The animated feature Flow honors the term movie by telling its story visually without any human dialogue. Director Gints Zibalodis joins writer Matīss Kaža for a simple story springboard when a flood disrupts the lives of several animals. With irresistible rounded yellow eyes, a black cat serves as centerpiece, joining an unlikely band on a series of water-based adventures as the group seeks dry land. Meows join barks and squeaks as dogs, lemurs, birds, and a capybara join the journey in a soft and lush world that moves as rapidly as the flowing waters of the movie’s title. The group defies nature by avoiding their predatory urges to eat one another—a few fish suffer along the way but otherwise nothing happens to upset animal fanatics in Produced with funds from the government of Latvia, the project drew my curiosity because of a recent stay in the capital city of Riga. I knew the country on screen from various versions of a Wallander mystery called The Dogs of Riga. Despite that title, many souvenir items feature a black cat—reproductions of two statues atop an old town building referred to as the Cat House (,Kaķu nams) which makes an ideal connection for the heroic feline who r
ules the movie Flow.
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