As one of the most influential, singular voices in animation, Don Hertzfeldt has done the unexpected: he made a sequel. And, like all great sci-fi franchises, this one far surpasses its predecessor.
Hertzfeldt’s 2015’s World of Tomorrow, regarded in some circles as that year’s best film, short or otherwise, is a hilarious but heartbreaking treatise on the nature of memory. And, in true sci-fi sequel fashion, World Of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden Of Other People’s Thoughts, doubles down on what made the original great, only instead of more explosions and lasers, we’re treated to twice the original’s humor and pathos.
In the original World of Tomorrow, a toddler named Emily (or “Emily Prime”) is guided through centuries of civilization by her clone from the future, Emily 3. This is a world dominated by nostalgia, where people’s dead faces are stretched across animatronics so they can always be around for loved ones, spending all their time reliving old memories that may or may not belong to them. Episode Two takes this concept and runs it ragged. Memories are not cherished here; they are a vital and integral source of pain.
Episode Two begins with young Emily coloring, interrupted only by the arrival of Emily 6, another clone from even further in time. Unlike Emily 3, who was autonomous and lived a full life of her own (even if it did involve breaking the hearts of fuel pumps), Emily 6 exists solely as a receptacle for memories. And, because she is an incomplete clone with only a handful of memories, Emily 6 has time traveled back to merge her consciousness with Emily Prime, reclaiming memories that never truly belonged to her.
This merging of minds makes up the bulk of the film, as the two Emilys are thrust inward into the hazy dreamscapes of each other’s minds (like Inside Out if it was filled with a thick layer of existential dread and anxiety). While Episode One’s Emily 3 had an almost mentor-like relationship to her younger self, Emily 6 often looks to Emily Prime for guidance, tormented by lost hope and immeasurable loss. In one of the film’s most heartbreaking scenes, the Emilys find themselves on a red planet where Emily 6’s sister, the erstwhile Emily 5, is orbiting as a satellite of other people’s memories. Emily 6 desperately pleads with her child self to tell her where they are located so they can save her sister, only to be met with incoherent responses of a child unable to grasp the situation.
Julia Pott, whose droll British voice manages to just barely contain the anguish of the older clone, once again voices the older Emily. In a way, she provides the film’s only actual performance, as candid audio recordings of Hertzfeldt’s five-year-old niece, Winona Mae, provide Emily Prime’s dialogue. But these two play off each other magnificently. Pott’s deadpan is often intertwined with the musings of a sweet but oblivious kid, creating a strange and endearing comedy duo of the ages.
Like its predecessor, Episode Two can be weighed down by the heaviness of its themes, but the film is persistently elevated by its sense of whimsy. Late in the film, the Emilys are brought into Emily Prime’s Triangle Land, a vivid candy-colored world only a child could dream up. It is in this world of triangle men that Emily finally gets a respite from the immense trauma of her past, even if that respite comes at a severe cost.
Episode Two asks some very big questions about identity and loss, managing to do so in a charming and adorable way. It is comforting and refreshing to see Hertzfeldt, whose brilliant Rejected managed to nihilistically show disdain for the consumerists that would endlessly quote it, put out work that is so empathetic. This is a film that can be challenging to watch, but its warmth manages to cut through the bleakness.
This film is exactly what Emily 6 struggles to be: human.
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