Flow (2024)
March 31st, 2025 19:39![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neo_ultraThe greatest success of Latvian film industry is a story about a little cat in a big world. And what a story!
I think there is no need to tell much about the film, anyone who follows the Oscars probably has by now heard that Flow received the award for the best animated film. And that despite having a small budget and not being from any well-known country!
Those are facts, but one must not discount feelings. And the film generates a lot of those. I have heard opinions that the film just purposefully tugs on the heart-strings, that is the reason why the characters are the most popular and memetic animals, and not something like an aardvark or a zebu. I don't share this cynical point of view. Of course, it helps to have a cute cat as a main character because the internet loves cats.
But it's the story that matters, and that would have worked with pretty much any animal. The story about how all those various animals learned to co-exist and became friends is an important message for any time, but particularly for these days. Seems simple on the surface, but if one looks deeper, any number of interpretations are possible - from a warning about the environmental catastrophe (all the people are gone somewhere?) to a Christian allegory about self-sacrifice and death.
The story alone might not have had that much impact on its own, but the visuals and the music were stunning. Sure, it was obvious that the animation was not super high-budget, the creatures sometimes looked a bit like in a video game. But the environment was amazing, all those colours and textures!
The music was really fitting too, and it was great that there were no dialogues. Talking animals would have turned it all into a whimsical fairy tale, but without any dialogues the story seemed much more realistic and almost had biblical proportions. Although of course the animals were quite a bit smarter than real life creatures, I don't think any actual capybara could have figured out how to steer a boat. But the animals were realistic enough not to turn the whole into some kind of Disney adventure.
All in all I have absolutely no complaints about the film. I also didn't find it too sad, I know some people said they have been pretty much crying non-stop while watching it. There were some sad moments that made you worry about the characters, but everything turned out well and the film ended on a positive note.
A definite recommendation!
I think there is no need to tell much about the film, anyone who follows the Oscars probably has by now heard that Flow received the award for the best animated film. And that despite having a small budget and not being from any well-known country!
Those are facts, but one must not discount feelings. And the film generates a lot of those. I have heard opinions that the film just purposefully tugs on the heart-strings, that is the reason why the characters are the most popular and memetic animals, and not something like an aardvark or a zebu. I don't share this cynical point of view. Of course, it helps to have a cute cat as a main character because the internet loves cats.
But it's the story that matters, and that would have worked with pretty much any animal. The story about how all those various animals learned to co-exist and became friends is an important message for any time, but particularly for these days. Seems simple on the surface, but if one looks deeper, any number of interpretations are possible - from a warning about the environmental catastrophe (all the people are gone somewhere?) to a Christian allegory about self-sacrifice and death.
The story alone might not have had that much impact on its own, but the visuals and the music were stunning. Sure, it was obvious that the animation was not super high-budget, the creatures sometimes looked a bit like in a video game. But the environment was amazing, all those colours and textures!
The music was really fitting too, and it was great that there were no dialogues. Talking animals would have turned it all into a whimsical fairy tale, but without any dialogues the story seemed much more realistic and almost had biblical proportions. Although of course the animals were quite a bit smarter than real life creatures, I don't think any actual capybara could have figured out how to steer a boat. But the animals were realistic enough not to turn the whole into some kind of Disney adventure.
All in all I have absolutely no complaints about the film. I also didn't find it too sad, I know some people said they have been pretty much crying non-stop while watching it. There were some sad moments that made you worry about the characters, but everything turned out well and the film ended on a positive note.
A definite recommendation!
