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zedz wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2024 11:50 pm Flow (Gints Zilbalodis, Latvia) – Gorgeous Latvian animated feature that matches grand environmental spectacle with superbly observed animal behaviour. A feast of purely visual storytelling: watching this feels like watching a future classic.

Ribs wrote: Wed May 22, 2024 5:10 pm Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired Gints Zilbalodis’s Flow

Trailer.

I'm loving this film already. Going to be a long wait for the Blu ray.

Ribs wrote: Wed May 22, 2024 5:10 pm Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired Gints Zilbalodis’s Flow

Here's the poster:

Criterion sent out an email saying FLOW will be on the channel and have a Janus Contemporaries release soon.

Like Robot Dreams, Flow is a low-budget, dialogue-free animated film made by small European animation studios, and both are far superior to the major studio animated films of recent years. In what it accomplishes, it comes closest to the best Miyazaki films, even if it is very different in style and technique. Imagine the forest spirit sequence from Princess Mononoke stretched out over the entire movie, and you get some idea of the sense of mystery and awe it conveys. It is the rare animated film that does not anthropomorphize its animals, and understands that it is their difference from humans that makes them fascinating.

Our small crew of animals is confronted with a mystery of apocalyptic proportions that would defeat any human. But as animals, they are not burdened by having their faith shaken, and to solve the problem, they just have to adapt as best they can and survive. The main protagonist is probably the best cat character ever put on screen, precisely because s/he's never much more than a regular cat, and the twitchy, anxious, yet curious nature of a cat is what the movie perfectly translates to draw the viewer in. The movie never explains the nature of the catastrophe that has befallen the Earth or the absence of human life, although there is evidence that humans must have been around until very recently.

I loved the idea that

Spoiler

these animals evolve when different species have to work together to survive. There's a pack of dogs that never transcend their nature, and if they stay with their own kind, they have less chance of surviving. Our group of heroes eventually manages to perform acts of altruism and navigate a small ship, but that's as far as the movie goes in humanizing them.

Flow was created using the open-source software Blender, and while it has some limitations in terms of animation, it more than makes up for it in terms of storytelling and world-building. It wisely stays away from attempting the hyper-real CG approach of something like the Lion King remake and goes for something more stylized and painterly.

I was very happy to see this win at the Golden Globe and hope it continues its winning streak at the Oscars. I thought The Wild Robot would be the frontrunner, a movie I really disliked. Flow and The Wild Robot have things in common, both are about wild animals that have to adjust to an otherworldly situation. But where The Wild Robot is pandering and crudely manipulative with its wisecracking animals and cloying score, Flow is about how actual animals deal with the uncanny, rather than animals basically playing human archetypes.

Wonder what changed this from a Janus Contemporaries release.

Boosmahn wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 7:58 pm Wonder what changed this from a Janus Contemporaries release.

They realized its quality and long-term commercial value?

Fair enough! Haven't seen it yet, but always glad for more animation in the Collection.

zedz wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 8:00 pm

Boosmahn wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 7:58 pm Wonder what changed this from a Janus Contemporaries release.

They realized its quality and long-term commercial value?

and it looks pretty likely to win an Oscar and seems good to go for 4K. smart move on their part

I think it ticks a lot of boxes they'd like to have ticked:
animation
family friendly
Oscar winner (fingers crossed)
critical success
popular success (presumably - is it on general release anywhere yet?)
likely future classic (might be as close as they can get to a perennial like My Neighbour Totoro)
Latvian! (I presume they always want to cross another country off the big map they have in the office)

It's been doing well commercially. In its home country Latvia it became the most successful theatrical release of all time, in Mexico it reached 1 million admissions in 2 weeks, in Estonia it has been #1 three weeks in a row since its theatrical release last month, etc.

The local independent theatre near me is onto week 11 of showing it on Sunday afternoon to near sellouts.

Love the optimism but the Wild Robot is probably winning

this is streaming on Max

No specs or release date, but Amazon has the UHD and Blu-rays up for pre-order

domino harvey wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 2:35 pm Love the optimism but the Wild Robot is probably winning

:-"

zedz wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 8:37 pm I think it ticks a lot of boxes they'd like to have ticked:
animation
family friendly
Oscar winner (fingers crossed)
critical success
popular success (presumably - is it on general release anywhere yet?)
likely future classic (might be as close as they can get to a perennial like My Neighbour Totoro)
Latvian! (I presume they always want to cross another country off the big map they have in the office)

ticking a lot more boxes. I've seen it get a lot of the love in the press and on social media today, for it's independence, smaller budget, and promise for smaller countries. genuinely incredibly heartwarming, and if you log into Max it dominates the front page. a genuinely huge win, and that's even without the Criterion connection! it's just massive for the field of animation

Is the price of $49.95 correct?

kekid wrote: Tue Mar 04, 2025 1:39 am Is the price of $49.95 correct?

That's the MSRP for the 4K+blu-ray editions

Special features for the UK release from Curzon, with placeholder release date of 30th June:

• One 4K UHD with the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Presented in a rigid slipcase containing a digipak, booklet, poster and stickers
• Booklet featuring a new essay by Michael Leader, an interview with Gints Zilbalodis, and a gallery of concept art for the film.
• Aqua - short film by Gints Zilbalodis
• Priorities - short film by Gints Zilbalodis
• Masterclass and Q&A with short film by Gints Zilbalodis
• Oscars reaction video
• Trailers
• English SDH subtitles
• More extras TBC

Hoping the Criterion edition features all the things the director has been making online.

Coming in September

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

4K digital transfer, with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, approved by director Gints Zilbalodis
4K digital master of Away (2019), Zilbalodis’s debut feature
One 4K UHD disc of Flow and Away and two Blu-rays with Flow, Away, and the special features
New audio commentary featuring Zilbalodis
Full feature-length animatic
New interviews with Zilbalodis and cowriter-coproducer Matīss Kaža
Dream Cat (2025), a making-of documentary produced for Latvian Television
Aqua (2012) and Priorities (2014), short films by Zilbalodis with new commentaries by the director
Unused-shot reel, with new commentary by Zilbalodis
Trailers, TV spots, and proof-of-concept teasers
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
PLUS: An essay by critic Nicolas Rapold and collectible stickers

Cover image by Gints Zilbalodis. Flow logo by Paula Bobrova and Pēteris Tenisons.