FLOW

(Check our Chris Reed’s Flow movie review. The film is in theaters now via Janus Films. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)

Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis (Away) crafts a beautifully animated fable with his sophomore effort, Flow, in which we follow a ragtag group of animals navigating a massive flood. With more than a few Biblical allusions, the movie embarks on a journey through not only rising waters but complex interspecies relationships. No people may be in sight—beyond their abandoned artifacts—but Flow nevertheless serves as an allegory for the human world and the virtues of altruism.

The story begins simply enough, with a dark-haired cat (depending on the light, the fur looks anywhere from black to slate gray) looking for food while avoiding a pack of local dogs, who eventually give chase. At the end of each day, our intrepid feline returns home to an abandoned house surrounded by cat statues. We know not what has happened nor why the homeowner is gone.

We do know that, like most domestic cats, this one does not like water. Which makes the sudden flood that bursts from the forest on the heels of a herd of fleeing deer all the more terrifying. Fortunately, the cat is able to make it to higher and higher spots as the level rises, eventually leaping into a nearby boat. That vessel already has a passenger however: a capybara.

Soon, their numbers grow to include a lemur, a Labrador retriever, and a secretary bird, who join for various reasons along the way. Together they float through vast landscapes both natural and constructed, filled with what look like ancient cities and temples. As the tale continues, the animals must learn to cooperate to survive. Never do they encounter people. It’s their universe. And nature’s.

The images prove stunning throughout, the fur and feathers of the protagonists rippling with grace against a backdrop of awe-inspiring scenery. The musical score—co-written by Zilbalodis and composer Rihards Zalupe (Tizlenes)—delivers an alternatingly gentle and brutal accompaniment to the narrative, sometimes softening the danger and other times increasing dramatic tension. It is always highly evocative, even as it provokes anxiety.

For that is often the state of the viewer, filled with worry that something could happen at any moment to the animals in the boat. The cat, especially, seems to court disaster, saved a few times by repeat visits from a wandering whale. And given how cute it is, it can be quite hard to watch the risks it takes.

This is not a criticism, but an advisory: be prepared. For the most part, despite some occasional overly elliptical plot points (one involving the final fate of the bird), Flow is a lovely and thought-provoking meditation on life in all its glory and regret. Slip into the stream and let the current carry you away. Within the disquieting whirlpool swirl rivers of grandeur and truth.

– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)

Searchlight Pictures; Jesse Eisenberg; A Real Pain

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