Flow (2024)

December 23, 2024 5:15 PM

An animated, dialogue-free film following a solitary cat whose home is devastated by a great flood, and who must find its way in an unfamiliar world...

I saw this a few weeks ago, and have seen it twice more since then, in part due to wanting to share it with others. It's a bit homespun (don't expect Pixar-level animation, it's an indie production made in Blender!) but I think it manages to be beautiful, stylistically striking, playful, and moving, especially in light of the times here in the US and around the world. Without giving too much away, I found some scenes involving the secretarybird particularly affecting. Just wanted to share it here too!

posted by nightcoast (33 comments total)

Looks good! Trailer
posted by ginger.beef at 7:57 PM on December 23, 2024

I've seen it, together with 2 more from the same young guy, Gints Zilbalodis.

They are definitely original and accomplished, and 'Flow' may be a strong contender for the Oscars. But the most interesting thing about him is the fact that up until this one (he directed 6 previous shorts, and a very similar feature called 'Away' in 2019) he made all his movies without any assistance from others: He directed, produced, edited, scored, etc, all of them completely on his own.
posted by growabrain at 12:16 AM on December 24, 2024 [1 favorite]

I absolutely loved this movie, including the animation style. I'm getting very tired of photorealistic animation, and this was a nice antidote to that. It was absolutely magical and it made me cry several times.
posted by rednikki at 7:13 AM on December 24, 2024 [2 favorites]

I saw this in theatres two weeks ago. I felt bored in the middle, but the film stayed with me and I still think about it.

Director is definitely a cat person and has insight into the way cats behave.

The secretary bird was particularly good. I felt that the film was partly just about not helping those who have proven to be bad people in the past, they will only bring misery. How right he is. :)
posted by Didnt_do_enough at 8:57 AM on December 24, 2024 [2 favorites]

Just torrented, watching now! Thanks for the suggestion, it looks charming.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 12:23 PM on December 26, 2024

Coming back in to say: check it out!

I'm sure some viewers have been turned off by what could be construed as anthropomorphism in the characterizations. While that's a bit true, there are all kinds of accounts of non-human animals learning how to do some fairly complicated tasks, learning from each other ("social learning"), and even cooperation where you wouldn't expect it. So do keep that in mind while watching.

And there's a capybara main character, for capybara fans (I know you're out there).
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 11:35 PM on December 26, 2024 [2 favorites]

I loved this a lot.

Our kitty main character does all the right cat things.

There is some anthropomorphism, sure, but it would be hard to make this movie without some. However, it's much less than it could've been and all the animals behave like animals.

(Except for the surreal parts.)

The animation is gorgeous. The style is great!

(Since it's from the perspective of animals, we don't know what happened or why all the humans are gone or why the world is flooding -- although we can guess. I'm glad it didn't try to hint at anything. It just told this story.)

This is now available as a digital rental. It wasn't playing near me, as far as I knew, so I was happy to finally get to watch it.
posted by edencosmic at 4:46 PM on January 7

Just watched it. Powerful. The theater was in tears at the end. The cat should win an oscar.
posted by signal at 5:34 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

I missed seeing it in theaters (it was only here like one weekend) but this weekend I watched it streaming and it has replaced Anora as my favorite film in recent years. It's a weird Aesop's fable of different personalities getting along and what a tribe means, and it doesn't really have an overreaching goal other than survival.

One thing I really appreciated about it is the use of perspective to tell the story: the cat's low angle, a birds-eye view, the water's-surface view you get floating on it, all as opposed to a god's-eye view watching the animals from afar.

I'm not usually a cryer at movies, but that beached 'whale' at the end got me.

(probably the most succinct and accurate review I read was "fuck those dogs" 😂 )
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:12 AM on January 13 [9 favorites]

It's beautiful, but puzzling. I'm happy to sit with that.
posted by k3ninho at 3:21 PM on January 13 [4 favorites]

I'm not usually a cryer at movies, but that beached 'whale' at the end got me.

Watch through the credits, fwiw.

Our household has been wanting to watch Flow for a few months, but we just don't live in a metro area big enough to pull it in. On Saturday morning, I just happened to glance at social media and saw it was now on digital for rent or purchase. I looked up, told my wife, and our morning schedule was suddenly rearranged around watching the movie that moment. When it makes it to a physical release, I'll be snatching up a copy.

The animation was superb and it felt like they generally captured the motion and personalities of the different animals, at least as you might expect.

There's a lot unanswered about the film, but that adds to the magic. What happened to the humans? Who knows. Why is there a flood? Why does the water recede? Was the deer stampede at the end an indication that the flood was about to return? (I think so?) And why make the whale something not a whale?

