One of the best films of 2024, To flow is an Academy Award-winning animated film from Latvia with no dialogue, anonymous animal characters and almost no plot. A black cat barely survives a stampede of wild dogs when a giant flood engulfs his home…and eventually most of the land. Desperate to survive, the cat finds a floating sailboat with a capybara as its sole occupant. Eventually, a dog, a secretary bird, and a lemur join them, and together they face the dangers of rising tides, an epic storm, and other wildlife as they try to find safe dry land.
On paper, To flow seems intimidatingly basic, but the pleasures of the film lie simply in experiencing its stunning visuals and haunting score. The director, Gints Zilbalodis, wrote the screenplay and composed the music, and his passion shines through in every image and musical chord. Most modern animated films, with their celebrity voiceovers and assembly-line pop tunes, play it safe to please everyone, but To flow takes risks by walking at your own pace. It pays off and is an instant classic.
