief systems while couching all of it in a secular framework.

    That's a pretty neat religious hat trick. It wasn't meant ironically at all.

    It was intended to make you feel better.
    Last edited by Irish; 05-19-2015 at 01:10 AM.

  21. #46
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    Quote Quoting DavidSeven (view post)
    You sort of have to judge it on its own terms rather than a "narration = bad" sort of thing.
    Not at narration is bad. This narration is. It's a misstep on a basic narrative level. If we're going to shorthand it, it might be better to say that movie is "all tell and no show."

    That's what I was trying to get at.

  22. #47
    Those last minutes hit like a sledgehammer.
    Last Seen:
    Pantheon, S2 (C. Silverstein, 2023) ☆
    Pantheon, S1 (C. Silverstein, 2022)
    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garc?a (S. Peckinpah, 1974)
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden, Dragon (A. Lee, 2000)
    Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (J. McNaughton, 1986) ☆
    Blowup (M. Antonioni, 1966) ☆
    Io capitano (M. Garrone, 2023) ☆
    Raging Bull (M. Scorsese, 1980)
    Network (S. Lumet, 1976) ☆
    Sideways (A. Payne, 2004) ☆

    First time ☆

  23. #48
    Last Seen:
    Pantheon, S2 (C. Silverstein, 2023) ☆
    Pantheon, S1 (C. Silverstein, 2022)
    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garc?a (S. Peckinpah, 1974)
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden, Dragon (A. Lee, 2000)
    Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (J. McNaughton, 1986) ☆
    Blowup (M. Antonioni, 1966) ☆
    Io capitano (M. Garrone, 2023) ☆
    Raging Bull (M. Scorsese, 1980)
    Network (S. Lumet, 1976) ☆
    Sideways (A. Payne, 2004) ☆

    First time ☆

  24. #49
    Producer Yxklyx's Avatar
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    It is so refreshing to see surreal/abstract films like this! This is something someone like David Lynch should have made - but he's gotten old (sorry) and lost some creativity. Does saying "(sorry)" after "old" count? So World of Tomorrow is available where?

    P.S. Is this film a compilation of three of his films?
    Last edited by Yxklyx; 08-04-2021 at 05:50 AM.

  25. #50
    Quote Quoting Yxklyx (view post)
    P.S. Is this film a compilation of three of his films?
    Yes.
    Last Seen:
    Pantheon, S2 (C. Silverstein, 2023) ☆
    Pantheon, S1 (C. Silverstein, 2022)
    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garc?a (S. Peckinpah, 1974)
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden, Dragon (A. Lee, 2000)
    Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (J. McNaughton, 1986) ☆
    Blowup (M. Antonioni, 1966) ☆
    Io capitano (M. Garrone, 2023) ☆
    Raging Bull (M. Scorsese, 1980)
    Network (S. Lumet, 1976) ☆
    Sideways (A. Payne, 2004) ☆

    First time ☆

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