Suzanne Aldrich (she/her)<p>Watched the Latvian <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/Flow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" 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" target="_blank">#<span>AcademyAward</span></a> for Best <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/AnimatedFilm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" target="_blank">#<span>movie</span></a>—it’s about a <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/cat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cat</span></a> and some other <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/animals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" 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" target="_blank">#<span>SuspendingDisbelief</span></a>. The encounters with the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/MirroredSurfaces" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" target="_blank">#<span>selfconscious</span></a>, and the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/floods" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>floods</span></a> and foreboding referred to <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/humanity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>humanity</span></a>’s demonstrated inability to <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/selfreflect" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>selfreflect</span></a> or head off <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/disaster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>disaster</span></a>. There were a number of <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/MagicalRealism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" target="_blank">#<span>community</span></a>, and the redemptive power of <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/sacrifice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>sacrifice</span></a>.</p><p>Stylistically the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/animation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" 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" target="_blank">#<span>joy</span></a> and <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/awe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" target="_blank">#<span>beauty</span></a>, and <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/terror" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>terror</span></a>, of <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/life" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" 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" target="_blank">#<span>friendship</span></a> is more important than fake <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/friends" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>friends</span></a>.”</p>