When a flood of biblical proportions washes its home away, a solitary cat must seek refuge with a motley crew of animals (including a dog, a capybara, a lemur and a secretarybird), who gradually learn to get along in this endearing, Oscar-winning animation.
The Garden Cinema View:
The standout animation from the winter awards cycle, Flow presents a non-human, yet charming and compassionate, Genesis flood narrative. In a refreshing departure from Hollywood animation clichés, these animal protagonists are remarkably animal-like. Indeed their most anthropomorphised scenes, whilst charming, are the weakest in the film.
Flow is a triumph of art direction, depicting a stunning and eerily posthuman world of megalithic geography and deserted architecture. There is surely a gaming influence here. Not least the Stray-esque movements of the feline ‘hero’, but also an echo of the Ozymandias type ruins of Team Ico games such as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.
Young viewers should find the perilous journey scary but involving; adults will respond to the sweeping water-world and themes of ecological catastrophe.
