Flow

The 2024 Best Animated Feature category for the Oscars was one heck of a good line-up in hindsight. While each year has had stand-out examples and the Academy is slowly starting to treat animation with a modicum of respect, the list can be dotted with films that have no right to be considered best of the year (think Shark Tale, Cars, The Boss Baby, Toy Story 4, Ralph Breaks the Internet, etc). This wasn’t the case with 2024, as every film nominated truly warranted that pedigree; Memoirs of a Snail was another brutally unflinching human stop-motion flick led by Adam Elliot, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowled was a very charming return for the classic British duo, Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot were incredible films that highlighted the best qualities of their respective studios, and the film that took home the award, Flow, is going to be remembered not just for its quality, but for what its win represented.

Set in an apocalyptic future where nature has retaken the Earth and humanity has been wiped out, a dark grey cat wanders alone in a forest and barely escapes being attacked by a pack of dogs, only to have his peaceful existence upended when the water levels start to rise even higher, destroying his home in the process. With the entire island now underwater, Cat jumps onto a sailboat that a Capybara is piloting, and although hesitant to trust other animals, decides to stick around to avoid the flood. While on a journey to find land, other animals jump aboard, including a ring-tailed Lemur who obsesses over his possessions, a Secretary Bird who was ousted from its flock after defending Cat from its aggressive leader, and a friendly yellow Labrador retriever who was part of the pack that chased Cat earlier. With this crew getting bigger and bigger and the tides raising higher and higher, Cat will slowly let down his defense and come to trust in his new boat mates as they search for a new home in this flooded planet.

Becoming the first Latvian film to ever take home an Oscar, Flow was a minimally-budgeted project that only had roughly 15 – 20 people working on it over the course of five years and will now be immortalized as the film that took chances, strived to be distinct, and managed to win against high profile studios like Disney and DreamWorks. Even though the film does get a little lost by the end and some of its spiritual mythology muddles its simplistic trajectory, the inviting imagery, glorious music, quick-to-grasp characters, and admirable passion and commitment makes it worthy of its win.

Animation as a medium is one that has the potential to be as creative and as endless as it desires, so it’s always exciting to see what new technology, art style or narrative hook someone is going to experiment with. Usually, the most exciting ones come from smaller companies or from entirely other countries, as Hollywood has sadly slowed down when it comes to producing innovative animated features (they’re even afraid of theatrically releasing 2D animation). There are still good, animated movies coming out and some have pushed boundaries in terms of storytelling and display, but you’re more likely to be surprised by a film from Japan, China, France, or Norway before one from America. Latvia can now throw its hat in the ring because of Flow, with it topping domestic box office charts, premiering strong out of the gate at the Cannes Film Festival, and even becoming the most viewed film in Latvian history, already making it one for the history books. Being a co-production between Latvia, France and Belgium, the film had the freedom to be whatever it wanted, and while the process sounded long and strenuous, the results were definitely worth it. You can feel a lot of ambition coming out of this movie from even the premise alone, as while the set-up of a group of animals working together to survive a flooded world doesn’t sound too crazy, having it feature no dialogue is certainly a bold, but heavily appreciated, swing.

This story has a familiar layout and is executed as accordingly, but the manner in which it’s delivered feels wonderfully fresh and intricate, with a lot of credit deserving to go to director Gints Zilbalodis and his co-writer and producer, Matīss Kaža, for being able to tackle a difficult presentation and bringing it to life in such an effective and distinct fashion. The atmosphere and worldbuilding is very engrossing, the visuals are lush and feel like something ripped out of a story book, the characters are still able to get across a sense of character even with no dialogue, and although the plot is pretty by-the-numbers, the pacing and how it’s done without any verbal confirmation or cinematic cliches is appreciated. With that said, there were going to be a few hurdles to get over with this specific delivery, and not all of them are easily pushed aside. While the first two acts are a marvel to watch, it does lose a little footing near the end as things randomly start to fit into place without outside interference and cuts quite abruptly, the mythology surrounding what happened to this world is intriguing, but the more focus its given, the less enjoyably cryptic it becomes (not help by remaining unanswered despite taking centre stage) and while the cute characters and story would entertain kids fine as a book (which this film would work great as), it doesn’t feel like a movie that would keep them fully invested as it would adults who’d marvel at its ingenuity and freshness

