With the story of a cat who loses everything only to find something even more valuable, Gints Zilbalodis Flow achieves the impossible: making us live in the moment.
Director: Gints Zilbalodis
Genre: Animation
Run Time: 84′
BFI London Film Festival Screening: October 19, 2024
U.S. Release Date: November 22, 2024 in NY/LA theaters, with nationwide release to follow
U.K. Release Date: TBA
One thing I’ve always appreciated in animals is their ability to live in the moment. As humans, we spend so much of our time worrying about the future or thinking about the past that we let the present go by without even noticing. Animals, on the other hand, are able to fully experience each moment exactly as it is, letting strong emotions hit them at any given time as they react to what’s happening around them. Astinishingly, director Gints Zilbalodis (Away) and the team of creatives behind Flow manage to recreate that feeling.
Flow wastes no time introducing us to its protagonist, a resourceful, independent cat who lives on an island, and whose daily routine consists of finding enough food to sustain himself without becoming someone else’s dinner. Though Cat doesn’t seem to have any friends – and, to be fair, is doing perfectly fine on his own – he’s fond of a home that we can tell holds special memories for him. One day, the entire island goes under water, and so do all of his belongings. Suddenly, Cat realizes that, if he wants to stay alive, he’ll have to do the unthinkable: teaming up with other animals and hoping for the best.
And so, we follow Cat on a solo adventure that soon turns into a group effort to survive the ever-changing world that a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog also used to call home. The five animals form an unlikely squad, and eventually find themselves on a boat, headed toward the unknown and slowly figuring out how to work as a team.
On paper, Flow‘s plot isn’t revolutionary, but to experience the film is something else entirely. With clever writing, gorgeous visuals, and cleverly conceived animation, Gints Zilbalodis (not only the film’s director, co-writer and producer, but also on cinematography, editing, art direction and music duties) nails the very nature of each animal down to the tiniest of details, making both the characters and the world they inhabit feel real and tangible at all times.
Soon, you’ll forget that you’re watching an animated movie and you’ll see it unfold all around you, as if this were all actually taking place in real time. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself on the boat with these animals, experiencing the same emotions, and growing with them too. Because not only does Flow realistically capture the animals’ movements and feelings, but it also sees them evolve throughout, as each of them slowly learns from the others and eventually grows into a wiser, braver version of themselves.
Flow is a silent movie, yet it has so much to say through its characters’ actions and the feelings they convey. With gorgeous animation and a story that’s only deceptively simple, the film will take you to unexpected places and ultimately invite you to open yourself up to the world, without losing track of what really matters. Through its relatable, resilient protagonists, Flow makes us feel every step of this adventure – the good and the bad – and teaches us that home isn’t a place but, rather, the people you love, whose presence you didn’t even know you needed until they showed up in your life.
Both an ode to the loyalty and resilience of animals and a testament to the power of friendship, Flow is more of a feeling than it is a film. Life is short but it’s also beautiful, and Gints Zilbalodis manages to make us experience it all in the present, reminding us that it should be lived to the fullest.
Flow will be screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 19, 2024. The film will be released in theaters in New York and LA on November 22, 2024, with a nationwide release to follow.
