World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime

Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow trilogy is a flawless demonstration of the power of animation as an expressive medium, where the only limitation is the creators’ imagination. What Christopher Nolan, for example, arduously strives for on the foundation of a big-budget blockbuster and a crew of thousands, Hertzfeldt is able to do and even surpass with a short film involving a tiny group of collaborators. The cunning existential absurdity about time travel and cloning and the effect thereof on free will, destiny and identity is disarming in its complexity, profundity and caustic humour, rollicking playfulness and stinging emotionality. Furthermore, the number of episodes within the (for now) trilogy does not indicate the number of offshoots from the successful source, as would be the case in the mainstream. In Hertzfeldt’s case, on the contrary, it is an expression of power – not only in relation to the original concept and ideas of the first World of Tomorrow, but also in terms of the creative process and animation technology. (2021.12.21)