‘Flow’ sweeps viewers away

By Sophia Monastra

Before it won the 97th Academy Award for an Animated Movie, this dialogue-free Latvian animated film flew under the radar for most movie watchers in the United States. As someone who isn’t a movie watcher, I’m a horrible litmus test of its reach. I didn’t know about it until last month when I watched a random YouTube video that mentioned it. Seized with curiosity on how an indie film won against well-known films like “The Wild Robot,” “Mufasa” and “Inside Out 2”, I waited until spring break to talk my mom into renting “Flow” for the weekend. 

I rarely agree with anything Hollywood-related (mostly because I don’t pay attention to it), but this is the exception: “Flow” truly deserves its Oscar.

“Flow” follows a cat who lives alone in an abandoned house that floods. As the waters rise, Cat is forced to relocate onto a boat piloted by Capybara. As Cat journies, he and Capybara are joined by a Lemur, a Dog and a Secretary Bird.

It’s a simple story that is easy to follow despite the lack of dialogue. It’s not a talking animals movie–aside from the boat piloting and one antigravity-portal scene, the animals act much like I’d expect them to act. 

First is the animation. I was originally hesitant about the character designs. The designs felt very cell-shaded, like something in a video game. However, the simple designs helped clearly communicate the emotions and actions of each animal. Since rising water is so important to the film, the realistic water gives beauty to something inherently threatening. The reflections are beautiful, and the flow is realistic, to the point where some scenes made me a little seasick. The lighting is also gorgeous. From brilliant sunsets and overexposed shots to shimmering atmospheric particles, the lighting carries “Flow”’s emotion and unifies the realistic water, semi-realistic background and stylized animals.

The unique camera movements in this film stood out to me. Most animated movies are composed of individually animated shots that cut to other individually animated shots. “Flow” is filmed with long shots that follow the characters. These shots use slight shakes and occasional uneven movements, so it almost feels like you are a viewer in the environment with the animals. Additionally, the camera often stays at eye-level with the animals, making the world around them feel bigger and more terrifying.

The entire movie was animated in Blender, a free and open-source program on a budget of $4 million, with a team of 30 people. There’s probably a lot that can be said about how an indie film won awards against Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks, but I’m not qualified to analyze that.

What I’m more qualified to talk about is the story. 

The world is flooded. Gigantic whale-like creatures swim between abandoned buildings. There are shimmery lights in the sky that are gravity-defying portals (probably the part of the movie that confused me the most). Statues of cats and people are swallowed beneath the waters. There’s no explanation for why the water levels are rising so quickly, or what came before. There were clearly humans in the world–Cat lives in an abandoned house, Lemur lives in an abandoned temple shrine, the animals pass statues and pilot a boat and pass through cities and villages–but they’re long gone. 

In many post-apocalyptic stories, discovering the why behind the world would be a significant plot point, but in “Flow,” it’s never addressed. Cat doesn’t care about what came before; Cat doesn’t need to know where all the water is coming from. Cat is more worried about not drowning now and surviving one of the greatest terror known to sentient creatures–having roommates. 

Each character is distinct–not only in species but also in personality. Cat is standoffish, Lemur is a junk collector, Capybara is calm, Dog is friendly and Bird is brave. Even without dialogue (or perhaps because there’s no dialogue), it’s easy to bond with the animals and care about them.

The story is about change and adaptation. The animals struggle to adjust to each other’s presence. They squabble, work together, solve problems and eventually (as suggested by the ending) become friends.

“Flow” isn’t too deep of a movie; it works on the surface level as a high-seas adventure of a motley crew of animals. It’s open-ended: it could work as a deeper commentary of something, but it doesn’t have to. It’s different, with unique animations, shot techniques and programs that are not normally considered industry-quality. It’s charming, engaging, terrifying, beautiful and very enjoyable, and I not only recommend it but hope this starts a path for future indie animated films.

Sophia Monastra is a Junior Professional Writing and Information Design major, lover of arts, consumer of comics, avoider of aerobic activity, champion of procrastination, sayer of much, thinker of little, defender of the Oxford comma and generally an all-around nerd.

Images courtesy of Dream Well Studio