THE MEANING OF LIFE (restored) by DON HERTZFELDT

[@bac0nhawkmaster]

I had a girl come into my life around this time last year, show me your movie, make me fall madly in love with her and then leave all in the span of like two months, so I may be biased when I say your work is more impactful than it should be but I stand by that statement even so

[@justacursedimagewithintern7235]

Bro met a manic pixie dream girl

[@quantumblauthor7300]

"made" Ngl that sounds like a fascinatingly beautiful person if they showed you this movie

[@ayedrey]

Sounds like she was an asshole

[@hunters.8555]

$10 her name was Gabrielle

[@JackassBagels]

Hahaha, a girl showed me It’s Such a Beautiful Day, I was madly in love with her too, and she also left me. I still think about her almost 10 years later..

[@lookey6385]

What a beautiful film that’s wonderful to see in 4K. Can’t wait for the future 8,924K restoration, I can only hope I live to see it.

[@matter9]

I read this as both genuine sentiment and very funny. And I agree completely.

[@paperaxes4192]

I would love to see this in VR

[@dennisbernard11]

Thank you for this special gift

[@corpoproc]

i'm someone who had wanted to go into the animation industry in some form, for years, since i was a child. my entire life has been influenced by art, especially cartoons in my early childhood. animation can be such a powerful and beautiful medium for art and i feel like this film, and many of your other films, are cornerstones of that statement. it's pure beauty. it's art. even in the nonsense, the dialogue i cannot decipher no matter how many times i rewatch, or the little things i can't seem to understand, they still seem to mean something so deep, and that's something so incredible. something so raw, that a lot of artists don't usually get to see through or utilize. i am only 15 years old. i'm not as well versed in your art as much others, and i (mostly) grew out of wanting to do animation as a career. i'm trying my best to pursue music primarily instead. i only really discovered your work semi-recently, about a year ago, from a friend's letterboxd review of it's such a beautiful day. looking at your work in retrospective has truly been an incredible experience. it's artists like you that have inspired me to push forward, so far forward with my art. it's artists like you that have pushed and motivated me to make hundreds of pieces of art, motivated me to have 6 albums released in the course of just over a year, motivated me to keep doing what i love and do best. so i just wanna say, in all of its cheesiness and overuse, yet all of its passion and meaning, thank you don

[@corpoproc]

great remaster as well. just finished watching it in 4K on my laptop, awesome experience

[@don-hertzfeldt]

thank you - pls keep recording, animating, pushing and learning. you’re so young, you can do anything… the only rule is to keep having fun with it

[@corpoproc]

@@don-hertzfeldt ofc man. always 🤍

[@drakechernichenko4957]

gosh darn those spinning stars at the end made me cry they were so beautiful. they filled me with such a nostalgic feeling, an idealized Star Wars from when i was 9 re-imagined.

[@ariannasv22]

I remember seeing a video where you talked about your production process for this piece, and during the space scenes all I could think about how the stars were just tiny holes on a black sheet of paper, which is kind of what I speculated stars to be when I was little.

[@lyncheatingdonut]

"Why does the sun come up? Hmm? Or are the stars just pinholes in the curtain of night? Who knows. 😌"

[@cheerijessie]

I remember the first time I saw this, it was at the 2005 Animation Show tour stop at the Magic Lantern in Isla Vista. I was just amazed by the whole thing

[@NicoAnimation]

I was lucky enough to meet you maybe a dozen years ago at Cinefamily in LA and I mentioned Meaning of Life was my favorite of your films, and I'm glad that made you happy because you said not many people pick this one. Still love it all these years later and great to see it restored here!

[@Bulldozer4000]

I'm currently working as a 2D animator because your films inspired me. You have quite literally changed my life and I could not be more grateful. Never stop making your art, it is astounding.

[@dandandandestroyer7]

Please continue to make what you do best. Works of art. It inspires us aspiring filmmakers to make the best that we can. You are an inspiration.

[@axehackergaming9109]

Your work never fails to impress me no matter how many times I watch them, and this restoration is no exception, thank you for the years of being an inspiration to countless people.

[@pseudovaleria]

uuuughhhh you have no idea what this short means to me. The Tchaikovsky music, I just listen to it and it brings back so many memories. THANK YOU FOR THIS

[@mattrinne]

Is the whole thing Tchaikovsky?

[@pseudovaleria]

@@mattrinne Yes! a "remix" of many pieces, they are on the credits :)

[@LAAV69]

Your films are an inspiration, Don. You keep the magic of being alive.

