Cannes 2024: Gints Zilbalodis’ Animated Film ‘Flow’ Follows a Kitty
by Alex Billington
May 23, 2024
The story of a cat and his friends. Flow is an animated film made by the Latvian filmmaker named Gints Zilbalodis, his second feature after making Away (in 2019) which was a fable about loneliness. He’s also known for many other animated short films that debuted online before he started moving into making these features. Whereas Away is about loneliness, Flow is about friendship, companionship, and loyalty. The title is once again a literal title because the story is about how we meet and befriend different people as life flows along, taking us to unknown destinations and through many trials & tribulations. Much like Away, the story is a metaphor for life as a human being, this time told through an adventure featuring different animals in a strange world. It’s entirely dialogue free and features Zilbalodis’ distinct cel-shading animation style, more rudimentary than Pixar or DreamWorks or Sony but still animated with heaps of emotion and compassion.
Flow is about a super cute, but stubborn, lonely, solitary black cat. The film is set in a sprawling imagined world, beginning in a beautiful green forest with a river and lots of trees & grass. Cat lives in a nice house, which it returns to every night, living a simple life. The film’s intro explains what happens next: “The world seems to be coming to an end, teeming with the vestiges of a human presence… as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species.” One day the world begins to flood, and the cat finds its life threatened. It eventually ends up on a wooden boat drifting in the water, which is at first occupied by a wonderfully lazy capybara. Eventually a narcissistic lemur shows up, as do other animals – a dumb, goofy golden retriever dog and a large white-feathered bird reminiscent of a crane. All these animals are references to various friends you’ll encounter in life – the lazy one, the dumb one, the self-obsessed one. Even if they may be nothing like you, they are still important to have in your life and will help you through tough times – overcoming great challenges and surviving great floods. That’s what friends are for, of course.
The screenplay for Flow is by Matiss Kaza and Gints Zilbalodis; and it’s directed by Zilbalodis, who made this film in partnership with French and Belgian production companies. Even though his visual style isn’t as intensely detailed as most modern animated movies (e.g. strands of fur are not visible in the animation) that doesn’t mean they’re any less realistic. Not only does it all look gorgeous, with vivid colors and spectacular sunsets and realistic water animation, the real artistry is in the character animation. The main cat character in Flow is as realistic as can be – from the way it reacts and responds to threats in the world, to the way his ears and tail move, in addition to other tiny details like his pupils changing with his emotions. The sound design is also amazing – since there is no dialogue, the various animal noises (meowing, woofing, chirping) are an important part of defining each character in this story. The animation and sound together make every second of this film emotionally engaging, it’s so entrancing even if there isn’t a single word spoken in its 85 minute runtime (much like The Red Turtle). This is the real power of animation when it is this marevlous.
As gorgeous as Flow is to watch, the plot is fairly simplistic and it does get strangely confounding at the end (where are they even going, what is this place, why this architectural style, why does this happening in this scene, why is it flooded anyway?). That said, it’s not the kind of film where over-analysis is beneficial – it’s a beautifully-made, deeply cinematic film meant to give audiences an emotional experience and also remind them of the immeasurable importance of friendship. I prefer Flow much more than Away, which felt like a video game, whereas this is an actual adventure. The main black cat is absolutely wonderful and delightful to follow as it navigates the waters and makes new freinds. I’ve already had debates over whether the cat is actually a boy or a girl – while the official description refers to it as a “he”, the way it moves and interacts leaves that up for debate. What isn’t up for debate is this film’s grandeur. A must watch for all animal lovers.
Alex’s Cannes 2024 Rating: 8 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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