Flow is Gints Zilbalodis’s sophomore animated feature, following Away (2019). It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The central character is a black cat. Initially, it seems to be living in an abandoned artist’s studio where we see cat sketches. Outside, there are cat statues in different sizes, the largest one being genuinely gigantic. After a kinetic scene where it’s being chased by five dogs, far graver problems arise, more precisely the rise of water. Not only do all humans seem to be gone from the planet, but a severe flood drowns virtually everything. In 2012, the director made a seven-minute short called Aqua, with the same theme but stylistically different.
Eventually, the cat will jump on a ragged sailing boat. Other animals will join, such as a lemur, a capybara, a large bird and a dog.1My limited knowledge/interest in animals prevents me from specifying further. The latter is one of the dogs who was chasing the cat earlier but now doesn’t seem to pose a threat anymore. During the journey, they will encounter several other creatures, including a group of lemurs. In this section, a mirror seems to function as a comic relief, but the theme of reflection will later be laid out in a more profound way. I will not go into specifics about what transpires later.
The Festival Flow
Flow was created in Blender and boasts impressive animation, particularly in the backgrounds and camera movements. It happened to be the very last film I saw at Cannes, and after enduring far too many bland, overlong works, the film, which clocks in at 84 minutes, felt even more refreshing. In my mind, the potentially proverbial flood swept away all the bad films I had been subjected to during the festival. Flow is not overly complex, but Zilbalodis knows precisely what he is doing and has the film under perfect control. It is co-written and co-produced by Matīss Kaža, the director of the marvellous The Taste of Water (2022).
ZIlbalodis’s film comes highly recommended for people of all ages.
