The best movie of 2024 just won the Oscars, and no, I’m not talking about Anora (2024). This movie, made with a budget of around $3.7 million and only 35 pages of script, managed to obtain two of the most prestigious Oscar nominations, even defeating the odds by taking one of them home. Obviously, I’m talking about the purrfect, cutest ever, non-dialogue Latvian film, Flow (2024).
Now, brace yourself for the occasional pun as I gush about this year’s Oscars’ underdog, which is actually a cat…
Flow tells the story of a solitary cat who, in a post-apocalyptic world, faces a devastating flood, forcing them to navigate the waters alongside a unique and diverse cast of animals who have lost their homes, too. In this bundle of chaos, we find a super chill and wise capybara, a greedy, hoarding lemur, a trusting golden retriever, and a reserved secretary bird. Each character possesses traits that provide entertaining hijinks and have a journey of their own as they try to survive this cat-astrophe. (Ok, I’ll stop!)
The opening image of a cat looking at their reflection in a puddle creates a perfect balance in its messaging: this movie isn’t trying to say one is incapable of handling things on their own, but highlights the good things that empathy and community support bring.
This film explores an array of topics, such as how quickly you can lose everything you own and be forced to migrate. It tackles how one must put differences aside to survive, and how sometimes you find home and acceptance in the most unlikely of places. What’s best is that it does all of this with zero dialogue. While dialogue-free films are not necessarily better, they can often be a master class on Anton Chekhov’s rule of “show, don’t tell.” This movie succeeds in spades.
The use of sounds and movement express perfectly the emotions behind all animals’ reactions and decisions, demonstrating the amount of research that must have been done to portray them so accurately. Most impressive, perhaps, are their eyes. The detail in them captures flawlessly everything the animals are feeling. Their eyes tell a story in a way that makes words unnecessary.
Director and co-writer Gints Zilbalodis commented in an interview on how dialogue-free films create a worldwide language meant to be understood by all.
“The story becomes universal. We don’t need to translate it, and everyone can understand it.”
This movie will go down in hiss-tory as Latvia’s national pride and joy that won them their first-ever Oscar. It’s considered innovative in different ways, such as using Blender, a free, open source software, and sticking to a low budget with great financial gains, which will certainly encourage others to produce stories in creative ways.
Don’t believe how wonderful this film is just yet? Ask the multitude of pets who are also enthralled with this film. Animals have deemed this the G.O.A.T. of 2024 and so have I.
This masterful work of art reminded me why I went to film school in the first place — what a joy it is to explore the nuances of life in the simplest tales about overcoming fear and finding your place. As someone living with PTSD and who is well-versed in night terrors and knee-jerk reactions to triggers, this movie’s profound grasp of trauma and message of courageous hope, spoke to my soul.
I left that movie theatre feeling seen. After a good old cry, I sat on the certainty that while often life sucks, that’s okay because even if I can do things on my own, I don’t have to. I have people who will join the crusade that’s navigating the uncertainty, stress, and hardships of life.
