Directed By Gints Zilbalodis

The Plot – 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.

Rated PG for peril and thematic elements.

Flow – Official Trailer

POSITIVES

On the surface, ‘Flow’ is about one cat’s will to survive, but there’s a much deeper exploration at play to Zilbalodis’ film that transcends contemporary filmmaking, all the while taking audiences on a roller-coaster of emotions that unearths so many profound sentiments along the way that we as human beings can take from our furry best friends. This is a film without the use of dialogue or an ensemble to render its characters and respective conflicts, yet it never struggles with the contextual layering, instead relying on the body language of the animals, courtesy of some spellbinding animation, to convey communication to an audience who are given very little answers about the cause of this life-altering flood. These mystical watercolor textures rendering such smoothly free-flowing schemes are continuously up to the challenge, marrying vivid emotionality in the designs of these expressive creatures with crisp camera motions mimicking the pace and pulses of a ship in the surrounding seas. Because of such, the animation is definitely unlike anything else that currently sits at the head of the table of Best Animated Features, at this year’s Oscar race, especially for how it never sacrifices environmental authenticity by tapping so dreamily onto the canvas, and considering this film is told from heights of a fearful feline, beauty often is the false sense of security that manipulates its audience, often with unforeseen obstacles of adversity continuously hurling itself at this cat who is forced to adapt or die in the overwhelming tides and intensity of the wildlife in the circumstances. Zilbalodis direction also moves the film miles, particularly in articulating the immensity and vulnerability of the ever-expansive animal kingdom, which constantly double down on the intensity during some breathtaking scenes of physical conflict. If you’re a hardcore animal lover like I am, then you will be locked in and invested to the overwhelming odds that these characters continuously find themselves in, and with the balance of Zilbalodis and Rihards Zalupe’s rivetingly endearing compositions ranging between wondrous and rampant, the film doesn’t go too long without increasing your pulse, imbedding music as a tool that shapes many foreboding atmospheres along the way, especially in the fog of a seemingly desolate world that seems to be apocalyptic without any humans at its disposal. But despite lacking humanity in the depths of its world-building, the film’s script, also from Zilbalodis and fellow screenwriter Matiss Kaza, surprisingly had many meaningful messages that could be taken away from spending so much time alongside these many bickering species, with subtle ways of utilizing societal conflicts onboard this rocky and rickety ship. Without the need to spoil how these themes materialize from scene to scene, I will instead commend the film highly for its situational exploits in everything from spirituality, overcrowding, empathy, and togetherness, all in ways that added something integral to the memorability of the film’s foundation, which could’ve just as easily rested on the laurels of being just another beautifully breathtaking animated movie. On top of this, ‘Flow’ often feels like a coming-of-age story for its cat, who in learning to adapt to the realities of this new world, finds itself getting stronger and more dominant as a provider for this group, and because of such, we see the cat venturing out to more daring conquests, transforming the once tepid treader we were initially introduced to, which also makes me wonder how much time has passed between the beginning and ends of this film. Speaking of time, considering this is a film that barely clocks in at 80 minutes of screen time, the knowledge and feelings attained from such an experience are remarkable, and though there are certainly some segments of the script that receive far more development than others, I never found my investment to the proceedings to be anything other than enamored, without a shred of tested patience or even periodic boredom that should stem from a film as repetitive in its structure as this one is, but never came close to reaching. When I wasn’t mesmerized by the thematic heft, the technical components illustrated a consciousness and detailing to their respective environments that prove the production to garner an absorbing quality that valued ears just as much as eyes, particularly in sound design and evolving editing that feel lifted directly from the kind of settings articulated in the film. Aside from the vocal language of the animals at the forefront of this growing group, which definitely tugged at my heartstrings each time one of them longed for something they weren’t initially privy to, the evidential influences of the environment conveyed a further desolated emphasis towards the once dominant animal community, feeling less apparent the more that water takes over the dominance of the microphones that they were channeled upon, adding a tragically gloomy awareness to things happening away from the focus of the narrative that so many movies about disasters often overlook or underutilize. The gloom itself isn’t overpowering enough to wane down the film’s entertaining consistency, particularly as a result of alleviating violence from the proceedings, but it’s mature enough to approach the fragility of life with unflinching honesty, and for a movie that could appeal to childlike audiences just as much as their adult counterparts, I applaud a movie that gives it to them straight, without the need to feel overtly schmaltzy or cute, each time the stakes and circumstances start to test the uncertainty of these soft and cuddly characters. Lastly, if you see ‘Flow’, be sure to stay past the credits, as a tacked-on sequence inspires a bittersweet coda to the movie’s lasting images that can’t be missed. In an age where most movies waste these opportunities to surmise an inside joke, this movie implants an exclamation point to the proceedings that further outlines the vicious cycle of life that continuously keeps moving, despite some species benefiting from it greater than others.

NEGATIVES

As previously outlined, the film skims over certain areas of the story that I wish were given more time to properly marinate, particularly one subplot involving some rabid newcomers to the ship that threatens the peaceful tranquility of the evolving core who have grown together with so much time spent alongside each other. It’s one of the only times in the film where the storytelling feels rushed, as right around the time these characters are learning about their new dynamics and internal power struggles, the film completely glosses over it, beginning to shift towards an emerging climax of its own that makes the previous and the characters that stemmed from it feel all the more superfluous. If the production wasn’t interested in adding ten more minutes to the screen time, an addition that I would’ve gladly welcomed, then I wish it would’ve just omitted these newfound additions all together, as the building foundation of this family of misfits feels like the hearty center at the film’s story, and attempting to even threaten that sanctimony before they face the biggest test of their lives, feels poorly timed and ultimately unnecessary, feeling like the only excessive fat to the story that I wish was trimmed with the finished product.

OVERALL
‘Flow’ is a wondrously mystical journey of epic adversity that says so much about conditional salvation without actually saying anything at all. Anchored by mesmerizingly majestic animation and thought-provoking themes, Zilbalodis has crafted something smoothly special for all ages, in turn trading inflated budgets for stirring sentiments in ways that not only put Latvia on the map for Oscar season but also challenge the Best Animated Feature category to go with the flow in order to save the category.

My Grade: 9/10 or A