Everything Will Be OK (2006)

Brilliant and touching

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

I shared with one of my children, a digital art affectionado, hoping that she finds inspiration and meaning

At 17 minutes, this is a long animated short and one that might bore a number of people, but it was strangely intriguing. Basically, it's just a narrator seen on screen as a stick figure talking about life as it passes him by, his thoughts and some of things that happen to him. It's hard to explain, because it's bizarre humor. As someone who appreciates the absurd, I laughed out loud a half-dozen times at some of the crazy "observations" the narrator made.Our host, our main figure, has mental problems. Socially, he's a real loser but you root for him and even in monotone delivery, you hang on each word he says.....at least I did. Be warned, however: some of it is a little gross and once the narrator blatantly profanes. (This isn't something a kid would watch, anyway.) Visually, the artist varies from individual to multiple drawings on screen at once. You can literally see several of the man's thoughts at once as he thinks them. Most of the visuals are the stick-figure drawings but there are photos as well. You get a little bit of everything in this strange film.I also thought the first half of this was far more entertaining and the story and words get darker and more depressing and disturbing as the animation short goes on. If you are familiar with the work of the author of this piece, you know how sick and demented this "movie" might be to many people.This was included in the DVD, "The Animation Show, Vol. 3" and is very original, as the other entries are on this disc. It's also "not for all tastes."

This is one of the most amazing films ever. It grabs you quickly by using Hertzfeld's charming (and disarming) stick-figure style, makes you laugh at (protagonist) Bill's simple social flubs, that progress into something much darker and more real. More important and desperate.If you or a close loved one have ever thought you might be going mad, it will certainly touch raw nerves, drawing you into Bill's confusion, helplessness, feelings of inadequacy and depression. No small feat for stick figures. I am someone who gets totally absorbed in movies and must admit I was moved to tears at more than one viewing (I was fortunate enough to see this on a large screen at two separate film festivals and finally ordered my own copy from Bitterfilms.com, the only source for DVD's of the film).In my defense I was not alone, I paid special attention to listen to other patrons. It was amazing to watch a whole theater so quickly laughing and then to be moved just as quickly to sympathy by what are in essence line drawings. I struggle to think of another animator who can so readily evoke such feelings. Perhaps Adam Benjmin Eliot's black & white claymation comes close.Those familiar with Hertzfeldt's earlier work might notice a similar emotional pattern to "Meaning of Life" in it's building intensity that rises to a deafening, maddening din, only to take a long silent reflective pause towards the end, before returning to the original story. Much like the musical structure of many classical operas.Likewise it shares "Meaning"'s use of many beautiful "in-camera" effects to awe inspiring ends. By various method of folding, crumbling, burning, staining and otherwise distressing the paper that the animations are being produced on, Bill's whole world is shown to crumble around him, both in his reality and ours.I don't think there is one frame of this that isn't completely enjoyable. The editing keeps us constantly looking to another area of the screen to catch up, and I don't think there's one shot where we see the entire screen filled with one image, further showing the frantic thoughts of our hero.For some reason one of the images that sticks with me is what (I imagine) is footage of rain on a black garbage bag. Another is of an rubber pig, hand puppet filmed out of focus.Fans of animation will like this easily, but I've already made new fans of other friends who are are almost film snobs and normally wouldn't choose to watch what they call, with a noticeably condescending tone, "Cartoons".I can't wait to see what Hertzfeld does next

The banal life of a young man is represented by stick figures and described by a monotonous narrator. We hear about his moments of awkward social behavior, the silly ideas that occur to him, his goofy thoughts about death and dying; the stick figures and the narration make the banality funny. The audience laughs.Then the one-joke premise overstays its welcome. We're waiting for this thing to end, barely aware that the writer and director Don Herzfeldt, through his narrator, is sneaking in some disturbing items on the list of banalities. It hits most of us that something is seriously wrong when the young man notices a trickle of urine sliding down his pants leg. Is he sick? It turns out he is, both mentally and physically; and it seems he may die. We see, and hear about, the reactions of his mother and uncle. They buy a casket for him. He loses control of his mind.I found this animated short about illness and madness very moving. I know how I feel about it, but what did I think of it? Did Herzfeldt intend to make a short that initially appears to us as a one-gag cartoon? Whether he intended it or not, was this a mistake? Did it add to or subtract from our reaction to the second half? Did Herzfeldt intend to amuse us, then bore us, then frighten us, then sadden us? Is telling a serious story with stick figures a kind of joke? Or were the stick figures the most effective way of telling the story? Or both?In asking these questions, I think I've come up with my own answers. I think Herzfeldt intended the effects he got, and I think they were good ideas. This film is highly recommended.