Flow
Directed by Gints Zilbalodis
Written by Gints Zilbalodis & Matīss Kaža
Produced by Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens, Gregory Zalcman
Music by Gints Zilbalodis & Rihards Zalupe
Production companies Dream Well Studio, Sacrebleu Productions, Take Five
Distributed by UFO Distribution (France)
Running time 85 minutes
Countries Belgium, France, Latvia
Budget €3.5 million
Maybe it’s the season, or perhaps it’s that I expect everything to go to hell here in the States next month, but I’m watching a lot of animation. In addition to TV shows such as Vox Machina, Arcade (still absolutely stunning) and even Star Trek Lower Decks, I’ve seen the Sing movies, Wild Robot, and now, Flow.
Flow is a Latvian production, mostly by Gints Zilbalodiss. The essence of the dialog-free story is a small grey cat, living in a world seemingly abandoned by humans, escapes a giant tsunami that buries much of her land in hundreds of meters of water. She winds up on a small boat with a Labrador dog, a lemur, a capybara, and a secretarybird. Perhaps the least likely mix of animals on board the same boat since Noah, but Zilbalodis and co-writer Matīss Kaža have a way of making the most unlikely madly plausible.
You never learn what became of the humans, other than evidence that suggests a good century has gone by. Similarly, you don’t learn where the water all came from.
The characters aren’t even faintly anthropomorphic, although some of them show traits that would be considered unusual in real life. A cat might spend its entire life on a boat and never grasp the function and purpose of a tiller, let alone use it in the middle of a storm. Lemurs might gather shiny objects, but not entire baskets of same, and it’s unlikely a lemur would spend much time admiring its reflection in a hand mirror.
On the other hand, there are subtle indications of empathy and assistance amongst them that are in keeping with the sorts of odd alliances that pop up when different species are grouped together. Zookeepers have stories of such friendships, not just amongst mammals and birds, but even reptiles.
Like the storyline, the French animation is a wonderful blend of hyperrealism and surrealism. The normally mundane is beset by extraordinary events, and the reactions are also both mundane and extraordinary.
The coloring and composition are absolutely beautiful. Truly, this is a labor of love.
The budget for the whole thing (85 minutes of extremely rich detail) was only about $3.6 million, not surprising since it was all done on a home computer using the shareware program Blender. It does take expertise, though. I tried to do a cat walking, and wound up with a cross between a giraffe and hyena with epilepsy. It wasn’t pretty.
One more dichotomy: for a action-adventure fantasy that will put you on the edge of your seat, it’s also quite calming and pleasing.
Due for wide release in the US on December 6.