It's Such A Beautiful Day

This animated feature is trippy stuff firmly rooted in the troubled life of Bill, a struggling line-drawn character and the invention of young Californian animator Don Hertzfeldt. His film is a mix of black-and-white drawings, film and photo inserts, a detached narration and a seriously inventive soundtrack. At first, Bill seems to be a mildly kvetching oddball. But soon it’s clear that this man’s brain is scrambling and he’s in real difficulty – inspiring Hertzfeldt to take us back and forth through his life, and the lives of his family. It’s a bold attempt to get inside the mind of someone who’s losing theirs, and Hertzfeldt has a grip on the idea and reality of death that’s deeply unsettling. It’s funny, too, in a deadpan way (‘He went home and masturbated for seven hours’), and its simple appearance hides some great wisdom. If you can’t make it to the ICA, where it’s playing for a week, you can already watch it for $2 on Vimeo.