I loved it. Warning much strange violence and sex in it. During my viewing of it, I kept thinking of David Lynch's "Inland Empire", which this and O'Reilly's earlier movie "Please Say Something" both seem to have as a foster parent. However, I think "The External World" soars over O'Reilly's previous work in its scope. Whereas the previous movie had one main plot line and one small emotional note to it, this one weaves several short masterful if sardonic story lines together into one cohesive whole. The artwork will astound previous admirers of O'Reilly's work in that it is more accessible, more detailed and uses a brighter palette of colors and voices than the previous dots, lines and squeaks. I am on pins and needles wondering if O'Reilly will be able to top it. But even if he doesn't, there is no shame in setting the bar that high. This is a perfect match of meaning, mood, technique and humor, an achievement that deserves to be honored by a wider audience than short films usually reach.
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Felonious-Punk27 February 2011
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"The External World" must one of the best works from the Irish animator David O'Reilly, being a extraordinary example of crazy surrealism and dark comedy.
Like in all the other shorts from David O'Reilly, this short has a very stylish visual style, with a very appealing character design (The sharp contrast between the cute appearance of the characters with their actions is something that made this short work so well for me) While at first "The External World" seems to be something completely random and without any kind of sense, the truth is that there are many satirical elements contained in this short (Some of them pretty acid) which portray in a very unusual way several problems from modern society, sometimes in a very harsh (But always interesting) way.
"The External World" is one of most original and fascinating shorts ever made. It could be easily considered David O'Reilly masterpiece. -
As a film addict, I am often stumbling upon 'shorts' that are animated rather than film. And to be frank, I hate them all, because I never saw the value of animation vs live action. Until I saw "the External World" by David O reilly. It's magnificent. It's superb. It's honestly the one piece of animated work i always remember when people ask me about my favorite short films. Genre defining. Make sure to check his video games (yes) and his art installations. David is a genius.
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Horst_In_Translation14 April 2016"The External World" is a 6-year-old animated short film written and directed by David O'Reilly and it is still his most known achievement, which is a pretty sad state of affairs as these 17 minutes are not a great watch at all. It is actually a collection of several short movies, some with recurring themes, but it all gets repetitive pretty quickly as basically each sequence has little more to offer than one joke and this one repeats itself on some occasions even. The maker behind this also attempted to bring dramatic depth and emotion in here, but honestly I can see this one delivering in terms of emotion only to very depressed people. The whole atmosphere is pretty depressing actually, but it's not an interesting or authentic way. Instead it all feels just made for the sake of it. There is no convincing story told in here and the parody aspects are rarely funny either. The only thing this movie succeeds at is probably being controversial. The animation is something that almost everybody can do at home if he has a good program. I am not sure if this was a creative decision, but if so, then it was a bad one. All in all, I am baffled by the awards attention this film got. It is not a memorable creative achievement. Thumbs down.
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Michael-Malloy17 December 2011Unexpected script from an alien comin' from Ireland, this is just brilliant, sarcastic, ironic, caustic, well dark and above all well true. Good heap of delirious scenes , I'm even wondering if he grows spores in his wet country, where you could buy them on a dispenser (like in Japan during the 90's) !!! If u need a medicine, you can just go f*** yourself and your brain cells will all blow up ! To win a gold metal, why don't you jump up ? Learning piano is taught in a certain way while a stupid reality-show goes on... An excellent vintage well colored always keeping the filthy background of a world full of rules, consumerism, prejudices, doctors and drug dealers, pharmacy and medicines, the relation dominant-submitted meanwhile TV is on spreading its lies to a gullible audience, everybody is clapping but no one really knows why.