Flow (2024): A Powerful, Wordless Journey of Animal Friendship and Survival

The Hong Kong version movie poster released in 2025

Flow. Dir. Gints Zilbalodis. Dream Well Studio. 2024

Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82WW9dVbglI 

Flow is a Latvian animated fantasy film that won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2024, making it the first Latvian and independent animated film to receive an Academy Award. The story begins with a cat escaping his home amid to CATastrophic flood. Throughout his involuntary adventure, he overcomes various challenges and teams up with other animal companions. At the start, he is chased by a pack of dogs in the forest, where he encounters a Labrador Retriever, and they later become friends. The cat climbs up a giant cat statue in reaction to the rising sea level. The water soon submerges the statue, and a capybara on a sailboat arrives just in time. Sailing day and night, they face dangers from hostile secretary birds. When the boat becomes entangled in tress during a storm, a whale rescues the cat from drowning.

The journey continued with mysterious happenings and more animals join the alliance. There are time when some animals drift away and meet again. Despite sporadic conflicts between certain members, they take up different roles, such as the bird navigating the boat and the cat catching fish. Towards the end, the animals retrieve the boat from a fractured tree and escape a collapsing rift. The cat comforts a beached whale and reflects on his journey, looking at his reflection in a puddle, hinting a sense of connection and loss. The ambiguous ending, particularly regarding the secretary bird, leaves viewers pondering.

The 85-minute wordless animation created an immersive experience for viewers, leaving more room for interpretation, which differentiates it from the majority of commercial animated films with personified animal characters. Minimalist and atmospheric background music is comparable to the experimental, philosophical film The Tree of Life (2011). None of the characters are given names, yet the protagonist, the black cat, is commonly referred to as Flow, adapted from the film’s title.[1] It adopts the perspectives of the animals, without narration or human language; the emotions of the characters are conveyed not through speech but through the animals’ bodily interactions and callings. As an animal-loving person and cat owner, I appreciated the authentic depictions of animal habits. For example, lemurs are commonly attracted to shiny objects, while cats have a natural hunting instinct for moving light. This explains the lemur’s insistence on keeping its treasures, which seems nonsense to the crew. Most cats fear water, and so does Flow. To find food for himself and his companions, he learns to swim and catch fish.

Before watching this film, I was drawn to the black cat on the poster. The stigmatisation of black cats is deeply rooted across cultures, including associating them with witchcraft or misfortune. My passion for black cat originated from watching Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) by Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli. A black cat named Jiji accompanies the young witch Kiki during her training. Flow is curious and playful throughout, he appears self-centred and defensive at the beginning, but becomes brave and agreeable after being positively received by other animals.

According to the food chain and the theory of evolution, the relationship between species is mainly about the survival of the fittest that keeps the cycle running. Taking an alternative humanistic approach, cross-species friendship in domesticated or natural settings, as recorded in countless online videos and stories, has always fascinated me. A particularly touching scene is the rescue of five stray dogs. It is not a consensus of the crew to take in these aggressive canines under condition of limited resources. It sparks moral reflection on whether or not to lend a helping hand to enemies in times of shared disasters.

The disastrous flooding and surviving animals reminiscent of the Christian connotation of Noah’s Ark. However, there are no human stewards or animals in pairs for Flow. The absence of humans can be seen as a reference to the “anthropause” during the COVID pandemic, in which the disappearance of mankind may bring about regeneration of Mother Earth.[2] Gender is not highlighted in this film, although the director revealed that he identifies Flow as male[3]. Core members of the crew, regardless of the social habits of their species, appear solitary. In wildlife documentaries featuring great animal migrations, there are often animals that cannot keep up with the flock or are expelled by the group for losing a fight, similar to the case of the dog and bird in this story.  Being on the same boat against hardship, interspecies solidarity gradually develops. It conveys an optimistic message that cooperation brings more benefits than competition for survival amid uncertainties. The resolution of the ending flood brings a sense of hope and renewal.

Figure 1: At the beginning of the story, Flow was chased by a pack of dogs. Therefore when he was alertly frightened when encountering the innocent-looking labrador retriever.

Figure 2: The secretary bird drives the boat.

Figure 3: The boat passing a half-sunken city reminiscent of Venice.

 Figure 4: Flow catches fish to feed himself and the other animals on the boat.

Figure 5: The lemur with a basket containing its shiny object collection.

Figure 6: The secretary bird uses its body to defense Flow against its kind. He was then expelled by the flock and carried Flow with his feet during the flying escape.

Tags:

Adventure, Animal: Bird, Animal: Capybara, Animal: Cat, Animal: Dog, Animal: Lemur, Animation, Climate, Doomsday, Fantasy, Rising Sea Level, Science Fiction, Year: 2024

[1] Fandom. ‘Flow’, Heroes Wiki | Fandom  (2025) <https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Flow>

[2] Abuhaleeqa, Mayada. ‘Flow: The perfect study break film’, The Gazelle, Issue 274 (2025)  <https://www.thegazelle.org/issue/274/flow-movie-review>

[3] Keough, Peter. ‘Film Review: Go with the “Flow”’, The Arts Fuse (2024) <https://artsfuse.org/302065/film-review-go-with-the-flow/>

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