#92: Flow

Release Date: November 22nd, 2024

Format: Theater (Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA)

Written by: Matiss Kaza and Gints Zilbalodis

Directed by: Gints Zilbalodis

4 Stars

D and I saw Flow at a special pre-screening at the Aero Theatre. It was one of my favorite movie-going experiences that I’ve ever had. Isn’t it special when you go to a movie that you don’t know much about and it ends up being great?

Flow follows in the grand tradition of “children’s” movies that follow a group of heroes on a long, dark journey in which all they have is each other. Some day I hope to write a script in this subgenre. It has always appealed to me.

Two examples of this story-type that informed my movie sensibilities as a child are The Neverending Story and Flight of the Navigator. On the surface they have very little in common, but beneath the surface you find two movies that tap deeply into the subconscious of a child: the fear of losing your parents, the joy of friendship, the allure of risk-taking adventures, and the sense that the world, in fact the universe, is much larger and more terrifying than you can ever understand.

They are dark movies, or rather they imply a darkness. They work beyond the literal and offer somewhat unintelligible symbols, which is fine for a child since their worlds are full of unintelligible symbols. 

Flow works in much the same manner. The story is seemingly simple: a forest-dwelling domestic cat is swept away in a rampaging flood, and barely saves itself when it is able to climb into a wooden boat that is floating past. Unbeknownst to the cat, once aboard, it sees that the boat is also housing a genial, but rather lazy capybara. Soon the cat and the capybara are joined by an enthusiastic golden retriever, an eccentric lemur, and a regal secretarybird. Together they steer their boat towards an enormous rock formation on the horizon. 

The movie leaves many things unsaid, both literally (there is no spoken dialogue or voiceover narration) and metaphorically. Is this earth? Where are the humans? There are seemingly human dwellings and human-made artifacts shown at the beginning of the movie. Is this in the future? A gargantuan whale-like creature plays a significant role in the movie, yet it seems to be mythical, not realistic. Yet other animals display their natural characteristics, mostly.

My adult brain was working hard to process these factors as the movie unfolded, to synthesize them into a fuller meaning. But then I let go. This is a movie that is okay to experience emotionally. Like these animals, or a child in the audience, it’s okay not to fully understand why this is happening. That’s a scary thing, but it’s more truthful. Adults rationalize and explain and justify and equivocate. They come up with something to allay their fears. Anything to allay their fears.

But children are innocent. They encounter symbols and experience that they don’t have the capability of understanding. That can be a scary thing.

But Flow also knows that the world of children is rich in deep, stunning beauty. And joy. And dear friends. And long, winding journeys. I think it knows that by being closer to their non-existence - their time before birth - children in their own way may be able to understand these unexplainable things more than adults do. 

Flow pulls us under to these deep, dark, beautiful places.