Gints Zilbalodis (director)
(studio)
U (certificate)
85 (length)
21 March 2025 (released)
1 d
A cat does what cats do and gets overly close to a pack of dogs fighting over a fish when they lose it. Opportunist that the cat is, it picks up the fish causing the dogs to forget their differences and chase the cat. For the cat it becomes a matter of life or death.
Eventually giving them the slip the cat then notices the dogs returning running hard with dozens of other creatures behind them trying to escape a colossal wave of water. The wave sweeps up the cat, who manages to escape while befriending one of the dogs.
The cat and dog make their way to what could have been the cat’s home. A large house abandoned by the owner. Who was obsessed with the cat or cats as there are sculptures of all sizes in the garden from small to huge.
The next morning the cat wakes to see the waters rising, and the dog clamber aboard a boat with the one he left behind. Desperate to escape the cat climbs the huge statue eventually picked up by a sailing boat with a Capybara. A bond is formed as they pick up the dog, a Lemur, and a Crane. Also turning up at crucial moments is a whalelike creature with two tails. Together the animals’ bond, help each other as they guide the boat through the waterworld landscape.
Over the course of the film Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis and co-writer Matiss Kaza, develop the relationship between the creatures, as well as their personalities. They have squabbles, they learn – the cat becomes a proficient swimmer and fisher providing food for the others, as well as trust and judgement. There’s some anthropomorphising as they learn to use the rudder but generally the animals stick to type.
The CGI animation is not as smooth on the eye, when placed against some of its contemporaries. However that pales quickly as the viewer is grabbed by the delight of the story, full on action sequences, all lavished with a glorious, lush colour palette and weird yet somehow familiar architecture.
It’s a wonderful, charming film that has elements of high tension, humour, and some stunning sequences. One that stands out, and so moving is of the heavens saturated with colours.
Fundamentally Flow is about friendship and faith; that its ok to be different and still be like-minded.
Flow will be in UK cinemas on 21 March 2025.
