THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – SHOULD NOT BE LOST
Selected in the official competition of the Annecy Animated Film Festival in June, flow, the cat who was no longer afraid of water It was unanimously appreciated by the audience, many of whom could not hold back their tears. It was less a feeling of sadness than an overflow of emotions accumulated over an hour and a half. There were many attendees at the festival who, from then on, and despite the tough competition from the rest of the films in the running, did not give up: Flow was destined to receive the highest award, the Crystal Feature Film. Which finally went to the magnificent Memories of a snailby Australian director Adam Elliot. FlowFor its part, far from leaving empty-handed, it won three awards: the jury, the public and the Gan Film Foundation. A month earlier, presented in the Un Certain Regard category, the film had conquered Cannes.
It is a story without words or comments to which we are invited by the young Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis, 30 years old, whose previous feature film – his first –, Elsewhere (2020), already seen and crowned with the Contrechamp prize in Annecy, had also adopted this bias to relate the journey of a young man parachuted to a mysterious island, after a plane accident. This time, all human traces have disappeared. Nature has (re)taken power, which, unfortunately, runs the risk of being devoured by the threatening flooding of rivers and oceans. In this post-apocalyptic world, a black cat with huge yellow eyes has taken up residence in an empty house. All kinds of domestic and wild animals come and go among its neighbors, busy searching for food. Hardly sociable, the cat keeps its distance.
As the flood approaches, the feline, which feels extremely repulsed by water, decides to set sail before it is too late. And he finds refuge in an improvised boat where he will soon be joined by other animals, also frightened by the floods: a narcoleptic capybara, a kleptomaniac lemur, a playful labrador in search of company and a solitary wader. On the ship, which resembles Noah’s ark, each person has been assigned a specific place, the defense of which requires constant attention. Distrust is required, which requires not taking your eyes off the other and, therefore, observing their attitudes, their rituals, their gestures. Which continues to arouse curiosity and astonishment, each considering the other’s differences as so many oddities considered incongruous, even ridiculous.
You have 45.51% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
