Song of the Day: Flow (“Reflection”) [YouTube link], composed by Gints Zilbalodis and Rihards Zaļupe, is one of the cues from this thought-provoking Oscar-winning “Best Animated Feature“. I must confess that I watched this 2024 film—as I do all films featuring animal characters—with a bit of apprehensiveness. My first thought was: Please don’t make this film end like “The Biscuit Eater,” “The Yearling,” or “Old Yeller” (SPOILER ALERT: For those not in the know, the animal stars don’t survive in those films. But make sure to watch the post-credit scene in “Flow”!!!) It took over five years to produce the inspired animation and wonderful sound design in this film. It tells the moving story of the struggles of a cat and other animals who are wandering through a post-apocalytic world—in which humans have mysteriously disappeared. They learn the values of trust and friendship along the way. There are moments of amusement, suspense, and heartbreak. There is no dialogue in this sublime film that might communicate any of these emotions. The images work beautifully and the music only enhances what we see. In fact, the composers wrote seven hours of music for the film, only 50 minutes of which is heard in this extraordinary 85-minute production.
Notablog 