Flow

Flow is a beautifully made animated film that is without words. With the occasional animal sounds, it's almost a silent movie.

During my showing, we had kids and parents present, which was a first for me with this yearly film festival, where the usual is cinephile adults and students. But since this was more kid-friendly, it was intriguing to see how well the movie can keep them engaged without a word spoken. I would say it succeeded in most aspects. There was one kid who was locked in throughout the whole film and would often ask questions of his mother.

One of the things I appreciate about Flow is that it could have easily made the animals talk and hired famous people to voice them. I imagine Chris Pratt and Awkwafina would be available as they always are. But I'm glad they didn't.

Every animal has clear characteristics and personalities - communicated through posture, attitude, or character ticks. One is the leader type. The other is naive and childlike, or the other is sassy. I mean, it must be when telling a story.

Speaking of the story, the key conflict these animals face is a gigantic flood that takes over the land. There are plenty of suspenseful moments when it comes to the water, such as the rising water, and there isn't any space left to keep you above water. Or whenever one of the animals accidentally falls in, there's that worry of one of them drowning, and you're almost yelling for them to get back on.

With this flood, we don't know what year the film takes place. The only hints we are given of its time are man-made empty wooden boats that the animals jump on to avoid drowning. There are also houses, suggesting that humans are around, but we never see them. We are left with the animals, but like humans, they need each other to survive.

Overall rating: a beautiful, animated adventure and one of the most unique animated films of 2024. We are engaging with it much differently, which is without dialogue or humans, just us interrupting the story, the setting, and our critter characters.

Some kids won't click with it, but I know some will.

FLOW (2024) Nominated for both Best Animated Feature AND Best International Film.

An entrancing animated nature fable from Latvia's Gints Zilbalodis. A dialogue free adventure tale about a Cat who survives the next great flood. The Cat is rushed along with the water and comes across a number of other animals which persevere including a small 'herd' of sorts including an scavenging Lemur, a lazy Dog, a Secretary Bird which has lost its ability to fly, and a lumbering Capybara (rodent). The herd gets swept along and end up on a boat for a spell. The animals all have personality but aren't given anthropomorphism nor cutesy dialogue. They're just creatures trying to understand what in the world is going on. The sea, naturally, is teeming with life.

The animation was created by a free open source software (Blender), yet the filmmaker and his team do wonders with it. The blended design for the beasts may not be photo-realistic, but have a charming character of their own. The backgrounds are gorgeous and evocative.

Zilbalodis never gives a direct explanation for what is happening, but the lack of humans (and the deluge) certainly leads one to an ecological disaster. The most haunting visuals are the remnants of civilization: abandoned buildings, submerged and decaying structures and large man-made monuments to humanity and even cats! The parable is as powerful as it is simple. A society which can create magnificent technology, but is unable (or unwilling) to save the natural world around them. FLOW and its animals give a glimmer of hope.

An incredibly beautiful film. Goosebumps. Tears. A unique concept, without words but with dialogue. With sounds and music that make your heart beat faster.

For the first time ever, I sat and couldn't get up when the credits started rolling. I had to focus on them for a moment to see who made this magic happen, and to blink away emotions from my eyes. Even the team's dogs are mentioned in the credits. And then suddenly, a surprise - another scene after the credits!

Now I feel like reading everything that I can find about the film, getting stills as my desktop and phone wallpaper, and have just ordered their Cat t-shirt.

This is a masterpiece that I can't wait to see again!

The world today isn't exactly something that gives you hope for the future.

This movie is about a time when humans are (seemingly) gone. So in that way, it doesn't really give you hope either.

But...

Earth isn't just humans. It's full of animals that sometimes just live together in some sort of harmony. Granted. This movie makes it seem like it's so easy for them to live together across species. That part is somewhat silly. But the movie is done in a way that the animals are somewhat humanized. And the way they interact together gives me a bit of hope for earth. Not humans. Earth will be fine. As for humans, that remains to be seen.

But this movie is a small wonder that will make you smile and enjoy about 1½ hour of happiness.

Contrary to what one might expect from an animation film like this, this is not the one where animals can speak and magic happens. It looks and is very realistic and still remains magical; all without a single word.

The main character is a black cat, who witnesses the beginning of a natural disaster and tries to save its life by being a cat and going with the flow. The story is reminiscent of the biblical Noah's Arc, only without us humans, although the traces of our earlier presence are clearly seen.

With the cat and the other characters we flow and get mesmerized by the skillfully animated beautiful planet Earth and a little bit beyond it.

P. S. Remember to stay through the credits: there's a wonderful surprise at the end!