REVIEW: Straume [Flow] [2024]

Rating: PG | Runtime: 84 minutes
Release Date: August 28th, 2024 (Latvia) / November 22nd, 2024 (USA)
Studio: Dream Well Studio / Baltic Content Media / Janus Films / Sideshow
Director(s): Gints Zilbalodis
Writer(s): Gints Zilbalodis & Matiss Kaza

Director Gints Zilbalodis has upped the ante with Flow by pretty much taking the same general concept used in his feature debut Away and making it bigger. His animation style has been given a glow-up with gorgeous texturing. The water is rendered with a photo-real quality that shines brightest when the “camera” is only half submerged. And the attention to overall detail increases through the decision to move this new adventure home (co-written with Matiss Kaza) from a dreamscape land of imagination to a world reminiscent of our own.

That’s not to say it isn’t still very fantastical in its seemingly post-apocalyptic execution of a planet on the cusp of a destructive cleanse, though. Our assumption via the overgrowth and abandonment of Cat’s home (the house of an artist who loved carving feline statues or varying sizes) is that mankind is long gone. Once domesticated dogs run wild with the animals of the forest and the safety of dry land is soon consumed by an ever-increasing volume of water that drowns all in its path. If not for a beat-up rowboat, who knows what fate awaited these characters.

The way things are going at the start between those dogs, the cat, and a flock of secretary birds, they’d probably have ended up killing each other. One could therefore say the flood supplies salvation by triggering a survival sense able to dismantle their defenses. It’s not always perfect, but the eventual line-up of Cat, Dog, Capybara, Bird, and Lemur proves to be as supportive as it is protective. They share food and shelter. They play with the baubles brought aboard by the thieving lemur (until it inevitably steals back what they take to returns it to its basket). They struggle to make their way together in an unfamiliar world.

It’s a beautifully animated and choreographed film with suspenseful life or death moments and effective action (highlighted by a violent fight between secretary birds). What starts with the gradual rising of water (so, Cat has no choice but to jump onto the boat upon learning there’s nowhere left to go) moves towards a tempestuous storm that’s able to throw the animals overboard. Sometimes they throw themselves over to retrieve lost items or fish for food too, but mostly they bark, meow, and growl to make it plain what they each expect and desire. Their strong personalities come through with every plea, whine, and sigh.

I don’t think Flow is quite as captivating a story as Away, but you cannot deny that Zilbalodis has evolved his craft in all other aspects. He’s credited with art direction, cinematography, editing, and music (with Rihards Zalupe) too, so this is just as much his baby as the previous film (where he literally did everything himself). But it helps to have a team you can rely on so you can devote more time to what matters most. And since I thought Zilbalodis would sneak in for an Oscar nomination in 2020, I now think he’s a shoo-in due to the polish he’s added to an already unique style. The Academy must only embrace its non-verbal script.