At one thirty this afternoon, I set off walking to the city centre. It is about two miles from our house. I opted to walk purely for the exercise. Along Psalter Lane, down Cemetery Road then under the inner circular road.
My destination was The Showroom Cinema. The film I had in mind was "Flow" as recommended by John Gray over at "Going Gently". "Flow" won the Best Animated Film Feature award at this year's Oscars, becoming the very first Latvian film to win any kind of oscar.
There are no human voices in "Flow". No words. But we do hear the wordless voices of the nameless central characters - a cat, a lemur, a secretarybird, a Labrador dog and a capybara.
They find themselves together in an old boat, sailing over a flood which keeps rising - inundating most everything. There is incidental music which enhances the action and is never obtrusive. Later, the flood subsides and they are back on terra firma.
There is joy in "Flow" as well as terror. It was meticulously crafted. At times, the visuals are breathtaking but I noticed that the animals never seemed to get wet even when they had been swimming in the flood. Was that a purposeful choice or a technical challenge too far for the animators?
"Flow" has a magical, very beautiful quality about it and it is easy to get lost in the artifice. Is it about anything? Does it have a purpose? Why was it made? I am not sure that I could answer any of these questions but what I can say is that it provides a unique cinematic experience. I guess that you just have to go with the flow of "Flow".
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/eYQIBOG