What went on with the secretary bird? Where did it go? Why didn't kitty qualify?

The film just feels stepped in allegory, some things I felt I understood, some things that I'll be thinking about for a while now.
posted by Atreides at 8:20 AM on January 14 [4 favorites]

Watch through the credits, fwiw.

Amazon Video pushed me off to whatever the algorithm wanted me to watch next and I closed it -- I will go back and check it out!
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:37 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]

Felt a bit like an indie video game, but one that I would love. It made me think of Journey and thatgamecompany. Perfect thing to rip tears out of my eyeballs.

The story is kinda about self discovery and found family, which is pretty basic, but fortunately it's well done and a bit mysterious. The reflections, the idea of self-awareness... The secretarybird (really I'm just finding out about this name now) is kind of fascinating. Why does it save the cat, but not the dogs? I want a better answer than: it knows those dogs suck lol.

I suppose the secretary bird and the whale are similar creatures from the extremes. The cat does not belong in the sky or the depths, and they want to return it where it belongs. The cat cannot ascend to the sky and it should not drown in the depths.
posted by fleacircus at 1:05 AM on January 16 [5 favorites]

Alternative answer to the dogs, is that it just knew the dogs were too many for the boat and their own ability to take care of themselves. but yeah, it may have just known the dogs were jerks.

I had the same sensation at first with that feeling it was a video game, but I think the animation and direction pulled me further into this is a film and not a game territory. I like the theory about the whale and the secretary bird.
posted by Atreides at 7:13 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

The cat also chases the extra lemurs away when they board which makes me think there is something about avoiding imbalance. And then at the end the lemur has to give up the cracked mirror reflection of the tribe at the end. Like there is a consciousness higher than the tribe or the perfect self. Maybe even higher than the capybara's perfect generosity? Maybe maybe not.

(The perilous boat at the end really got me, internally I was like, *sobbing* you'd better save that fucking capybara.)

But I'm not sure the bird cares about spiritual growth either. It's just trying to get to its own destination (that isn't for the cat to understand), and maybe just doesn't want to slow down. It could even be that when the bird is broken it's just meaner, like a punished angel that needs to get back to heaven. I guess I am thinking a little of Princess Kaguya (spoilers) where the perfect moon people may seem rude and inconsiderate but make no mistake they are perfect holy beings and we are not. But the bird's tribe sucks too, so, probably not this either.
posted by fleacircus at 3:44 PM on January 16 [3 favorites]

One immediate question I had regarding the bird goes to the first time it picks up the cat. I noticed the cat was sort of similar in color to the juvenile birds, and was this at first an act of mistaken identity? Did it think it was picking up a juvenile and lifting it away? Or did the bird always want to help the cat reach the destination? Later on, its wing was definitely broken/injured because he was trying to help the cat.

Gawd, I was the same about the boat. The movie hadn't quite convinced me it wouldn't let something terrible happen, even though nothing super terrible had ever happened to the animals up to then. And of course, one more chance to let the dogs show themselves to be jerks.
posted by Atreides at 7:12 AM on January 17 [2 favorites]

It's up for 2 oscars: foreign and animated.
posted by signal at 6:46 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

What a good movie. It left my kids emotional… definitely had some emotional clean up to do afterwards.

I want a better answer than: it knows those dogs suck lol.

The bird left the others to make the decision. Until then it had been steering the boat for all the other animals; it was the character with the most wisdom to do so. The cat didn’t want the dogs out of fear for itself, but the other animals wanted the dogs for various reasons; so the cat allowed it and it didn’t attack the dogs even thought it was afraid. And then the cat went to the bird for acknowledgment. See I can do good even if it’s against my nature and self preservation. Am I good?

What went on with the secretary bird? Where did it go? Why didn't kitty qualify?

The bird sacrificed itself so the water would recede. It had demonstrated selflessness enough to transcend. The cat still had some work to do.

What a great movie yall!!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:27 PM on January 24 [4 favorites]

I don't think the bird really left it to the other animals -- they had to override it, and I think it was kind of checked out and sulking about it. I don't think the cat just allowed it, it put its little paw on the rudder too iirc. I also don't want to think of the cat like pleading its moral case like that tbh. I'm glad it's not straightforward, at least not to me.
posted by fleacircus at 7:39 PM on January 28 [1 favorite]

