World of Tomorrow

If you were to watch Don Hertzfeldt's very funny and still wildly outrageous short Rejected from 2000 and go to his latest film, World of Tomorrow, you would see a monumental level of growth as a filmmaker. This isn't to say that he's moved on from having crudely-drawn characters (by design, and delightfully so as absurdly cute, absurdist what-the-f*** things), and that's part of his style. But if you go from one to another there's a level of sophistication to the presentation that has developed. This also isn't to say that Rejected isn't genius on its own level, but watching World of Tomorrow is simply mind-blowing, shot to shot, and that it presents science fiction concepts with such a dead-pan expression emotionally (the voice of the older 'clone' of Emily is just this way) while expressing such seemingly limitless imagination.

We're basically taken, from one older adult clone to her much younger counterpart from the past, into what the future will hold. There's (messy) time travel, there's the 'art' of gathering up old memories that drift along like paintings that can be put on the walls, and there's things like people being put into glass containers to be watched by people like in an exhibit throughout their lives. Oh, and there's not the internet but the OUTER-net, where people just drift along through the neural-connections and some, indeed, become lost.

This is extremely, massively heady stuff, but because of the context of it being between a little girl with notions like "I had lunch today" and "wiggle wiggle wiggle", and that this older clone has gone through a life of her own but with the sort of self-reflection that is very sad, we can relate to it. Or, at least, I could, and it just hit me on a profound level that is hard to describe after one viewing. Information is given out quickly, but nothing is too confusing if one is tapped into its peculiar, visionary science fiction head-space - there's even at one point a poem read by the older Emily about what it means to be a robot (a 'bad' poem, which is acknowledged).

The level of humor is still there for Hertzfeldt that one sees in Rejected or his Third Dimension shorts or any given work he's done. But something about World of Tomorrow is even more striking than his other work, and it may have to do with how he goes from one concept to the next, each shot and set piece with equal parts crazy veracity and almost simplistic grandeur (those shots of the "rich" people of the future uploading their consciousnesses as black boxes going out into space). This mix of incredibly complex and incredibly simple strikes the perfect balance and yet for the seemingly ridiculous angle of how the older Emily interacts with the younger Emily there's an immediate emotional bond, and even an ending that is incredibly emotional.

All I can say is if you have netflix, or a few bucks to spare on Vimeo, watch it and see if it affects you. For me, it's among the greatest short films ever made.

"World of Tomorrow" (United States, 17 min.) – This film tells its story by animating stick figures and laying them over simple, but colorful and imaginative backgrounds. A little girl who sounds like she's 3 or 4 is visited through her television set by a clone of herself (a few clone generations removed) from 200 years in the future. The future Emily tells "Emily Prime" about life in the future and how all this came to be, as well as taking Emily Prime into the TV so she can see a place called the "outer-net". This film is silly, but inventive, deriving its humor from the quirkiness of people in the future, their whimsical references to death and from the reactions of a toddler hearing and seeing things that adults would have a hard time understanding. The script also works in some social commentary and even a couple deep thoughts such as, "You only appreciate the present when it's the past." Enjoyable, but weird. "A-"

Don Hertzfeldt has become one of my favorite filmmakers! "Rejected" was always one of my favorite short films, and "It's Such a Beautiful Day" moved me more than any animated film since "Grave of the Fireflies". I'm glad to say that Hertzfeldt has absolutely amazed me yet again with his masterpiece "World of Tomorrow".

"World of Tomorrow" is a truly mind bending experience, and one of the greatest short films I've ever seen (along with greats like "A Trip to the Moon", "La jetee", and "Zero for Conduct"). It manages to always be thought provoking, hilarious, and bizarrely moving and emotional. It is an experience that I won't soon be forgetting, and I highly encourage seeing it as soon as possible, for this is one of the greatest films of 2015, short or feature!

An incredible short animation. this was very thoughtful piece of work about the world around us. how easy Don Hertzfeldt describe the world. and I do believe in near future we will see such things in reality. and I should say the dialogs were perfect.

World of Tomorrow (2015)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Don Hertzfeldt's rather unique and original animated short deals with a young girl who is visited from the future by her third clone, which takes her into the future and show her how the world has changed in the two hundred plus years.

I'm watching this short a couple days before the Oscars are actually announced and I must admit that I'll be shocked if something beats this. Well, it's the Oscars so I guess anything is possible but this is a rather clever, original and unique little gem that manages to be rather smart throughout its 17 minute running time. The animation itself is rather laid back but I thought this approach actually worked extremely well and especially when you consider that it's the screenplay and story that is really selling the material. Both Julia Pott and Winona Mae are extremely effective with their voices and really sell the characters quite nicely.