[@roboj]

One of the greatest works of animation ever made. Thank you for uploaded this remastered version Don ❤

[@WobblesandBean]

The notification said "Root canal" and I got it as I'm sitting in the dentist chair waiting to get one. Lucky me.

[@voidentityUTX]

ROUTE KANAL

[@walter3001]

This is one that really grew on me as I watched it. Having a higher quality version of it here, makes this one of the best things to happen this year.

[@theaviator1152]

Within the last four months I have discovered Don for the first time, binged every single student and short film of his, many of them multiple times, watched the ISABD rerelease which was the best theater experience of my life, recommended him to my movie buff parents and letterboxd addict coworkers, received my ISABD shirt in the mail and brandished it every chance I get, read all his interviews, scoured through every nook and cranny of his website and found his old comic strips from when he was my age…and now I’m waiting for his book to arrive! Two things: first, only a creative visionary genius could wrap me in and hypnotize me so easily. Second, after all this the I LIKE FISHSTICKS guy is still my favorite character of them all.

[@mattrinne]

It's great if you aspire to be like Don. It's okay, though, if you end up being like the fish sticks guy.

[@mythstcg]

i have also done this, but over the last two years! lol he is something special :)

[@HoodRatz-ytLol]

This man inspired me I'm only 12 and I'm working with animation and trying tho pursue the career thank you

[@thefoxoverlord]

omg in 4k, love this short so much

[@liefwerk]

This warms my heart, thank you for sharing this restored version

[@TheJGSPOCK]

this is beautiful. my cousin showed me It's Such A Beautiful Day back in 2015 and it's one of my favorite pieces of art. I didn't think I've ever had anything hit me like that. thank you Don 🖤 please don't stop creating masterpieces

[@haimerejk7855]

I can't get enough of your work don, didn't know I needed the hd version till I saw it! I love this thank you!

[@geometricentric]

the fact that all of the visual effects are done with an analog movie camera is astounding. i wish i could have a fraction of the skill to pull this off.

[@jacobmiller7786]

Don, your comics are one of my favorite things ever. I literally have them tattooed on my body.

[@spencerk5840]

It's so strange that space is so often pared with classical music. Not just in this piece, but in countless other pieces of media. The mathematical beauty of the music, the pirouetting of the stars, it just fits perfectly!

[@aphidler5265]

i've always loved your filns, i wouldn't say i was changed by them like some others, but they've always had incredible impact. Similar feelings coming away from them as to watching 2001, which is nothing i say lightly. Thank you for these wonderful creations.

[@mikes.8732]

It's moments like the last scene, with the stars floating through the universe, that really brings home how important this kind of medium is. I've loved this for years, and hopefully I will for millennia more!

[@cendyywarlos]

the first time i watched this, at 21, in 2016, i didn't fully appreciate, now at almost 30 i can't help but rewatch and feel like i'm in the palm of the buddha

[@ChaoticMelon]

I just sent this to my 16 year old after a 2 hour long philosophical conversation. He's stuck at the beginning with the loudness of the world (where teenagers should be, because they're ment to tell us what we're doing wrong). Lol. He responded to the video with about 20 different emojis. 🤣 Awesome. Strange world.

[@Maskedrin2210]

This is timeless. Hope this means theres an It's Such A Beautiful Day 4K restoration in the future!

[@ivnrvl]

The music choice for this is immaculate

[@febobartoli]

Don, it was a real pleasure to see you in person when you had the film festival in San Francisco a few months back! I just wish it would have included all of your films, so thanks for posting this one in a new restored format! Lovely!

[@JackMakesThings98]

Happy 20th anniversary to this masterpiece! This is one of my favorite works of yours, don, and as a (now graduated) film student, I adore seeing how this all came together as one big beautiful project!

[@kittystar4765]

One of my favorite of your films. It's so beautiful

[@jvnelovesyou5441]

i always look to the stars when I struggle to find meaning in my life. thank you again for this^

[@Smethells2023]

Still my favorite. Thanks ❤️

[@CarminaThePerson]

I have just now and only discovered your work through this video from a random tweet i heard mentioning how it took 2 years to make this film and god damn is it jaw dropping. This is art truly what it is and can be, it tells of so much something so deep only for us to only get half of the meaning in the end life changing video

[@dashnduke]

Absolutely incredible. I don't even know where to start. So i won't. Amazing use of 12 min.

[@arothmanmusic]

My god. The sound design.

[@billie5940]

Thank you. I've loved your work for over a decade, you've inspired me as an artist and I've loved seeing these things brought back to life. Art is one of the most painful things we can do. I'm sorry.

[@lithium44]

Thank you Don for restoring this amazing work of yours!