Yes, this movie felt to me like a video game, one in particular, Myst. I watched this with my wife and kid and they kept trying to put it in context. Wait, a capybara is South American but the lemur is from Madagascar. Is that Venice, Greece, TIbet? What's going on? Is this global warming? But I saw it more like a fable or parable, more fantastically biblical than a predictable narrative. Was there anthropomorphising? Animals knew how to sail a fucking boat, so yes, but so what? What I noticed was the animals seemed in conflict between their nature and doing for each other. The secretary bird saved the cat's life, and in doing so doomed its own. I saw its ascension as its innate destination after it knew its life was over. Like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Yes, it made it seem selfish, but it felt a calling and it had to go. Whenever an animal lost its way or stopped helping, it was because its nature pulled it off mission. There goes a rabbit. Let's get him! I love the shiny thing. The shiny makes me leader of the troop. I must go south. I must always continue south. The anthropomorphism allowed us to feel that tug, that instinct we recognized in those animals, but the anthropomorphism allows us to maybe see our own selfishness differently.
posted by Stanczyk at 11:51 AM on February 15 [2 favorites]

FYI, Flow is now on Max. So if you got a subscription, you got easy access to the film!
posted by Atreides at 8:03 AM on February 17

Yes, watched on Max.

I loved how much the world was built but unexplained. The cat statues, from small to monumental. Where did all the humans go? The cat's human seems like it might have departed recently: not yet any weather damage from the broken window.

Cat is alone at the start; cat is part of a found family at the end.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:51 PM on February 18 [4 favorites]

I really liked this movie and wish it well at the Oscars. I found myself explaining to my family how similar this must have been to when a dam is completed and the water starts backing up into the created reservoir, flooding all that existed there before. If you read about China's Three Gorges Dam, completed in 2006, you can get a sense of all the people displaced (31 million) and the culture that was buried in the water.
posted by drossdragon at 9:35 AM on February 20 [3 favorites]

That's a great read of it, drossdragon.
posted by Atreides at 7:55 AM on February 21

I thought for sure the world was supposed to be the lost city of Atlantis.

Our 2.5yo loved that the kitty looked like our two black cats. He didn’t seem upset about any of the perils except the dog chase at the beginning.
posted by lizjohn at 1:33 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]

Just watched this. The trailer hooked me in. This was so good! I loved it. It's my favorite movie that I've seen in a long time.

I liked the animation style. I'm not a huge fan of hyperrealistic animation. I like this more stylized type of animation.

I'm one of those people who has a habit of watching TV/movies while cooking or cleaning or playing games on my phone. So I thought I might not stick with a movie with zero dialogue! But it was the opposite. It was both meditative and emotionally gripping.
posted by litera scripta manet at 5:48 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]

Also, heads up for reddit link, but the creator of this film apparently did an AMA recently if anyone is interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1in0byb/hey_rmovies_im_gints_zilbalodis/

(Came across this while trying to track down the other films he's done.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 5:51 PM on February 21 [4 favorites]

It does feel meditative, I think so much, in part because there isn't dialogue and things happen that really feel like it's happening for the watcher to interpret for themselves. It's a bit of it is what you bring to it situation.
posted by Atreides at 6:56 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]

I watched it with my daughter and three and a half year old granddaughter and it was both a great film and a great family bonding experience. We talked about it all the way through - Three basically narrated - and it was really interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts and so great to have a movie that had something for everyone. It was not too much for Three, the scary moments never got too bad. The cat looks exactly like our cat. And it was so beautiful!

I saw it through a vaguely Buddhist lens. I think the bird transcended - got off the wheel and achieved enlightenment, first by helping and then by letting go of the attachment to the others, to the boat and eventually to the earth. The cat was close but not there yet. Now though they can be a bodhisattva, choose to remain and help others, relinquish the innate selfishness of cats. Each of the animals transcended their nature - the cat got less selfish, the dog got more thoughtful, the monkey gave up its mirror and basket of stuff and the capybara eventually had to ask for / accept help. Or possibly the capybara was already a perfect being.
posted by mygothlaundry at 6:13 AM on February 27 [10 favorites]

ACADEMY AWARD
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:44 PM on March 2 [7 favorites]

‘Flow’ Director Gints Zilbalodis Returns To Latvia As A National Hero
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:16 AM on March 7 [3 favorites]

Just saw this at the cinema and loved it. A perfect mix of earthiness and dreaminess.

Now reading various theories about the movie. Some of them:

• It's Atlantis.
• It's climate change.
• It's an alien planet with various Earth species introduced to the same location.
• The animals were former humans, the cat sculptor became a cat.
• The floods were caused by another celestial body approaching the world, the water drops in the tower scene were literally falling upwards and the bird left to the other world.
• The tower scene was the bird offering itself as a sacrifice to make the water recede.
• (Umpteen variants of X part was a dream)

posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:09 AM on March 22 [3 favorites]

Meanwhile the creator is just "Nah, it's not my job to tell you what things mean. That's meant for you to decide."

And I respect that.
posted by Atreides at 5:56 PM on March 22 [5 favorites]