Suzanne Aldrich (she/her)<p>Watched the Latvian <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/Flow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Flow</span></a> last night with one of my children and that’s sure an example of a <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/SacredMovie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SacredMovie</span></a>. I can certainly see why it is nominated for an <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/AcademyAward" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AcademyAward</span></a> for Best <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/AnimatedFilm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AnimatedFilm</span></a>. There is no dialogue in this <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/movie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>movie</span></a>—it’s about a <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/cat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cat</span></a> and some other <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/animals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>animals</span></a> of various sorts, who live in a timeline where their planet is flooded, humans are gone, and they have to cooperate in order to survive. While the characters are more than slightly <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/anthropomorphic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anthropomorphic</span></a>, for the most part these are realistic depictions of how animals generally behave, which I felt was engaging and drove the narrative because you didn’t have such a hard time <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/SuspendingDisbelief" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SuspendingDisbelief</span></a>. The encounters with the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/MirroredSurfaces" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MirroredSurfaces</span></a> refer to the ability of animals to be <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/selfconscious" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>selfconscious</span></a>, and the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/floods" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>floods</span></a> and foreboding referred to <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/humanity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>humanity</span></a>’s demonstrated inability to <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/selfreflect" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>selfreflect</span></a> or head off <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/disaster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>disaster</span></a>. There were a number of <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/MagicalRealism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MagicalRealism</span></a> elements that I felt are not to be taken literally, but directly lend to the thematic intent, so as to provide for metaphorically demonstrating the sacred quality of <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/community" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>community</span></a>, and the redemptive power of <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/sacrifice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sacrifice</span></a>.</p><p>Stylistically the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/animation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>animation</span></a> reminded me of Waking Life with its rotoscoping technique, crossed with the cel shading like from Zelda Breath of the Wild. As the creatures traipsed through watery gorges of lush greenery and tried to catch colorful fish swimming through recently flooded tropical forests, I was struck by the regard the animators paid towards faithfully rendering the movement, structure, and dynamics of living things in this <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/film" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>film</span></a>, and how that really communicates the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/joy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>joy</span></a> and <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/awe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>awe</span></a> we feel when we regard the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/beauty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>beauty</span></a>, and <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/terror" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>terror</span></a>, of <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/life" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>life</span></a> in its full extant.</p><p>My child said she loved when they found out that “real <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/friendship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>friendship</span></a> is more important than fake <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/friends" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>friends</span></a>.”</p>