Storyline:
A Latvian, French, and Belgian co-production, Flow features no dialogue and follows a cat trying to survive along with other animals in a seemingly post-apocalyptic world as the water level dramatically rises.
The world seems to be coming to an end, teeming with the vestiges of a human presence. Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences. In the lonesome boat sailing through mystical overflowed landscapes, they navigate the challenges and dangers of adapting to this new world.
I watched the animated adventure film Flow with my children last weekend, and we all left the theatre feeling unexpectedly pristine and invigorated. Let me explain – after devouring a bucket of popcorn, a hot dog, and a Pepsi large enough to sink the very boat we had just seen the protagonists stranded on, we walked down the cinema stairs toward the exit. Glancing at each other with a newfound energy, we simultaneously remarked, “That was a good movie.”
And Flow is a highly unusual one at that. In some ways it feels more akin to a dream. It’s liberating from imposed narrations and expectations and perfectly embodying the “show, don’t tell” principle.
For its 85-minute runtime, it feels as though your perception has been transformed – not just as a human observer, but as if you’ve stepped into the very perspective of the animals on screen. You begin to see the world as they do, attuned to a reality entirely distinct from our own. The animals act like animals, and that gives their adventure an authenticity that, in moments of both delight and peril, makes the emotion that much more powerful. By the time the credits roll, you’re reluctant to let go of that newfound way of seeing.
It’s interesting how Flow follows last week’s ‘Friday’s Finest‘ selection of Life of Pi since both films explore animals and themes of survival and connection.
Just prior to our viewing, I watched on Academy Awards night Flow take home the gong for Best Animated Feature; the first independent film to win and the second animated film to be nominated for both the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Flow received critical acclaim (97% on Rotten Tomatoes and 98% audience score) and broke several Latvian box-office records, becoming the most-viewed film in Latvian theatres in history, including foreign films. So popular in fact – a statue of the cat from Flow was installed in Riga. It was initially installed outside of the Freedom Monument, and is planned to be moved to the Town Hall Square in April 2025.
Production of Flow started in 2019, and lasted five-and-a-half years with the animation done using the free and open-source software Blender. Because the budget of the film was so tight, there are no deleted scenes from the film. Every scene produced is in the final cut of the movie. Also, the team was very adamant in getting all of the “voices” to be done by real animals, so they recorded real animals for the movie. Due to the success of Flow, el director Zilbalodis said that he had been approached to create a sequel to Flow, but chose not to make one, instead focusing on a different project with dialogue.
References:
1. Flow (2024 film) – Wikipedia
2. Flow – IMDB
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
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