If you have not yet become acquainted with the animated films of Don Hertzfeldt, do it now, this week, while you still have all your faculties intact to appreciate these perversely fascinating animated films that merge the everyday and the surreal with exquisite precision and humor. The Jerusalem Film Festival is currently presenting the Don Hertzfeldt Trilogy: Everything Will Be OK (USA 2007), I Am So Proud of You (USA 2008), and It’s Such a Beautiful Day (USA 2012), with Wisdom Teeth as a bonus film – the next (and final) screening will take place on Thursday, July 12th at 19:00 at The Begin Center.
In his trilogy, Hertzfeldt explores the intricacies of the mundane, the bizarre and the transcendent through his protagonist Bill, whose figure is rendered in a simple line drawing: a loop of a torso, stick arms and legs, topped by a round head with huge eyes. Yet Bill’s life is anything but simple, afflicted with a mysterious ailment, Bill experiences even the most ordinary events in agonizingly weird ways. As Bill meanders through past, present and future, trying to figure it all out, the line drawings are merged with photographic images to create an intriguing visual landscape of his internal and external reality accompanied by a wonderful score.
Hertzfeld is a terrific storyteller with a strong sense of the absurd. From the moment Nigel’s friend casually asks “Can I pull out your stitches?” in Wisdom Teeth – I was enthralled. The Jerusalem Film Festival has made an excellent choice in featuring the work of this artist.
