As we at Decider have proved, there are a lot of good things to watch. However, there are some things that are so beautifully crafted and connected to the the complicated and ever-changing web that is humanity that they leave you on the verge of tears. They don’t make you want to cry because they’re sad; they make you want to cry because they’re beautiful and sad and happy and hopeful and angry and bitter and sweet and a thousand other emotions you need to express but can’t articulate. As odd as World of Tomorrow is, it falls squarely in this streaming gem category.

World of Tomorrow is an animated short created by Don Hertzfeldt and illustrated by Julia Pott. The film premiered at Sundance, where it won the Grand Jury prize, and the film has won over 40 awards and is currently nominated for the Short Film (Animated) Oscar. This isn’t Hertzfeldt’s first foray into the abstract world of complicated animation. He also created the painful look into depression, It’s Such a Beautiful Day, along with many other animated shorts. The sci-fi short follows a girl named Emily as she encounters one of her many clones, but please don’t run away just because you read the words “animated” and “sci-fi.” World of Tomorrow is one of the deepest, most gorgeous, and most devastating pieces of science fiction in recent history.

I won’t say much about the plot because it is a 17-minute short. Between the time length and the story itself, the plot is easy to spoil with little effort. Essentially, the later generation Emily clone leads the original Emily, Emily Prime, through Clone Emily’s past and future. Like everything in this short, the plot seems simple on a surface level but packs immeasurable depth, exploring the importance of human interaction, emotion, the identity crisis that accompanies cloning, what consciousness is, and the moral benefits and tolls of innovation. Everything about this film smartly and delicately straddles the line between simplicity and depth. Take, for example, the animation itself.

By using poorly drawn stick figures and “boiling lines,” an animation technique that makes characters and scenes constantly appear in motion (think Ed, Edd, and Eddy or Dr. Katz), the animation appears simple and child-like. However, as you watch the short, it quickly becomes apparent that the background animation is anything but simple. This is also demonstrated in the captivating voice acting work.

Though Clone Emily is an adult woman, Emily Prime is a child, so she talks just like a child. Her dialogue was recorded from things Hertzfeldt’s four-year-old niece (Winona Mae) would say while she was drawing and playing. This dialogue decision inserts a tone of sweetness and humanity to Clone Emily’s often-horrible monologues. However, this decision also inserts an air of sadness into every interaction the pair have. As funny and innocent as Emily Prime currently is, it’s impossible to ignore the omnipresent reality that she’s going to grow up and see the horrors Clone Emily has. It’s a constant reminder of aging.

Science fiction can be a lot of things: insightful, poignant, disturbing, funny, depressing, action-packed, boring, hilarious, grave. However, all good sci-fi can be categorized by one word: complicated. That’s what World of Tomorrow is — a complicated reflection of who we currently are as a society framed through a clone-filled and outernet-dependant lens. It’s simultaneously one of the bleakest pieces of art ever created and the most profound and hopeful, capturing the duality of life itself. To quote Clone Emily, “Live well, and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.”

[Where to stream World of Tomorrow]