Flow is latest wordless animation winning acclaim

NEW YORK - Like Noah's Ark minus the humans, a vessel carrying an odd bunch of creatures is afloat after a flood in the immersive computer-animated film Flow.

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Led by a black cat, the group faces the dangers of nature together, often struggling to get along yet communicating entirely without dialogue.

It is the second wordless feature from Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, who argues that animation is more expressive than live action.

"You can use that expressiveness to convey things usually said with words," he said in a recent video interview.

Viewers see how the animals behave - including a stoic capybara, a cheerful dog, a regal secretary bird and a rambunctious lemur - Zilbalodis added, and that is their way into understanding the characters.

It won the audience award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the world's most prominent event for the medium. And Flow is now the Latvian Oscar entry for Best International Feature Film, a category for films not in English - an ironic designation, given that it is a wordless fable.

It opens exclusively at The Projector on Dec 5.

The absence of dialogue lends itself to animation, because "we're able to suspend our disbelief," Zilbalodis said. "It also forces me to think of unusual ways to relay emotions and ideas. I can't have the characters speak about them - I have to use the camera, the lighting, editing and music."

Watching Flow, one becomes hyper-aware of environmental sounds, especially wind and water.