Flow

 I'm sure a few people complained when the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film" was retitled "Best International Feature Film." I wasn't one of them. I was like, "that's fine" and I went on with my day.

Methinks the Academy's decision was warranted, for Flow, Latvia's entry into this year's race, has no spoken language of any kind. At least, none of the human variety.

A black cat lives alone in the woods. Suddenly, the world floods and the little kitty is left looking for high ground. Fortunately, the kitty meets a capybara on a boat, and they set sail together. They're soon joined by a lemur, a secretarybird, and a pack of dogs the kitty encountered just before the world ended. All they have to do is survive until they find high ground, or the flood waters recede. That's pretty much it.

It's hard to feel unmoved by the kitty's plight even if you are a dog person, like me. Before the flood, we follow the kitty as it lives a solitary life afraid of everything. Indeed, it's quite harrowing when it's caught up in the flood and not even a giant cat statue proves to be the highest ground. After it comes aboard the SS Capybara, the kitty improves thanks to the influence of its crewmates. The reluctant hero drops its reluctance, which culminates in it leading a climactic rescue when the capybara faces certain doom. All in all, it's quite compelling to watch this poor kitty grow up during the apocalypse.

What can we surmise about the crew? The capybara is basically the captain, instructing the cat how to fish and swim, mediates between the crew and lounges around the rest of the time. The lemur provides much needed comic relief, much of which comes from its fascination with a discarded mirror. The dog pack is a decent bunch, but the ceaselessly friendly Labrador Retriever who joins the crew first is easily the best boy. The secretarybird is ostracized from its flock for standing up for the crew, so it reluctantly joins them. It only shows animosity when it refuses to let the lab's fellows aboard until the others persuade it. You'll be invested in this crew even without words; it helps that they're instead vocalized by some effective sound effects.

You're probably wondering what happened to all the humans. Well, the film doesn't answer that question, and as far as we know, the animals don't dwell on it. A few signs of intelligent life exist, namely the cottage the kitty lived in until the flood, but that's all we get. Maybe they were raptured, which pretty much happens to a member of the crew late into the film (it's pretty surreal). I got to admit, when I first heard of this film, I thought it was set during the Biblical Flood, but what we see of civilization is too modern for that. Still, its lack of answers won't be enough to disengage you from its visible story.

Gints Zibalodis, in addition to being the film's director, also co-wrote, co-produced, edited, cinematographed and even co-composed the score. The painted art style, which he visualized with the open-source software Blender, is positively stunning. It accentuates the animals with exquisite body language and places them in some incredible scenery. Sometimes, the animals are the scenery, as is the case with a magnificent whale who pops up a few times, with its last scene being the most tragic. There are a few great long shots, with perhaps the highlight depicting the tumultuous first encounter with the secretarybird. Zibalodis and co-composer Rihards Zalupe perfectly accentuate this phlegmatic film with their score. It's probably the best score this year that didn't make it onto the Oscar shortlist.

While I'm not sure this can defeat Emilia Perez for the International Feature Film Oscar, Flow stands neck-and-neck with The Wild Robot in the race for Best Animated Feature. Either one of those films would make good winners; it helps that there's plenty of thematic overlap here. Flow's unverbose minimal cast is as unforgettable as the wide vocal ensemble in The Wild Robot. All they need to move you is just a purr, a hiss, a squawk or even a bark. I would have liked to have seen it in a theater, but it only played ways away from me. Fortunately, it makes for a great home matinee even on a relatively small TV. All you have to do is to sit back and watch as 86-minutes float away. It's just that good.

Next up, something more verbose.