
Flow review – beguiling, Oscar-winning animation is the cat's whiskers
Animation as a medium and fairytales as a subject have always been natural bedfellows. You only need to look at Disney's princess industrial complex to understand that sparkle-dusted happily-ever-after is big business; that the appetite for this particular breed of magical thinking (plus associated merchandising and sequined tat) is enduringly healthy. But the beguiling, Oscar-winning, dialogue-free Latvian animation Flow, which tells of a solitary cat who must learn to cooperate with a mismatched pack of other species to survive a catastrophic flood, is a little different.
The fairytale here is not the story the picture tells – it's the story of the film itself. Created by a tiny team with a minuscule budget of about £3m, and rendered entirely on the free open-source 3D software Blender, Flow has been on a journey: its premiere in Cannes; the haul of prizes (54 to date), culminating in the Oscar for best animated feature – that is the stuff of film industry fantasy.
While the limited budget certainly shows on screen at times, it also gave director Gints Zilbalodis a considerable degree of creative freedom. With more money comes compromise and consensus film-making, plus a tendency to spoon-feed the audience rather than challenge them. Flow, however, embraces mystery: we see a disaster unfold in the same way the animals do – with no warning or context.
Zilbalodis has chosen not to explain the recent history of what seems to be a post-apocalyptic but stunningly verdant, geographically unspecified world. There are signs, in the lush forest, of human habitation and the remnants of civilisation. The cat lives in a house that appears to have once been home to a kitty-obsessed sculptor. Feline statues of varying sizes stand like sentinels in the grounds; a half-finished carving still rests on a workbench. But whether the former inhabitant has been relocated or is long since dead – perhaps along with the rest of humanity – is left open to the audience to interpret, and your reading of the background to the story very much depends on how bleakly apocalyptic your worldview is.
The cat's happy solitude in the abandoned building is interrupted by a sudden environmental disaster: rapidly rising flood waters submerge the house and the forest surrounding it. A last-minute reprieve comes in the shape of a drifting sailboat, but the cat is outraged to discover that the vessel must be shared with another passenger – an unflappable and permanently chilled-out capybara. As the boat drifts, it takes on other creatures: an acquisitive ring-tailed lemur with a weakness for shiny trinkets; a wise but haughty secretarybird; and an excitable goofball of a dog.
One of the most distinctive elements of Zilbalodis's vision is his decision to let his animals remain animals, instead of attempting to squeeze them into the mould of personhood. The character design and animation of the creatures are where the film's meagre budget is most evident, and yet behavioural details are minutely observed. The cat – a neat, slinky, self-contained little black moggy – is pure feline, from the insouciantly twitching tip of its tail to its testy chirrup of annoyance (all the animal sounds are real, rather than voice actors cosplaying) at having to share a space with other critters. As an alternative to stamping human personalities on them, Zilbalodis instead encourages us to see elements of ourselves in the animals.
Being a self-taught animator accustomed to working on his own (his previous feature film, Away, was an entirely solo project created on his computer), the director has revealed in interviews that he identifies most with the self-sufficient cat, who must learn to cooperate with others. And anyone with a tendency to hoard accessories and to overpack when travelling will feel a kinship with the lemur.
An eco-parable, Flow is not exactly mining new thematic territory; from Wall-E to Cartoon Saloon's My Father's Dragon to The Wild Robot and numerous Studio Ghibli pictures, animated movies dealing with imminent climate collapse are relatively plentiful. However, the approach of Flow, with its animals'-eye, in-the-moment immediacy and its resistance to cutesiness and anthropomorphism, is bracingly fresh and unexpected. The animation, meanwhile, transcends its financial constraints to achieve moments of shimmering, heart-swelling loveliness.
Deliberately enigmatic in approach, with its focus on tiny, cat-level details and a provocative hint that the end of humanity may not be the end of the world, Flow doesn't hammer home a single message. Other takeaways include the need to work together to survive, the value of adaptability – and that cats will always push stuff off tables given half the chance.
