“Flow” - Film Review
Animation has long been considered a medium that exists only for children’s stories. That’s clearly not the case, and those who appreciate the artform know that animation doesn’t limit the story to one that’s just for kids. Animation offers a freedom that often can’t exist in live-action films. In the case of Flow, it’s the freedom to imagine a fantastical adventure through a flooded rainforest as seen through the eyes of a little black cat.
courtesy of UFO Distribution
Flow is told entirely without dialogue in a seemingly near-distant future. While no humans appear in the film, their impact is visible. Flow’s main character is a small black cat who used to live in a home where it was clearly beloved. It had a bed on a windowsill that overlooked the sprawling forest around a cozy cottage. The house was filled with carvings of various cats, but the person who loved the cat is nowhere to be seen. The cat mills about the surrounding area, catching food and running from predators, but its way of life is disrupted by a massive flood. The cat, along with a Labrador retriever, a capybara, a secretarybird, and a ring-tailed lemur, finds salvation on a rickety boat. Together, this ragtag group of animals who cannot communicate with each other are now forced to survive in this new world.
The animation style of Flow often feels as though it’s a series of cutscenes from a Playstation game. Some of the dog’s movements come across as unnatural, and the play of the light on the animals’ fur creates shadows reminiscent of a video game. Despite the fact that the film will likely remind viewers of Stray, the Annapurna Interactive game from a few years ago that centered on the journey of a stray cat, Flow’s story is what keeps the audience engaged, even when its own constraints stifle the flow (no pun intended) of the film.
courtesy of UFO Distribution
Perhaps it’s because we’ve been so trained by Disney, Pixar, and other animation studios to intensely love anthropomorphized animals that Flow feels particularly harrowing. They remind us of the cats, dogs, and other cute, cuddly creatures that we provide homes for, making it difficult to watch as they’re subjected to the perils that Flow has in store for them. It’s interesting that Flow and The Wild Robot will likely be duking it out for Best Animated Feature because both films address nature vs. nurture. The Wild Robot makes itself accessible to all ages, while Flow requires one to be more quiet and contemplative. Are kindness and collaboration inherent in all species, or are they something we learn once kindness is shown to us? Flow argues that animals, like people, are better when they’re open and vulnerable toward one another.
Above all else, Flow is gentle and anxiety-producing in the way that life is. We’re all just simple creatures who exist together on this crazy planet earth. We’re lonely, hopeful, and lovable, and we want to exist as long as life will allow us to. Flow is an emotional rollercoaster that runs the gamut of the human condition through the eyes of a cat.
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