For the Love of God and All that is Holy, My Anus is Bleeding!

I saw the premier of Don Hertzfeldt's newest piece "I'm So Proud of You" on Friday. The sequel to "Everything Will Be Okay," it was the second of a three part series. For those of you familiar with his previous work (e.g. Rejected or Billy's Balloon), it is a little more on the 'serious' side, with fewer laugh-out-loud moments, as the main character, Bill, grapples with the meaning(lessness) of life-- although it does have a significant amount in common thematically with his older works (existential despair and the descent into madness being high on the list). At certain points, particularly in "Everything Will Be Okay," the material hits too close to home (not surprising since he acknowledged that the use of stick figures allows for easy identification with the characters--a la the simplicity of Charlie Brown). One instance in particular: Bill reflects on the repetitive, mundane tasks of his life (washing dishes, cleaning, switching lamps on and off, etc.) and realizes that those tasks ARE his life and that the minimal time spent doing other things truly is the exception.

After the presentation, the first time the piece had been played for audiences, he stayed for a Q&A session. Intelligent but soft-spoken, he displayed none of the signs of psychotic depression his work would seem to indicate. I particularly enjoyed his explanation of his artistic 'style': laziness.