In UK and Irish cinemas

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time Out
an hour ago
- Time Out
Like any good matchmaker, Song wants to give her audience everything it desires
Be warned: despite its glossy cast and slick marketing, Materialists is not a romantic comedy. As to what it is instead, not even its creator seems entirely sure. At first, writer-director Celine Song (Past Lives) appears determined to turn genre conventions inside out: to expose romance as the soulless simulation it often seems to be. So, in classic romcom tradition, our heroine Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a pragmatic matchmaker so successful in juggling dating algorithms that she's celebrating her ninth client wedding. And it's at these nuptials that she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a financier her industry considers a 'unicorn': handsome, wealthy, and tall. (Lucy's clients, like the film itself, fetishise male height and female youth, so if you are a man under six feet or a woman over 30, prepare to feel vaguely unworthy.) Coincidentally, Lucy's ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans) is also at the reception. But while Harry is a guest, John is a waiter. And therein lies her dilemma: does our material girl choose love or money? For a while, Lucy enjoys the fancy restaurants, enormous bouquets and easy life that Harry offers. But Lucy's Cinderella story hits midnight in a jarringly dark manner, when a client experiences unexpected tragedy. And suddenly, Lucy wonders whether John – with his two roommates, lack of savings, and uncertain future – might actually be the stronger prospect. Song has, undeniably, done a beautiful job composing this visually absorbing film. Cinematographer Shabier Kirchner – who also lensed her lovely, Oscar-nominated debut – knows just how to capture New York with both illusory sheen and palpable warmth. The impeccably cool soundtrack is packed with the likes of Cat Power, St. Vincent, and Japanese Breakfast. And the settings are a dream, from Harry's magazine-spread apartment to Lucy's loft-like office. But everything else comes across as constructed, too. Song's ambitious desire to dismantle and reconsider contemporary fairy tales is admirable, and intriguing. Is love truly just a commodity, as nearly everyone here seems to believe? The answer to such a blunt question requires a level of equally unsparing honesty, whether cynical or sincere. And unfortunately, her uncertain script tries to have it both ways. So while the actors are individually appealing, their characters feel like paper dolls designed to represent concepts, rather than generate chemistry. Like any good matchmaker, Song wants to give her audience everything it desires: the packaged fantasy of a Hollywood product, and the earthy emotion of a solemn indie. But even her wavering heroine gets tired of debating between heartfelt conviction and practical avarice. When it comes to love – and work – you can only hedge your bets for so long. Eventually, Lucy learns, you're gonna have to pick a side.

South Wales Argus
4 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Weinstein case judge declares mistrial on remaining rape charge amid jury issues
Deliberations ended on Thursday, a day after the jury delivered a partial verdict in Weinstein's sex crimes retrial. The jury foreperson said he would not continue deliberating after claiming he was bullied by another juror (Elizabeth Williams via AP) The jury got stuck on a third charge – a rape accusation dating to 2013. The foreperson complained on Wednesday that he felt bullied by another juror and said on Thursday he would not go back into the jury room. The panel convicted the former studio boss of one charge but acquitted him of another. Both of those charges concerned accusations of forcing oral sex on women in 2006. Those verdicts still stand. The jury of seven women and five men unanimously reached those decisions last Friday, the foreperson later told the judge. The verdict was delivered on Wednesday only because Judge Curtis Farber asked whether there was agreement on any of the charges. The third charge was a rape accusation involving a woman who also said she had a consensual relationship with the Oscar-winning producer. Under New York law, the third-degree rape charge carries a lesser penalty than the other two counts. Weinstein denies all the charges. In an unusual exchange with the judge, Harvey Weinstein told him the judge was 'endangering' him, saying 'I can't be judged by a situation that's going on like this' (Elizabeth Williams via AP) In an unusual exchange with the judge during some legal arguments before the partial verdict was disclosed on Wednesday, Weinstein insisted it was unfair to continue the trial after two jurors came forward with concerns about the proceedings. 'I can't be judged by a situation that's going on like this,' said Weinstein, 73, claiming the judge was 'endangering' him. Jury-room strains started leaking into public view on Friday when a juror asked to be excused because he felt another was being treated unfairly. Then on Monday, the foreperson complained that other jurors were pushing people to change their minds and talking about information beyond the charges. The man raised concerns again on Wednesday. In a closed-door discussion with prosecutors, defence lawyers and the judge, the foreperson said another juror was yelling at him for sticking to his opinion and at one point vowed, 'You going to see me outside.' 