“Dying is one of my least favorite things to do
World of Tomorrow: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts shifts its focus from time to memory, asking a deceptively simple question: how much of who we are belongs to us, and how much belongs to everyone else?
Emily-6, an abandoned clone searching for an identity, lives almost entirely through borrowed memories. The more she revisits the past, the more she loses herself, turning nostalgia into something heavy rather than comforting. Don Hertzfeldt transforms this idea into surreal landscapes of collapsing images and impossible spaces, making memory feel like a place you can wander until you forget the way out.
What saves the film from despair is Emily Prime. Her childlike curiosity cuts through all the existential weight, reminding us that life isn’t meant to be endlessly analysed but simply experienced.
Like its predecessor, this short packs an astonishing amount of emotion and philosophy into just twenty minutes. It’s funny, heartbreaking, and quietly hopeful, a beautiful reminder that the best way to escape the burden of old thoughts is to keep creating new ones.
