2024, Gints Zilbalodis (Away) -- download
OK, its about time I wrote about something that was not only in my bin for a while, one of the Should Be Watching, but also because it was entirely worth waiting for. This was not only everything everyone said it was (Best Animated Feature) but it was beautiful to watch, beautiful to listen to, and one long Cat Video. Also, its PoAp.
Some planet after some event. Maybe its Earth maybe its a Ghibli world, but that doesn't matter. We have a world without humans but the remnants of humanity, the refuse left to grow over, leaving lots of room, and peace for the surviving animals. A little black cat (OK, the director says it was "dark gray" but I am partial to black cats, so he was black for me), for one, who lives in a house once owned by an artist, where he sleeps on a made bed that is only easily reached by the lithe little jumps a cat can reach. That is, until the waters come.
The movie begins with a tense encounter between the cat and a pack of dogs, not a feral looking scary bunch, but a pack of once-pets, but still cat/dog, so conflict. Until they are all swept away by a flash flood. The cat does find refuge, briefly, back at his home, the lovely artist's shack surrounded by cat sculptures, but the waters continue to rise quickly until the cat finds himself perched high upon a stone cat. When that too is under water, he is picked up by a capybara in a sail boat.
Yup. Too cute.
Thus begins a "road trip" movie, a journey towards... well, we never really know what, but in a world overwhelmed by water, I imagine they were looking for dry land, and a time when the waters aren't rising.
There are no humans in this movie, so there is no dialogue as these are not "cartoon animals", but there is no lack of communication, albeit fantastical in nature. The cat is constantly mewing and meowing, in the manner we are accustomed to, which is in turn for our benefit, as cats sans humans don't often make those noises. But the other animals he encounters interact with him in very definable manners. The capybara is helpful and looking for companionship. The secretarybird that joins them is domineering, stoic and their navigator... he seems to know where he is going. The meercat lemur is frenetic, a covetous collector of human things. And the golden retriever is a typical big, goofy pal who didn't share in his pack's desire to chase a cat in terror. They are all gathered together on the boat on their way... somewhere.
This movie is just so beautiful to look at. Obviously inspired by the films of Miyazaki, everything is bright and beautiful and mystical. Their journey is punctuated by the constant slow rise of the waters, now deep enough that whale-creatures join them on their journey, at least one finding itself bonding with the cat. This is not our Earth and in the distance, just over the horizon, the massive monoliths that the secretarybird guides them to are ominous, magical.
They say the journey is more important than the destination, and in the end this applies to the movie succinctly. They do reach the monoliths, there is a beautiful, mysterious interaction but then the waters recede, disappearing, pulling back, as if they were not even there. Where does the water go? Why is the land not saturated and destroyed after being underwater for so long? What about the whales? What's next for our cat and his friends? No answers but your own headcanon. And it doesn't matter, doesn't diminish from an absolutely lovely movie.
Also, I would love to see some lemurs wearing pots as hats.
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