'I feel afraid inside there,' the foreperson told the judge and lawyers, according to a transcript. Weinstein's initial conviction five years ago seemed to cement the downfall of one of Hollywood's most powerful men in a pivotal moment for the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. Harvey Weinstein was convicted of one charge, was acquitted of another and a mistrial ruled on the third (Jefferson Siegel /The New York Times via AP, Pool) But that conviction was overturned last year and the case was sent back for retrial in the same Manhattan courthouse. Weinstein's accusers said he exploited his Tinseltown influence to dangle career help, get them alone and then trap and force them into sexual encounters. His defence portrayed his accusers as Hollywood wannabes and hangers-on who willingly hooked up with him to court opportunity, then later said they were victimised to collect settlement funds and #MeToo approbation. Miriam Haley, the producer and production assistant whom Weinstein was convicted – twice, now – of sexually assaulting, said outside court on Wednesday that the new verdict 'gives me hope'. Accuser Kaja Sokola also called it 'a big win for everyone,' even though Weinstein was acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex on her when she was a 19-year-old fashion model. Her allegation was added to the case after the retrial was ordered. Weinstein also was convicted of raping another woman in California. He is appealing that conviction. The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be identified. Ms Haley and Ms Sokola did so.

Rhyl Journal
4 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
Weinstein case judge declares mistrial on remaining rape charge amid jury issues
Deliberations ended on Thursday, a day after the jury delivered a partial verdict in Weinstein's sex crimes retrial. The jury got stuck on a third charge – a rape accusation dating to 2013. The foreperson complained on Wednesday that he felt bullied by another juror and said on Thursday he would not go back into the jury room. The panel convicted the former studio boss of one charge but acquitted him of another. Both of those charges concerned accusations of forcing oral sex on women in 2006. Those verdicts still stand. The jury of seven women and five men unanimously reached those decisions last Friday, the foreperson later told the judge. The verdict was delivered on Wednesday only because Judge Curtis Farber asked whether there was agreement on any of the charges. The third charge was a rape accusation involving a woman who also said she had a consensual relationship with the Oscar-winning producer. Under New York law, the third-degree rape charge carries a lesser penalty than the other two counts. Weinstein denies all the charges. In an unusual exchange with the judge during some legal arguments before the partial verdict was disclosed on Wednesday, Weinstein insisted it was unfair to continue the trial after two jurors came forward with concerns about the proceedings. 'I can't be judged by a situation that's going on like this,' said Weinstein, 73, claiming the judge was 'endangering' him. Jury-room strains started leaking into public view on Friday when a juror asked to be excused because he felt another was being treated unfairly. Then on Monday, the foreperson complained that other jurors were pushing people to change their minds and talking about information beyond the charges. The man raised concerns again on Wednesday. In a closed-door discussion with prosecutors, defence lawyers and the judge, the foreperson said another juror was yelling at him for sticking to his opinion and at one point vowed, 'You going to see me outside.' 'I feel afraid inside there,' the foreperson told the judge and lawyers, according to a transcript. Weinstein's initial conviction five years ago seemed to cement the downfall of one of Hollywood's most powerful men in a pivotal moment for the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. But that conviction was overturned last year and the case was sent back for retrial in the same Manhattan courthouse. Weinstein's accusers said he exploited his Tinseltown influence to dangle career help, get them alone and then trap and force them into sexual encounters. His defence portrayed his accusers as Hollywood wannabes and hangers-on who willingly hooked up with him to court opportunity, then later said they were victimised to collect settlement funds and #MeToo approbation. Miriam Haley, the producer and production assistant whom Weinstein was convicted – twice, now – of sexually assaulting, said outside court on Wednesday that the new verdict 'gives me hope'. Accuser Kaja Sokola also called it 'a big win for everyone,' even though Weinstein was acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex on her when she was a 19-year-old fashion model. Her allegation was added to the case after the retrial was ordered. Weinstein also was convicted of raping another woman in California. He is appealing that conviction. The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be identified. Ms Haley and Ms Sokola did so.