Weekend Pick: Hello World

This sci-fi romance makes for a mind-bending watch...

Like a mash-up of The Matrix and Your Name, Hello World begins with teenager Naomi meeting his future self, only to learn that he’s actually a simulation of the past and that his 26-year-old counterpart is the real deal.

It turns out the older Naomi has plunged himself into this artificial world in an attempt to rewrite a tragic event, blurring the line between the digital and the tangible.

Sound confusing? It is, but director Tomohiko Ito does a great job of pacing the narrative and gradually easing viewers into the film’s crazy quasi-time-travel logic.

The psychedelic CG visuals look fantastic and fit the virtual world theme to a tee – it’s like an animated and far more colourful version of Tenet.

Most importantly, the film has pathos and its core romance tugs harder at the heart-strings than you may initially expect.