FILM
THE CAT AND THE CRIME
Film categories, Flow has a good shot at winning Latvia’s first Oscar — an honor well deserved for this 85-minute, dialogue-free story of a dark gray cat trying to survive a biblical flood. Two first-time nominees to Flow provides little context as to when and where we are, root for at this year’s Oscars but that isn’t the point. No humans appear in the movie BY MICHAEL J. CASEY — only the left-behind artifacts and structures are evidence of their existence as the waters ou might not believe it, but the rise and recede. That just Academy Awards mean a lot. leaves us with a handful of Sure, it’s nice to be nominated, animals to watch as nature but winning that 8.5-pound golden statue navigates Earth’s next step. — designed by the great MGM art direcZilbalodis wisely avoids tor Cedric Gibbons and, allegedly, modThe aftermath of a police shooting in the Oscar-nominated Incident. Courtesy: Hypnotic Pictures. anthropomorphizing the anieled after a nude sketch of the Mexican ances evaporate once basic instincts mals. But that doesn’t mean they are free explore how quickly and harmfully narrafilmmaker Emilio Fernández — opens a take over. from personality. There’s a bossy stork, a tives are constructed to explain away a lot of doors. Particularly doors closed to Flow is Zilbalodis’ second feature — his split-second decision that shouldn’t have helpful capybara, a narcissistic ringtail filmmakers who’ve been on the scene but first, Away, is equally outstanding. Pay lemur and an earnest but troublesome happened. are still gaining recognition and acclaim. attention to the end credits to see just labrador retriever. Fascinatingly, the cat is After the screening at Telluride, Yes, it’s exciting to see all those big how much of a one-man band he is. the only one who resists any kind of simMorrison said he always wanted to tell a names and follow which top-line movies They’ve already erected a statue of the Rashômon-like story invoking the 1950 walk with the hardware, but it’s always the plistic description — fitting for a feline. cat in Latvia’s capital city of Riga. Imagine Japanese film where multiple eyewitness Animated with the open-source prodown-ballot categories that catch my eye. how happy they’ll be when Zilbalodis gram Blender, Zilbalodis’ images are accounts don’t corroborate an incident but And on March 2, I’ll be rooting extra hard brings home a statue or two of his own. simultaneously basic and beautiful. And confound it. for two to win at the 97th Academy with no dialogue to get hung up on, your That opportunity presented itself when Awards: Flow and Incident. friend and journalist, Jamie Kalven, Flow, from filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, is mind is free to wander this world and SHOTS FIRED marvel along with the cat. Dig a little reported on the killing of Augustus and the first Latvian production to receive an I first saw Bill Morrison’s Incident at the deeper and you’ll find a story of commugathered hours upon hours of footage Academy Award nomination. And since Telluride Film Festival in 2023 and immenity in how the animals band together to from the Chicago Police Department. it’s a twofer, nominated in the Animated diately fell under its spell. But where does stay alive. And how those tentative alliUsing split screens and overlapping panFeature Film and International Feature a 30-minute documentary, composed els, Morrison reconstructs the moments entirely from preexisting leading up to the shooting and deconsurveillance footage — structs the post-shooting narrative the police body cams, closed police create to justify the killing while the circuit cameras and smartcommunity gathers to play the role of phones — live after its festijudgmental consciousness. val life? I had no idea then, Incident is Morrison’s first Oscar nominabut I knew it was strong enough that I had to include tion, a long time coming for an archival documentarian who has been innovating it on my top 10 of 2023, with found footage for more than a quartereven if most couldn’t see it. century now. Should he hoist the statue on Now, it’s available to all Sunday, it will be a welcome sight. thanks to The New Yorker’s documentary video series and has received a significant boost in attention ON SCREEN: The 97th thanks to its nomination for Academy Awards are Documentary Short Film. Sunday, March 2, on ABC. With Incident, Morrison Flow is playing in limited compiles footage from a release and streaming on 2018 Chicago police shootMax. Incident is available to ing of a Black man, Harith watch at thenewyorker.com. “Snoop” Augustus, to A community forms amid a biblical flood in Latvia’s Oscar-nominated Flow. Courtesy: Slideshow and Janus Films
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BOULDER WEEKLY
FEBRUARY 27, 2025
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