The Strangest for Last

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World of Tomorrow (2015)

To close out this week we want to look at the strangest of films we’ve covered, saving the best for last.

We’re talking about World of Tomorrow, a 17 min short film starring stick figures, one of whom is voiced by the director's niece and was nominated for an oscar.

Like we said, strangest for last.

Wait What is It?

From the get go this film is a strange pitch. It is the story of a woman going hundreds of years into the past visiting herself in a past life… Kind of. And then the reincarnated version takes her past self into the future with her to experience the heartbreak of living with the knowledge of hundreds of years past.

As mentioned before the whole thing is done with stick figures and voiced by Julia Pott and director Don Hertzfeldt’s real niece, Winona Mae.

Hertzfeldt got Winona’s dialogue from setting up a microphone in a room and coloring and playing with her. He uses this not only as much needed comic relief from the incredibly heavy philosophical issues he presents, but also to help us orient ourselves in time and space and help give us our place in the universe.

We are the unaware child.

But What’s it Saying?

This is a shockingly heavy film that packs quite an emotional punch with its questions of the isolation that comes only from reflection. But it also has hope glinting in its eyes.

It asks you to look at the world around you and find the beauty in everything. It’s cynicism is the organism it's built on, but its earnest wonderment is the true life blood.

The film is in complete awe of the universe and is so thoughtful and empathetic even if it does have a bit of a salty sense of humor.

Hardcore Sci-Fi

World of Tomorrow does what all good sci-fi does: It takes one very core human ideal and stretches them across the universe, showing us the broader world around us and hopefully teaching us more about ourselves.

This film is an incredibly inward facing story, despite the fact that it goes throughout space and time and tells the story of true star crossed lovers finding each other.

It may feel simplistic but believe me when I say it is enthralling.

Today’s Scene

For today we have the trailer linked but since it is a 17min short that lives on youtube we thought we’d include that as well.

Trailer

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