[@faceofdoomness]

When that character said “Boh”, I felt it. (Unrelated, but the way you were able to use all in-camera effects that were painstakingly photographed frame by frame to create such homey visions of the universe is humbling. Having watched your making-of video and having read a good amount of all that you’ve put into the DVDs of your process, I marvel at your dedication and execution of your vision, Mr. Hertzfeldt. Been a fan since a childhood friend shared with me your Rejected short in the early to mid 2000s and was grateful to have been with some friends for the It’s Such A Beautiful Day screening at what was once Cinefamily in 2012. Always inspiring to see your works uploaded in such great quality from time to time. Keep on keeping on.)

[@hidingability8450]

everything from the ethereal visuals to even some of the jokes in your work, have made me realize things that i havent thought of or known before as well expand my philosophical horizons a little bit. your work has helped me shape a part of my view of life, please keep doing what you do and thanks

[@SlackerKite]

Thanks Don, any time I get to see your work come up again is a good time.

[@johnathanrebel]

your art always touches me deeply - thank you from the bottom of my heart

[@An8thOfFeanor]

Stick figures and Tchaikovsky will never not move me

[@Chaddilaculus]

I saw this for the first time when I was in college - I was in the music program and my art program buddy showed it to me. To this day it is still my favourite animation and I will watch it again and again. The advice that the father gives his son about “The Meaning of Life” at the end is the most profound explanation of it I’ve ever heard. Thanks Don! 😊

[@fisklownkaos26]

This one and "Billy's balloon" are my favs. This is a fucking beautiful MASTERPIECE. Thank you so much, Don.

[@wolfe972]

F'ing amazing More please

[@kadenandthespiderok663]

I'm glad this got restored. It's strangely beautiful.

[@archievii]

These vids you make are very thought provoking. I’m glad you’re making more.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@bengwynn935]

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for all you do.

[@oouziii4679]

Its a privilege to exist at the same time as you! I watch the world of tomorrow trilogy once a year at least. Jack stauber's opel short is probably my second favorite next to you, i miss when youtube was full of indie animators telling their stories, thanks for remindind me of those great times

[@the_Fisher_King]

I love your work!!!!!

[@netriame]

STILL AMAZING

[@no_torrs]

Still one of my favorite shorts ever.

[@johnsailorsgoat]

This may be my personal favorite. Love it so much.

[@awsumsaucer]

I've just seen this the first time, just discovered your work, really something striking here. Happy to join the fanbase

[@awsumsaucer]

Already special to me

[@awsumsaucer]

I wish i had the words for this but I'm going to have to wing it here. This is really something so beautiful to me, maybe I'm just sentimental, but I already kind of feel this to my core. Thank you Don, I'm sure I'll be back for more rewatches. I'm 17 and I wonder these things and look up at the stars, and there's never a certain answer, but I think the ability to ask and perceive is an answer in itself. To future evolutions, and to past evolutions, and to our present, how spectacular it is that we get to breathe it in now and express and wonder. Thank you.

[@TylevGD]

Hertzfeldt, I’m in one of those rare instances where I cannot verbally describe how awfully powerful an art piece is. It’s like standing in front of a Rothko painting: a comically massive canvas completely covered with one or two solid colors. It’s so damn simple and unremarkable, any child with a paint bucket and a mop could make the same thing and hang it up in a museum. But standing in front of his art, genuinely taking it all in, seeing every single individual paint stroke, it floods your whole body with emotion, it’s freaking incredible. Rothko could’ve painted a beautiful landscape or some abstract painting with hidden deeper meanings that would’ve taken decades to uncover, but he chose to paint squares and rectangles of solid colors. And he did a pretty damn good job on the colors. When I stumbled upon whatever the hell this was, I was genuinely crying at the end. I’d be at a loss for words if I tried to explain why that happened. I’ve gone through more emotions in 12 minutes than any other obscure 12 minute long section of my entire life. It’s 6 years of effort packed into a medium-length video, which in and of itself is unfathomably intense. But you’ve executed it with a simple art style, humans and simple creatures that any child with a pen and a piece of paper could recreate. But sitting down and watching it start to finish, you laugh at the absurdity, you feel the massive passage of time, and you can almost understand the ending dialogue. It’s indistinguishable from the feeling of life, this beautiful cacophony of controlled chaos, absurdity, and rollercoasters of emotions that everyone with a consciousness experiences. Thank you for showing your meaning of life to us mere mortals. -TylevGD

[@UsuarioAnonimoAleatorio123]

Omg... you should write a book

[@theaviator1152]

Holy shit, I know you! You made synnr, my favorite GD level. What the hell, you have great taste in music, art, film, everything, and great gifts of prose and creative power. Strength to you pal

[@TylevGD]

@@theaviator1152 Holy crap, thank you so much dude :D I had no idea someone would recognize me outside of geometry dash, that genuinely means a lot

[@lolnyny]

By far my favorite animator. I'm happy to see this again.

