Not too surprisingly, Latvia, with its population of under two million people, does not have a large film industry. In 2018, the country produced just ten feature films, 30 documentaries, seven shorts and one animated cartoon. This tiny Baltic country scored huge this year, though, with FLOW. Since premiering at the Berlinale in February 2024, the animated film has gone on to win two Bafta awards, a Golden Globe and an Oscar. It is finally coming to cinemas in Hong Kong.

FLOW opens to an idyllic scene of a dark grey cat alone in a forest. Suddenly, a small pack of dogs runs past. They head for a nearby stream where one of them nabs a fish. The dogs fight over their catch and, in the melee, the fish comes free. The cat grabs the fish and runs off with the dogs in hot pursuit. Just as suddenly as before, a herd of deer stampedes past, stopping the cat in its tracks. The herd is then followed by a torrent of water that engulfs the whole forest. As the water continues to rise, swamping everything in its path, the cat is forced to seek refuge on a passing felucca with its one passenger, a capybara that likes to sleep. The boat continues on its journey to nowhere being pushed forward by the wind. Along the way, the pair is joined by one of the dogs from earlier — a playful Labrador Retriever, a ring-tailed lemur that likes to collect trinkets for no apparent reason, and a no-nonsense secretarybird that has been shunned by its flock. Swimming nearby with watchful eyes is a whale of mythical, or perhaps mutated, proportions. With no humans in sight, the group learns to work together to survive whatever is happening around them.

What an incredible movie this is! Although FLOW is billed as “family entertainment”, it is not suitable for very young children. At my screening, I had three little ones sitting behind me who were completely bored and they made everyone around them know it. I’m not surprised though. The characters in FLOW are non-anthropomorphic. They behave like real animals. The cat meows and purrs, the dog barks and whines, the capybara grunts and snorts (I assume that’s what capybaras do), the lemur squeaks and clicks, and the secretarybird squawks and postures. They don’t speak a human language and they don’t zoom across the screen like comic book or videogame superheroes. Although there is no dialogue, FLOW has a gorgeous soundscape by writer-director Gints Zilbalodis (AWAY) and composer Rihards Zaļupe that propels the story along. 

The big question you’re going to have as you watch the film is “What is going on? Where have all the people gone?” Okay, that’s two questions. The story makes it very clear that there were once people in this place, wherever it is, as evidenced by the sculptures and ruined cities that can be seen as the animals float past them. Perhaps the humans headed for higher ground or maybe there was an apocalyptic event that killed them off and all that are left now are the animals who must fend for themselves. Curiously, many of these animals traditionally live in different parts of the world so perhaps there was an environmental catastrophe that brought them together or maybe some of them were once housed in a zoo and are now free. Interestingly, each animal has its own character traits. The cat may be the smartest of the lot. It’s certainly the most inquisitive and it quickly learns from the capybara how to fish for food. In the same vein, it’s also the most compassionate, gathering enough food for everyone on the boat. The capybara is perhaps the most aloof. It’s not interested in interacting with the others and has little patience for the shallow-minded lemur who seems obsessed with having useless possessions and admiring its reflection in a mirror. The dog is carefree and only wants to be entertained. It grows up, though, when it must rescue some of its new friends from imminent danger. The secretarybird is perhaps the most interesting of the five characters because it puts its own life on the line to protect the cat. Even so, it doesn’t suffer fools gladly, which it makes very clear to the others. As a group, they all complement each other and they eventually realize that whatever may happen next, they’re in it together. That’s a strong lesson for both kids and adults to learn.

FLOW opens in Hong Kong on Thursday, April 4th. This is one film that certainly deserved its Oscar win. Definitely go see it.

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