David Firth walks trough his animation history. I've always been intrigued by his work as they range from comedic, metaphorical or straight up violently shocking. There's a nice amount of calm cartoon stories too see as well. Not all of it is dark and twisted (even though most of it is). "Umbilical World" takes you on a guided tour and shows you some of his best stories in different vignettes. New animations are added to help the transition between the styles. All of the stories have also been revamped and remastered to look even more pristine. Unsurprisingly it becomes a strange experience. Which is just what it should be. A strange dream, since it appears to follow that dream-like logic.
Firth is a master at creating some utterly haunting imagery and then he'll make you laugh the next minute, or hit you in the head with a thought provoking message. If you have missed out on many of his works then I highly recommend to check out this assembly/retrospective movie. It even gives the viewer the sense that all of his surreal worlds are connected. I'd call this an anthology film in some capacity. Just remember that it's an experimental one. I was happy to see some of my favourite series get their own segments here with the upgraded animation. So if you like the darkness or quirkiness of let say... Someone like Lynch, then check this out as you'll tolerate this feature length nightmare. I'll say that the imagination on display here is a work to behold.
Firth is a master at creating some utterly haunting imagery and then he'll make you laugh the next minute, or hit you in the head with a thought provoking message. If you have missed out on many of his works then I highly recommend to check out this assembly/retrospective movie. It even gives the viewer the sense that all of his surreal worlds are connected. I'd call this an anthology film in some capacity. Just remember that it's an experimental one. I was happy to see some of my favourite series get their own segments here with the upgraded animation. So if you like the darkness or quirkiness of let say... Someone like Lynch, then check this out as you'll tolerate this feature length nightmare. I'll say that the imagination on display here is a work to behold.