Flow

Can a cat swim? How are a capybara’s boat-steering skills? And should you trust a lemur as your antique dealer?

These and other life mysteries are solved in Flow, Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis’ fascinating, dialogue-free animated film about a black feline trying to survive rising waters and the animals he encounters along the way.

While the flood imagery might be a tad too real for Western North Carolina residents still recovering from the carnage of Hurricane Helene, the investment in these critters’ survival soon overcomes that initial trepidation.

Realized through colorful but somewhat ragged digital animation and thoughtful sound design, Flow manages to captive viewers through a series of wild events concocted by Zilbalodis and co-writer Matiss Kaza. Maneuvering through this waterworld on a makeshift ark, our oddball menagerie faces thrilling threats inside and outside the vessel — and it doesn’t hurt that they look cute in the process.

During this riveting adventure, the filmmakers miraculously work in a left-field spiritual moment that somehow works, plus a tear-jerking finale that’s as impossible to predict as the big twist in Conclave.

If good taste still exists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that papal thriller will take home a few awards at next year’s Oscars ceremony while Flow will win the statuette for Best Animated Feature. If not, Zilbalodis’ lovely effort will still be the year’s best animated film.

Grade: A-minus. Rated PG. Now playing at Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Janus Films)