‘Flow’
A film about the quiet & resilient lives of animals.
In a world with no human presence, what remains? Flow begs the question and uses an array of animals big and small. As a flood hits the land in which they’ve inhabited, they must find refuge and companionship. The ‘protagonist’ of the film is Cat, an ambitious yet timid cat who finds their refuge on a boat occupied by none other than a Capybara. As they journey the seas, they are joined by a lemur, a dog, and a secretary bird. Together, they face all sorts of challenges as they adapt to their new world.
Director Gints Zailbalodis made the decision to have these animals act as realistically as possible, which means there is no dialogue in this film. This makes the film even more engaging as you get to know these animals so well that you can tell what they’re thinking simply from the look in their eyes – as opposed to having the characters tell you every feeling. On top of this, the animals are voiced by and modelled upon real animals. There were no liberties taken in exaggerating certain qualities to enhance entertainment or engagement from the audience. This comes from a clear love of animals and an understanding that they are just as, if not smarter than us humans. We are taken on a sprawling survival adventure with these animal and the filmmakers do a superb job in their world-building that I never questioned the fact that a bird can commandeer a boat, it just makes sense!
Flow comes across as effortless filmmaking; it is anything but. Zalibalodis worked tirelessly to animate this film with a small team which meant having to do a lot on his own. For example, he is credited for direction, production, writing, editing, the cinematography, art direction AND composing; what doesn’t this man do! The animation is spectacular considering the budget this little-film-that-could had (AUD$6 million). To put this in perspective, Inside Out 2 had a budget of AUD$290 million. The film was created on Blender, a program that is entirely free. This paves the way for the next generation of indie filmmakers, especially considering Flow just took home the Best Animated Feature prize at this year’s Academy Awards. The vast landscapes and maximalist architecture seen in Flow rivals most animation I’ve seen in the past few years. It is awe-inspiring and quite easy to get lost in its endless beauty.
Flow isn’t all cute animals and breath-taking landscapes though. At its core is a deeply moving, often sad story of lost animals trying to find their way. These creatures are often haunted by death and destruction, unsure of how to comprehend such concepts. It serves as apocalyptic cinema, leaving me wondering if Zalibalodis is making clear commentary on the state of our own world – the kind of state where the climate crisis is ignored, and one day our world will also only be inhabited by animals. In the same breath, audiences may view the film and its messages differently; having a conversation with my friends after the film made me realise this, as we all had various interpretations on countless scenes.
Ultimately, Flow is a testament to how important community is. To translate this film into human context would be to stress the importance of working together to improve our lifestyles, as well as the one planet we get a chance on. It is a mesmerising film that I loved dearly and would give anything to watch for the first time again. One of those in cinema moments where you are reminded just how powerful this art form can be.
Flow is in Australian cinemas March 20th!
