MOVIE REVIEW: Nova Seed

Should you plunk down the cash to check out Mondo Media’s Nova Seed acquisition? Find out in this review.

Independent movies are usually the place where you can find the most experimental of filmmaking. Some of these same independent films have become icons of pop culture, like The Blair Witch Project, Pulp Fiction, and Juno. Independent animated films are similar in this regard except they must bear the weight of the stigma of being considered “children’s animation.” As we’re still in the day and age where popular culture deems “animation” as a genre and not its own distinct medium, directors of independent projects sometimes feel shackled to trying to prove otherwise. Becoming like the Ralph Bakshis in vision and creating mature content in their movies to entice through shock value. However, including Bakshi, we also have directors who are brave enough to plunge into different themes and genres in their animated movies where mainstream companies dare not to go in fear of no return on sales.

Apocalypse scenarios are rather prevalent in live action films but are rarely done in animated form. The only genre rarer in animated films is science fiction, especially in the mainstream. For Nova Seed to take both genres and produce this movie definitely shows a determination for telling this story. The question now is will the niche genre fans the creators are catering to disappointed or overjoyed by Nova Seed?

Nova Seed takes place in a world many years in the future that is on the verge of decay. Barren deserts everywhere, no vegetation and overrun by mind controlled creatures. This is all the doing of the villainous Dr. Mindskull who is concocting a new evil plan to further wrap his influence around the world. Meanwhile, the story orients its focus to a NEO animal combatant, a voiceless lion man named Nac who starts off as a slave being forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena until he is detained by the government so that they may use him to enter one of the facilities of Mindskull’s. Inside the army and Nac find a green girl named Nova who has innate abilities of vegetation growth. With a new-found sense of protection, Nac takes Nova and makes his way to face Mindskull to stop him before he can use Nova’s abilities for evil.

 

On reflection of the flick, I wonder at times why I liked the film as much as I did. Previously when I covered the OVA The Dragon Dentist I criticized it for under explaining key aspects of the world which destroyed the atmosphere of the piece. Nova Seed if you took it to a critical extreme doesn’t fully explain its world. It is never laid out where Mindskull first came from? What are NEO animals? Life crystals? And the back story of our lion man to lay out just a few of the question marks. But in leaving these points as question marks the story allowed its simple narrative and atmosphere to cover it up making the world feel grander and through subtext allow for a more invested understanding of the motivations even if they aren’t spoken bluntly.

Nac at first, you’d question as to why he has such a devotion to protecting this practically comatose girl throughout the majority of the movie. The two characters are silent so they never exchange a word of dialogue to establish any sort of connection. In this case, the exchange of character happened entirely through the animation. The movement, expression, and action of Nac paint a character who has seen this form of action and misery before but it’s the first time it ever felt like he was personally attached to his need for survival. It makes Nac endearing as a protagonist for his virtue and intriguing to want to learn more about him. Nova is far less established than even Nac but what saves her from being an annoying escort character is that there is a sense that she plays a bigger role in the grand scheme of the world. Nova is made to be a necessity for the world and for Nac making her the key that holds the emotional aspect of the flick together.

What really strengthens the emotions of the leads is the film’s simple narrative. It can literally be boiled down to “evil mad scientist wants to take over the world with plants.” Simple and straight forward. At first glance, you would assume such a mindlessly simple concept would be shallow but this simple concept is used splendidly for the foundation of the Nova Seed’s world, beefing up the main headline of the story, Nac, and Nova. Mr. Mindskull also has his connections with the main two but with the freedom to speak he helps reinforce the emotional turmoil of Nac and Nova while also taking the fun role of the maniac with large world destroying monsters.

However, what really propels the film to being a very interesting watch is its art style and music. As it has proudly placed in many of its advertising, Nova Seed is a fully 2D hand-drawn animated movie. It’s obvious to see during the run time as the movement of characters and even the settings show a very scratchy yet fluent motion to it. There is careful planning behind every movement and detail shown and that really comes through during the fantastic action set pieces. Not only that but the bold and contrasting color palette of the world of Nova Seed looks visually captivating yet toxic and grungy befitting the tone. The music is a mixture of techno and electronica which heightens the experience of the film’s action set pieces and lays a thick atmosphere during its many slow and quiet moments. What Nova Seed gets better than a lot of other animated films I’ve seen is the atmosphere. Through using little dialogue and focusing on visual storytelling through animation and music it takes everything to a whole new enjoyable level.

That isn’t to say it isn’t without some lackluster aspects but many I’d say are excusable. Including some of the lower quality voice recordings, many of which sounded like they were recorded through a radio. The oddly used blur effects around the edges of some of the scenes, it worked for some scenes that complimented the fading blur with the fading consciousness of our character but more than anything just stood out oddly. Plus, even though I praise the simplicity of the narrative as it is a solid base for the emotions it also leaves the viewer with the movie being partly forgettable. Nova Seed is a very cool, stylized animated flick. Definitely, for the animation and emotion alone I’d recommend it to any animated film buff. It’s not perfect but with its unique experimental charm maybe it has enough so that you can remember it.

If you are interested in watching Nova Seed yourself you can purchase the movie by clicking HERE:

You can purchase either the Standard Edition for $8.99 or you can purchase the Special Edition which includes a Director’s Commentary, “Making Of” Videos, Director’s Q&A, Bonus Artwork and an Unlock Code for the Nova Seed game.