“Flow”: A Magical Journey Through the Eyes of a Cat

It seems like all the awards for animation are being conquered by a little black cat this season. Here are all the reasons why Flow deserves your attention too.

Summary

Flow follows the journey of a cat after a flood devastates his home. Our protagonist teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a secretarybird, and a Labrador, and together they navigate a small boat in search of safety. To survive, they must rely on courage and intelligence, but above all, on each other.

The Golden Globe Winner in Animation

This film has achieved some notoriety after winning a Golden Globe for Best Animated Film, but it has been winning awards all through 2024.

Flow was directed by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, who also took an active part in the writing and scoring of the project. The film was completely rendered on the free and open source software Blender during a period of five and a half years of work. It counted on the financial support of cultural services and agencies in Latvia, France, and Belgium to be finished, and according to Variety, the production budget was $3.7 million.

And what makes this project so special, you may be wondering?

A Story of a Little Black Cat

Our protagonist is a black cat, accompanied by a group of other animals. That is not particularly original, but here’s the gist: There’s no use of dialogues, which means the animals communicate as real animals would. That is achieved by the amazing work on the animation team’s part to replicate the movements and behavior of each one of them. 

The combination of movement and sounds is used to create a personality for each character. For example, we can tell the dog is very social and that he wants to befriend the others, and he shows that in the most dog-like way possible. We can also tell when the cat is finding the dog annoying. The realism with which the cat moves and interacts with the other animals and his surroundings is impressive.

We can also get a good look at our protagonist’s world: all the landscapes the animals pass in their small boat are designed to be beautiful and make the journey pleasant in spite of everything. Precisely because there are no dialogues, the film is a contemplative experience through the eyes of the cat. The calming soundtrack helps build this atmosphere. To know that the director was one of the two composers only heightened my admiration for him. I will not be missing any of his future projects. 

Learning to Trust

At its core, Flow is a story about adaptability. Learning to work with others and trust them in spite of the differences. And in some way, the animals represent the different kinds of people, or the different approaches we have to life.

There’s the lemur, too selfish and concerned by material things to really connect with others; the capybara, Stoic and loyal; the secretarybird, condemned and marginalized for showing compassion to an outsider. Or the dogs, always friendly and unbothered.

The cat is an observer who, in time, finds a way to open up and interact with his companions. As much as I loved his tense relationship with the dog, the cat’s deepest connection seemed to be with the secretarybird, their interactions marking some of the most emotional moments of the film.

We’ve Stumbled Upon Something Special

I’m having a hard time watching the Oscar nominations this year. The Academy seems to be selecting the worst productions, the ones with the most harmful messages, and the ones designed to be visually shocking, and making the audience feel as uncomfortable as possible. 

And certainly, movies are a reflection of reality and should be allowed to touch on any topic they want. But what brought me, and I imagine also a lot of other people, closer to films, is the search for beauty. To me, making movies is about discovering and capturing the beauty of everyday things and finding traces of it even in the darkest of times. Communicating hard truths, but also bringing hope to the people watching.

I found Flow deeply moving, not only for the story in itself but because it felt like an echo of what films and the film industry used to be about. And knowing that there are still people who want to create beautiful art and give people a pleasant and emotional experience gives me a lot of hope for the future. This is what I expect of a movie.

Despite the general situation of the entertainment industry, we can say that 2024 was a great year for animation. Inside-Out 2 and The Wild Robot may be the mainstream examples, but Flow has earned a special place in my heart.

Please do yourself a favor and watch it. I could not recommend it more.