Nova Seed

I just watched this movie and... I'm not even sure what to say. This is a triumph of artistry. Magnificent, from the first frame to the final. There is more creativity in this movie than the last 50 I've watched. This is a love letter to 80's era cartoons, but so much more. The music is incredible, the animation is incredible, the story is incredible.

One guy made this, more or less. The same guy animated the entire movie, did many of the voices, came up with the story, wrote the story... What an achievement. What a mind blowing achievement.

I highly recommend this film

Got to see a still a progress version of this last night at the What The Film Festival (everything is complete but the sound design). Hand drawn over the course of 4 years by one solitary man, Nova Seed is an impressive feat of human determination. I went in only having seen a few short clips and one of DiLiberto's shorts, I kind of felt like I was already going to love this movie, when someone puts that much time an effort into something it's always worthwhile to at least give it a watch. I think I spent about 95% of this film with my mouth hanging open. The animation felt somewhere between "Heavy Metal" and "My Neighbours the Yamadas", every frame undulating hypnotically. You can feel influences from both DiLiberto's time in North America as well as his time abroad in Japan. The combination of the animation and thumping music are so engrossing I completely forgot that I was super exhausted from just working a 12 hour shift. I don't think there was a single thing about this film I didn't enjoy, my only complaint is that it wasn't nearly long enough!

Nova Seed is a great sci-fi adventure film that feels, purposely it seems, like a throwback to the adult sci-fi/fantasy animation craze of the late 70's and early 80's. Mr. DeLiberto's opus drops us into a near apocalyptic landscape that looks as though it leaped on to the screen straight out of a punk artist's sketchbook; vibrant colors, rough edges, and sinister creations litter the screen to create a surreal vision that is both primitive and beautiful. If you enjoyed films such as "Heavy Metal", "Wizards", and "Rock and Rule," this movie is just the thing for you. A special nod to Stephen Verrell for a fantastic synth/rock driven score that adds to the overall retro-cool impression.

The animation, design, visual styling and storytelling are all great here. The music is serviceable but rarely matches the highs and lows of the narrative, coming off ineffective and monotonous. But what crushes this obvious labor of love by a talented team of creators is the unforgivablely terrible voice recording and foley work. You can't sell this world without believable audio. Send it back for a rescore and professional audio, and you have something. Don't ask an audience to buy or believe in a film with what amounts to a rough temp track. It's not charming. It's just half a film.

This film isn't about the story. As another reviewer said, this film is all about creating a feeling, an atmosphere. Often feeling like a 1980s Saturday morning fever dream, Nova Seed doesn't really waste time on plot exposition or give you much context about the world it's set in, but instead thrusts you straight into it and allows you to draw your own conclusions. The film is littered with trope-y sci-fi elements, like a crazed mad scientist building a perfect life form, giant bio-mech warriors, hybrid creatures, and impractical spaceship designs. This is great in my book. The animation is delightfully wonky and really feels like the labour of love that it is. Highly recommended, but don't expect a groundbreaking, original story.