Posted By Robin Menken
Gints Zilbalodis’s first animated feature, the hypnotic minimalist “Away” was done single handed on his home computer. Using a trick from early animation, he looped the action of his protagonist's cross-island chase on a motorcycle. To create his tribe of feral cats he used one animated cat, tiled across the screen. The absence of dialogue added to the dreamlike sensation.
Ostensibly the propulsive chase of a boy (the lone survivor of a plane crash) trying to outrun a monster on his way to a distant port and safety, it also functions as an inner journey, a study of the boy’s fears, which sucks the viewer into it’s dream logic.
His basic animation program produced images reminiscent of early 90’s CG against beautiful scenic backdrops: a dreamscape of backgrounds inspired by Iceland, Lanzarote, Japan and a “mirrored” lake in Bolivia.
Zilbalodis created a wonderful score and spent another three years animating then editing to the score. I was totally blown away.
When I interviewed him for “Away” he described “Flow” to me but I couldn’t imagine the wonders to come
His second feature, the exquisite “Flow”, which screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, is a transcendental piece.
This time he worked with a large team, including cowriter Matīss Kaža (Neon Spring, The Taste of Water) composer Rihards Zaļupe (1906, Fear No One), who collaborated with Zilbalodis on the orchestral score, and soundscape designer / composer Gurwal Coïc-Gallas.
To be metaphoric, his first film (Away) mirrored the inner fears of a person working on a large project alone.
Flow feeds on the inner process of learning to work on a team.
A cat, afraid of the water overcomes his fear, joining with a group of animals on a journey across the flooded earth.Oneiric, like Away, the film is both a personal internal journey of the cat, and a sort of Climate Crisis Musicians Of Bremmer.
With his enormous Keane painting eyes, Cat doesn’t look realistic but his movements are all cat. He's the archtypal cat, as well-observed as anything that came out of Disney Studio's animal studies for Bambi. (Disney famously brought animals into the studio to study their movements layering their observations over the artists rigorous studies of animal anatomy. It was this work that lead to Disney's famous Nature documentaries.)
Like "Away" there is constant forward motion set against a dreamlike background. No dialogue, just the sounds of the animals who join Cat on his floodwaters journey.Long takes and few edits, wonderful wide shots of Zilbalodis’ exquisite backdrops, extreme closeups of Cat, all induce an immersive quality.
Zilbalodis seems to compose musically with his hand-held camera movements, which carry the emotional message usually conveyed by dialogue. In an Cannes interview he explained “I come up with the movement of the camera first, and then what happens in the scene." ts as though he’s channeling Ma, the Japanese technique of stillness between things, provoking reflection and deeper understanding.
As In "Away," Zilbalodis composed the score early to edit to it.
As the film starts, the black Cat prowls and hunts for food in a beautiful forest setting. He avoids water. Escaping a pack of dogs, he scampers out of harms way to his home, a cozy bed in an upstairs artist loft behind a broken window.
Humans have vanished, no explanation. Cat's echos are everywhere in the suddenly human-free world.
In Cat's aery, there's a sketched portrait of him. The forest is filled with cat sculptures. One, as tall as a Temple, towers above the others
The next day, as Cat is foraging, panicked, stampeding animals alert him to a biblical-class flood. He flees the waves. Soon even the giant cat statue is submerged, frightened Cat perched on its ear.
A Capybara stands in a boat drifting past. Cat scrambles in. As the boat drifts, they are joined by a tricksy Lemur, a majestic Secretary Bird and eventually his old nemesis the Dog.
Placid Capybara keeps the peace. Once aboard the Lemur begins hoarding human gear on board, most beguiled by himself in a hand mirror. He bedecks himself and scorns a boat of passing Lemurs.
Dog, once Cat's natural enemy, becomes a sort of codependent side kick. On shore, Stork is rejected by his flock when he defends Cat.
The animals discover the rudder. Cat falls off-board a few times. Each time his swimming improves as he becomes fascinated by schools of colorful fish. Soon water frightened Cat is fishing for tasty treats and feeding his shipmates. As Cat becomes more feisty, he even allows Dog's rowdy pack aboard, kept in line by Alpha Dog, well almost.
The travelers in this tiny ark pass through an amalgam of the world's scenic wonders haunted by manmade art, from a sort of Venice, all coral and nile blues, as beautiful as a classic Aida opera set, abandoned temples, even Nepal.
As we journey with Cat and crew through this hypnotic hero's journey there's room for us to infer our own fear, (and hopefully our resolve) to tackle Climate change.
A natural catastrophe joins a group of natural enemies. Together they survive. As Rodney King said " Can't we all just get along?"
