A golden retriever, a solitary black cat, the chillest capybara, a majestic secretary bird, and a materialistic lemur, aka a complete trash goblin, walk into a boat and thus begins the part mythic and part deeply philosophical journey of Gints Zilbalodis' Flow (2024). Set in a lush green, secluded oasis, Flow is a poetic, visually soothing, and spiritually resonant animated odyssey. The film invites audiences on a wordless journey바카라there isn바카라t a single dialogue or lyrical melody that accompanies the story바카라of the most adorably concocted, timid black cat as its safe haven gets flooded and it has to find dry ground to survive.
As an ardent lover of all things feline바카라with a rather ironic allergy to the furry voids of joy바카라Zilbalodis' cat had my heart from its very first meow and purr. No surprises there. This is a film created by someone who truly understands cats, from their disarming charm to their ever-amusing sass. The very first shot of the film begins with the cat looking at its reflection in the water바카라an introspective act that comes full circle at the end of the film, only this time the cat is no longer alone.
Our protagonist was obviously a beloved pet before some catastrophe made humans abandon the place. As the film begins, the cat is now thrust into an unfamiliar, often terrifying world where every shadow could be a threat. We see the cat live a solitary life in a cosy forest cottage that was once clearly inhabited by someone who adored cats. Feline sculptures, both big and small, along with drawings of the little furballs are strewn about and around the home, almost like it was a shrine dedicated to cats.
What starts as a simple survival tale unfolds into something more profound바카라an exploration of loss, bravado, and the cyclical nature of life and death. At its heart, Flow is about found family. These creatures바카라different in temperament and past experiences바카라must rely on one another as they face the grandeur and cruelty of nature. They each get their little bildungsroman arcs.
The golden retriever learns that true friendship sometimes means letting go of facile fellowship. The lemur overcomes his materialist pursuits. The secretary bird grapples with the cost of defiance. The capybara is a reminder that some souls are unwavering in their kindness바카라a steady heart in the storm. And the leviathan-like whale, the creature that lurks beneath, represents something much larger. Its arc is not one of transformation but of inevitability. Like the flood itself, it represents the duality of nature, of survival being the other side of cessation. Together they reinforce the universal truth about finding solace in companionship and letting go of things not in our control.
Of course, Flow isn바카라t just emotionally powerful. Made on a budget of €3.5 million (approx. $3.8 million), it바카라s a huge win for indie animation and the open-source community. The entire film was made using Blender바카라a free, open-source 3D creation software used for modeling, animation, rendering, visual effects, and even video editing. It바카라s widely popular among indie creators and studios because it offers powerful tools without the hefty price tag of industry-standard software like Maya or Cinema 4D. This aligns perfectly with the film바카라s themes of resourcefulness and adaptation, proving that you don바카라t need a Disney-sized budget to craft an experience that strikes a chord.
The blend of 3D animation with a watercolor-esque aesthetic makes the frames feel like a moving painting. What it loses in polished finesse we have come to experience in mainstream animated spectacles, it makes up for in heart. And despite the drawbacks it never misses on an emotional beat. You know when the cat is terrified and when it is curious. You know when the dignified bird is nursing a bruised ego and when it is being dismissive. Even the antagonist secretary bird바카라the one with the longest and sleekest crown feathers바카라moves with the haughtiness of its sillier counterpart, Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda, a $150 million Dreamworks project.
Zilbalodis crafts a dreamlike atmosphere where the water itself becomes a living entity바카라sometimes serene, sometimes wrathful. The sunlit ripples, the ominous depths, the haunting remnants of civilisation submerged beneath the waves, evokes a sense of the mythical, from the lost city of Atlantis to Noah바카라s Ark minus Noah. Thematically, Flow tackles weighty subjects beyond loss and grief. There is an underlying theme of karmic convergence and divergence of paths.
Flow subtly but firmly also echoes the plight of climate refugees바카라displaced by forces beyond their control and the impermanence of safety in an unforgiving world. The sinking home, the lost sanctuary, the desperate journey바카라it's not just fiction. This is a reality creeping closer to all of us. After all, in this late-stage capitalist hellscape, we바카라re all far closer to becoming climate refugees than billionaires. And just like the animals in Flow, we바카라ll only make it through if we learn to form communities that stand by in staunch solidarity with one another.
Flow is a film that will leave many with questions and confusions because it does not spoon-feed or spell things out. Speaking of the importance of films that might not explain everything, All We Imagine As Light maker Payal Kapadia noted on MUBI바카라s Beyond Bollywood episode, 바카라Sometimes if you don바카라t get it바카라there바카라s no need to over analyse. If you think you are not understanding something, then just experience it. It바카라s like seeing a beautiful mountain or the ocean.바카라 And in the end, Flow isn바카라t about neatly tied-up endings, it바카라s about drifting with the questions.
Debiparna Chakraborty is an independent Film, TV and Pop Culture journalist who has been feeding into the great sucking maw of the internet since 2010.
