Link of the Week (Link ii)

Bitter Films is the proud recipient of LotW. They must be happy.

I was introduced to Bitter Film my freshman year, when a friend said, "You really have to see this cartoon!" Nominated for an Oscar(!), Rejected was by far the strangest thing I had ever seen (up until then). A commentary on the basic struggle of the modern artist, whether to create meaningful art or feed himself, Rejected is a series of short "commercials" commissioned by fictitious companies. They range from the absurd (yet strangely sublime) to disgusting (yet strangely...disgusting). Anyone who is familiar with "My Spoon is too Big" is sure to have seen this 9-minute cartoon. The perverse nature of the film haunted me for two years, as I struggled to find it again online.

Recently, I did! As well as the other Don Hertzfeldt shorts: Ah, L'amour!, Genre, Billy's Balloon, and the touching Lily and Jim. The most recent film, The Meaning of Life, is unlikely to be found online yet, and the current film, Everything Will Be Okay is still in production.

How is Hertzfeldt intriguing? Do his stick figures depict as much emotion as a well-seasoned Shakespearean actor? Maybe his coloring has an effect. For me, it is the fact that every frame is hand-drawn. This can give his characters a waviness that is at times awkward, other times implicit, and other times explicit.

Be sure to click the crazy cat, you will find so much that makes so little sense. And definitely check out his cartoons; if you like them, order a DVD (it will be released in a couple months), if not, you will probably be scarred for a very long time (I suppose that should also serve as a warning).

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