There are no major spoilers in this review.
There are only a few movies that I would consider life changing for myself personally. This is usually attributed to where I was in my life when I watched it, or if I felt the subject matter was close to my heart. It’s Such a Beautiful Day is one of these films – this movie was originally created in a series of three short films and compiled together into one that constructs a beautifully simple story of one man and his acceptance of his life, health, and eventual death.
It’s Such a Beautiful Day was released in 2012 by Don Hertzefeldt (who also created the Rejected animated short film on Youtube). Hertzefeldt wrote, animated, directed, and produced the movie, and it is evident that he cared much for the project – not only in the different roles he played in the creation of the film, but also in the style and trajectory of the movie. The majority of the film is told through simple stick figure drawings and animations, with Hertzfeldt narrating the interactions between different characters and their thoughts. No one character actually speaks, and if they do talk to each other, the words are written on the screen with Hertzfeldt narrating them. This form of storytelling feels more personal to the viewer in my opinion, and allows you to see the movie almost like a picture book, and have a better understanding of the characters and their personalities.
The movie is a story of a man simply named Bill. It begins with Bill walking in a grocery store and interacting with customers and workers. The intro also shows his other daily interactions, as well as the introduction of a secondary character, his unnamed ex-girlfriend that he still sees platonically. You begin to sense that there is some sort of issue with Bill – he is slightly socially awkward and frequently deals with intrusive thoughts. Eventually, he starts to see hallucinations, is losing strength, and has to be hospitalized. His mother comes to visit him and take care of him while his health is recovering. Once he is declared healthy, he returns back to his normal life.
After this first section of the movie, Bill begins to reminisce about his childhood and upbringing, especially in relation to his mother. This includes a step-brother Randall who disappeared into the sea, and a recount of his ancestors dying in strange ways. During this section, Bill receives a phone call that his mother has passed away. Later on, Bill experiences a seizure at work and collapses. Once again at the hospital, the doctors find that Bill has trouble recounting his memories and that some are fabricated, indicating that some of his childhood memories that were seen earlier might’ve been false. His ex-girlfriend visits him in the hospital during this time. Bill learns from this visit that he does not have that much longer to live.
During these two sections of the movie, you come to understand that Bill lives a terribly mundane life. However, you sympathize with him as he experiences hallucinations and invasive, distributing thoughts about his existence. With his scrambled memories on top of his mysterious health condition, he regrets his life and forms a nihilistic viewpoint that life is meaningless.
However, this changes with his new diagnosis that he is expected to die soon.
While the movie up until this point is animated with stick figures in black and white, Bill starts to appreciate the small things in life, and color begin to fill the pages – literally. On the outskirts of the pages used for the scenes, you can see crayon scribbles that overtake the page. It is a beautiful metaphor of Bill beginning to appreciate his life and see it in technicolor. He is suddenly recharged with energy, and begins to make amends with people of his past, such as his ex-girlfriend. In a few scenes, even, real-life images and videos are used to show that he is viewing his life as he should – in all the detail and color that can be imaginable.
This change in his attitude is most exemplified in a recurring scene of Bill walking around his apartment complex outside. With his weak memory, he forgets that he is going down the same path. However, each time that he starts his walk, more color is added to the scene, until it turns to photographs. This change of his scenery shows that he is taking more notice of his life, and as such, is appreciating it more. At the end of his walk, he mutters, “it’s such a beautiful day.”
While the movie seems very simplistic in its art style and its plot that follows a single character, it allows the viewer to grow a bond with Bill and feel a sense of empathy that might be uncomfortable. This middle-aged stick character with an unknown illness has to grapple with the knowledge of his upcoming death, and you are right there beside him. The memories he holds, the thoughts he has, and how he sees life is all shared with the viewer. While the viewer is usually saddened by his diagnosis, Bill experiences the opposite. With the unexpected changes in the animation and production of the movie, the viewer comes to understand Bill again – life is beautiful, and it should be seen that way. Don’t wait to start appreciating your life until your days are numbered.
The narrator has a hard time coming to terms with Bill’s diagnosis as well. He breaks character and wishes out loud that Bill doesn’t die, and how he shouldn’t die. This echoes the thoughts of the viewer. The breaking character (or narrator) and straying from what is typical of movies shows the viewer that the movie isn’t normal – it’s the ending of a character’s life after you have seen his inner thoughts and his day-to-day life. While he is a stick figure character, the thought that he has a ‘bad’ ending doesn’t sit right, even though it is the most ‘normal’ ending for him – it’s the most plausible. It shows the viewer that while the movie is not one that you are typically familiar with (such as with the style), the plot itself is one that is uncanny to the normal human experience, a buildup of day-to-day interactions and ruminations of your existence and whether or not it’s worth it.
I will not give away the ending of this movie since I believe that everyone should watch the film in its entirety. It is a beautifully simplistic story of a man and how his outlook on life changes, and about valuing the small and simple things in your life. While the art style and narration might be something to get used to, it’s a fresh way of telling a story that will impact you in ways you wouldn’t expect.