FLOW (8/10)

 

    "Flow" is a 2024 animated film about a post-apocalyptic world where humans are nowhere to be found. Remnants of their existence remain in the form of abandoned homes, massive statues, and cryptic temples with strange architecture. Still there are signs of life in the flourishing forests and the multiple different species of animals that are let loose on the world. Some of them are wild species and have always been on their own but multiple creatures certainly seem as if they were abandoned pets. 

    The main cast consists of a black cat, a golden retriever, a ring-tailed lemur, a capybara, and a secretary bird. 

    The black cat is especially precious and so very expressive with its golden eyes. The animals require the tiniest suspension of disbelief in how they interact with each other and understand the world around them because they exhibit more than the average animal's level of communicative ability and intelligence. But that almost -has- to be done seeing as the film doesn't have a single line of dialogue. 

    

    This remarkable, gorgeous film was made entirely in the 3D computer graphics program known as Blender by a team of -at max- 50 people. The creative core of the project could be narrowed down to being around 20. The final product of a feature length film of this level of quality is no less than monumental. 

    The fact that it won the Oscar award for Best Animated Feature Film as well as Best International Feature Film in 2025 only supports my words. Such prestige is certainly well deserved. 

    I'll be moving into more specifics so for those of you who don't wish to learn any more about this film before seeing it yourself, now is a good place to stop reading.

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    I'm repeating myself at this point but I cannot overstate how beautiful this film is. It's just gorgeous. The way it uses warm and cool tones in particular was so harmonious and striking. They had rich greens and browns of the forest next to the bright vibrance of the little ship. The ship itself had its own temperature contrast with its lovely blue trim against its own own bright orange sail. The rich golden temple areas rose up over sunny green water. There were schools of rainbow colored fish everywhere. It was just such a treat for the eyes.

    The animals and environments had a touch of being simplified - almost cel-shaded and toony even though it all remained very realistic and believable at the same time. The contrast of unrealistic and realistic rendering created such a surreal viewing experience. The animals especially reminded me of The Legend of Zelda games, "Breath of the Wild" and "Tears of the Kingdom." 

        The stark light and shadows. The rich colors. Such expressive animals. The music and sound design. All of it was Chef's kiss. 

    "But Hannah, if it was so Chef's kiss, why did you give it an 8/10?" 

    There were a couple things that detracted from my otherwise perfect score. The way that most if not all of the animals new how to operate the rudder of the sail boat kind of threw me off. I could suspend my disbelief for them communicating with each other in order to progress the story but knowing how to operate a human sailing machine was a bit much. 

    Also the world-building was rather unexpected and strange. We had fairly regular boats and houses around the place with traditional carpentry projects scattered within the cat's house. But then there were so many giant statues of cats and animals and humans, covered in moss like they had been there for a while. There were massive temples that almost looked Aztec or Incan in style. There were examples of humans creating glass, woodwork, and stone masonry and yet there was no fire or electricity. It just seemed a little difficult to pin down any sort of time frame for the history of the place. (Iron age, steam age, etc.) 

    There was also a giant MUTANT whale that made multiple appearances in the film. That was quite strange - what was it supposed to represent? 

    Was it supposed to be taken literally? Was it indicating that the state of the world had a sort of toxic quality and was causing mutations? Was I not supposed to take the whale so literally? 

    Also there was a long sequence of the secretary bird seeming to... ascend? To a higher plane of existence? I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be representative of the secretary bird's death? After it's fellow birds had exiled it and broken it's wing for saving the cat? Or if it was even more than that? Like a literal ascension into a state of Nirvana? I wasn't sure what to do with that info. 

    

    The ending was fittingly bittersweet. The whole film had a bit of a dark tone, seeing as it was exploring a world where humanity was either abducted/removed from an outside force or had eventually destroyed itself. Whether it was climate change or leaving the planet to colonize Mars - or both. It had a beautiful yet frightened focus on the ecology of our world and that conveyed an emotional message of hope but also warning. 

    I don't love unresolved endings like this but I can't exactly think of a way to tie up every loose end in a way that makes sense and is more satisfying than what we were given. I guess you could say the ending feels rather abrupt as well and not much is explained. That can be frustrating to me as a viewer. 

    But hey, after being in the water so many times, the cat DID GET TO FISH. 

    I found myself wanting him to get to fish the entire time, whenever a beautiful school of fish swam passed. And he finally did, about halfway through the film. Haha. 

    Anyway, that's basically it. The film is worth watching, beyond a doubt, just to honor how much of an accomplishment it is to create such stunning visuals within such a simple internet program with so few people. Being an artist myself, having this film win two Oscars was just delightful to me. 

    It proves there's hope that bloated, billionaire movie companies won't automatically win every award just because of their budget and their namesake (cough Disney cough.) "Flow" earned that win in every possible way. 

    It had a couple things I just didn't quite get - they just didn't quite land for me. But overall it was a delightful and emotional moviegoing experience. I only wish I had been able to see it in theatres. 

    Final score is 8/10

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