Animals are interesting to study as they have their own manner of living and communicating that we as humans can’t fully grasps, and we’ve been able to pick up on characteristics to the point that cartoon interpretations often adopted these traits to the point that they’ve become universally defining. This real-world method proves useful when viewing this movie, because the lead characters are defined by how their species is known to act and it makes for easy-to-understand roles. Cat is stand off-ish and not easy to trust others, Dog is playful, not always the brightest but very eager to be close with others, the Lemur is very protective of his possessions and can get lost in his obsession to the point of endangering the others, the Capybara is a bit of a loafer, but is also very seasoned and wise, and the Secretary Bird is very maternal, proud, and not often amused by the frivolous bickering between the others.

All these attributes help form a simple, but relatable group of characters who aren’t going to go through any strong character arcs but will be ones that you’ll want to watch a movie about. It’s also nice that they really feel and sound like actual animals, as their expressions, movements and cries feel authentic and help make the situation feel more believable (even when it takes drastic turns). The fact that it took on the challenge of telling a feature length narrative without dialogue in the modern age is commendable, and even though it might not be something to show younger kids as they could find it boring, it would be an interesting one to show them later on and watch how they process something that isn’t talking down to them. Some things are a little off, like the resolution for the Secretary Bird comes out of nowhere, and while Cat is built up to have some connection to the floods through multiple dream sequences, several giant cat statues scattered around the world, and odd interactions with nature that point to something otherworldly, this never gets fully addressed. While the ambiguity is nice, the raising of questions feels like a pointless endeavor that probably wasn’t needed, it’s another consequence of the experimental delivery.

Being a 3D animated feature done entirely on the animation graphic software, Blender, which Zilbalodis switched to after using the similar system, Maya, to make his previous animated film, Away, there’s a very distinct visual identity to this movie that doesn’t feel like other recent animated movies, which is always great to see considering the large majority of art styles that deserve the chance to be cinematically showcased. It’s not entirely different as this kind of cel-shaded approach with more focus put on the visual appeal than the intricate details is more common practice for current animation, but the way this film looks, feels, sounds and even moves helps it leave its own mark. The way the camerawork is done feels very unlike other animated features as not only does the fully animal cast allow for a lot of close,  low-to-the-grounds shots that helps put the audience in the perspective of such fragile tiny creatures, but the constant tracking makes the whole think feel like watching an animal go through an adventure in a more personal perspective.

Probably achieved by letting the movie run its course on the software while positioning the shots as it’s rendering, this results in a lot of well framed and positioned cinematography that makes the imagery look even more magical and charming. The fact that Zilbalodis took on a lot of the technical aspects of the film like the cinematography, editing and music composition while also being the film’s director, writer and producer, it means that he knows and can execute every little detail about how this movie is supposed to be presented, which results in a very clean and concise project overall. The music has an earthy dreamlike quality to it that makes the imagery and experience feel more special, the lack of edits keeps the audience in each moment and allows for more of that great camera work, and even the sound design has a believable weightiness to it that makes the wonder as well as the fear and uncertainty all the more legitimate.

2024’s Best Animated Feature Oscar ballet was a great category, and Flow is deserving of being in that line-up, but whether or not it deserved to win is a bit more of a subjective question. It is a definitely a good movie that is wonderfully ambitious, but because it’s coming from an out-of-the-box placement, it means that it’s more focused on those qualities rather than on exceeding in any form of narrative or character stand point. There’s great imagery, wistful music, realistic character animation, and effective silent visual storytelling, but it’s going to be up to the viewer whether that’s enough to compensate for what is otherwise a pretty straightforward adventure. Even taking that out of the equation, the last act does feel a little abrupt and the more the story goes into its own mythology, the less interesting it ironically becomes, but there is still so much to admire about this movie, and it will be great to see how they move forward now that they’ve become Oscar winners. A win for Latvia and a win for inventive animated features, Flow is a win worth celebrating.