The animated film FLOW by Gints Zilbalodis has no dialogue and it doesn’t need any to follow what is happening from the first to the last minute. In the world of FLOW, illustrated in rich colors and with great detail, there is a strange emptiness: people are missing. A black cat sneaks through a house that looks like it has been hastily abandoned, while outside it drizzles, then pours with rain. The path becomes a torrent and the water keeps rising. The animals flee in droves and the cat climbs higher and higher until at the last moment it is able to save itself on an abandoned sailboat, which it then uses to drift through Zilbalodis' lush, post-apocalyptic civilization.

Gradually, more traveling companions join: a curious Capuchin monkey who stockpiles things, a very relaxed capybara, a distant and elegant secretarybird, and a clingy labrador. A big part of the fascination with FLOW lies in the fact that the animals aren’t designed to be very anthropomorphic and seem to act in an animal-like manner for long stretches. While the dog jumps around his new pack, the cat paces along the railing, suspiciously eyeing the surroundings, and the capybara takes a nap. All of them have different ways to move around in space, spend their days, hunt for food, and communicate, yet they have to work together if they want to survive the natural catastrophe.

Hendrike Bake

Translation: Elinor Lewy