[@ChrisGuerra31]

It's come up in my mind many times in the past decade 🙏

[@VolkColopatrion]

I try to live. You made a cinematic masterpiece that addresses all humanity. I cannot even breathe right.

[@Sugar3Glider]

Seeing 2D hands move perfectly in 3D space is pretty trippy, well done.

[@FomBBKs]

Sometimes KZbin recommends the thing you need at just the perfect moment.

[@GrowingUpSux]

I literally never thought I'd live to see the day that these animations would be viewable above 144p or similar. Amazing work always Don

[@amvhellboy]

This is the most normal thing I've seen all day. Thank you for bringing this restored masterpiece back into my life :)

[@DannyDaCat]

I hope this Restoration is signaling your inclusion in the Criterion Collection. A Hertzfeldt animation box set would be amazing!

[@devttyUSB0]

What a masterpiece.

[@thechuckjosechannel.2702]

Certified Hood classic.

[@magic.marmot]

This is beautiful and masterful.

[@lilphoneforever]

Wow Don Hertzfelt you have really done well with this restorations. 4K is looking great on your art. (: 💗 Much love form NC long time fan

[@cillobillo1059]

Don, it looks so beautiful, on my old cracked budget friendly 2015 phone screen. Time to go find something in my house that looks good and give you my money.

[@cillobillo1059]

Thanks.

[@Ferfraise]

I remember when my brother showed me this animated short 15 years ago on a latin american channel called I.Sat. We were just kids back then, but it really got us thinking.

[@MeMyselfandLuna]

The most amazing representation :) we're just a bunch of sticks on a rock :) Absolutely LOVE your work! Thank you so much!

[@jamesmoutsos]

Man this is just so beautiful😭

[@ponybraddock2144]

babe wake up new Dan hertzfeldt restored video dropped

[@DoctorDogma]

Hey Don Hertzfeldt, I used to run a podcast stream. I Used to discuss your films alot and how impactful they are. You impacted my life with your storytelling. Keep on making short films. Your work is a Althouse. I'd love to talk to you sometime. This is my gaming channel

[@jamesstaggs4160]

I think the "you people make me sick" guy is the most relatable.

[@h2_]

I can't believe the theatre didn't send a reminder email so I forgot to leave my house and missed my chance to watch "It's Such a Beautiful Day" on the big screen in May. Damn you, Alamo Drafthouse. Damn you.

[@alb2620]

Truly a tour de force. Thank you.

[@BlackBitsBananas]

Been watching you since this channel it first started. Appreciate this.

[@JoeLaRocca]

THE GOAT...

[@osaursa3862]

you're one of my favorite artist thanks for making things

[@TheYellowSignal]

The alien scoffing at the meaning of life at the end always has me laughing. It's been so many years and this never fails to make me laugh at the end.

[@lhei_tayuun]

It's been a tick. Thank you for gracing my feed ♡~

[@worldbuildingfilms507]

Me: *sees a Don Hertzfeldt short* Also me 12 minutes later: yeah seems about right

[@Double-O]

*sigh* So beautiful. Chaotic, tragic, real and beautiful. 😌 🖤

[@thecrakp0t]

While I'm not going to say you saved my life or anything quite so dramatic, nonetheless you definitely changed it. For the better, by the way. The world is a better place thanks to you and your wonderful films.

[@LauraHorrorshow]

Omg!! Not the notification I was expecting today, but definitely the notification I needed. So glad to see you posting something new, Don!! ❤

[@zalfir]

Don, if you're reading this, you're one of the only channels I have the bell icon turned on for. Please please please make a 2 hour movie in the style of Billy's Balloon.

[@jetryder]

Amazing.

[@TheRach995]

Thank you don!!!!

[@pinktooth5473]

Remembering this very warmly and bittersweetly - For Madeleine -

[@poenpotzu2865]

Great to see this again

[@ToonsInk.]

Love your content gonna watch beautiful day soon. Cant wait!

[@andriksalcedo]

In the year 28461, the lizard spiders discover this film in a cave. It is the only piece left of animation. Critics found it to be astounding. It is a national tradition to watch it every time B-41 passes "Earth."

[@vitusthemad3043]

Bravo! Brovo! Fantastique! My favorite animator ever.

[@indac-channel4995]

all this beautiful desperation ....

[@bsku0765]

So elegant...

[@DoctorNemmo]

Yes. I remember this.