Set in a post-apocalyptic world with rising water levels, the film is the simple story of a cat who struggles to survive the dangerous environment and other animals where it would board a boat shared by a capybara and later joined by a lemur, a dog from a previous encounter, and a secretary bird. It is a film that has a simple premise with no dialogue or narration but rather be told through images, expression, and animals encountering each other and their surroundings. Gints Zilbalodis’ screenplay is minimal in terms of its structure with this black cat being its main protagonist as this cat also deals with a world with water as well as other animals on the land, he is in that include lots of dogs including a white Labrador Retriever who would become one of the passengers on the boat they would board later in the film. During the trip on the boat, the cat would also learn to swim thanks to the capybara as well as gain an ally in a secretary bird who refused to kill him for his flock.
Zilbalodis’ direction is astonishingly ravishing in its imagery as he is aided by animation director Leo Silly Pelissier who is also the film’s co-director. In the usage of the free and open-source Blender software, Zilbalodis also serves as the film’s editor, cinematographer, and art director where he and a team of animators put a lot of effort into creating a world that has an element of realism in the animation. Notably in the way water moves and how a cat would swim underwater to catch fish as there is a lot of diligence in how a school of fish is shown underwater. Zilbalodis’ creation of the animals has an air of crudeness in the animation, yet it has a sense of charm in the way they move and how water is presented on an animal. Zilbalodis also creates some unique compositions as well as a lot of shots that linger on for minutes where the camera would follow a character in one part of the location and to another.
Since this is a film where this is no dialogue spoken, it is in the animals in how they speak where they all communicate with one another even though a dog, a cat, a secretary bird, a capybara, and a lemur all speak differently. With the aid of sound designer Gurwal Coic-Gallas, the sound of the environment in the way water sounds underwater and above water as well as how nature is presented from afar. Zilbalodis’ direction does use a lot of wide and medium shots to get a vast scope of these locations. The mindfulness in the design of the landscape, rock towers, and places where humans used to inhabit as it help play into the intense atmosphere of rain and heavy water currents with close-ups of the cat dealing with that intensity. Adding that sense of intensity is the film’s music by Zilbalodis and Rihards Zalupe that has this bombastic mixture of orchestral elements and ambient-electronic music as it would help play into the drama and suspense. Even to the film’s end where there are moments that are mystical yet also grounded in realism as it relates to everything these animals have been through. Overall, Zilbalodis crafts a ravishing and exhilarating film about a cat surviving a post-apocalyptic flood with a bunch of different animals on a boat.
Straume is a magnificent film by Gints Zilbalodis. Featuring gorgeous animation, a simple yet compelling story of survival and friendship, and a wonderful music score. It is an animated film that proves that even if a story has been told through many versions where it can find new ways as well as knowing how to keep it simple. In the end, Straume is an outstanding film by Gints Zilbalodis.
© thevoid99 2025
2 comments:
Glad you saw this and loved it! The animation is so unique and the animal character design is mesmerizing, especially the cat with its expressive eyes! I'm a big cat person, so naturally I enjoy watching this, but what Gints Zilbalodis and his team created here is simply spectacular. I'm happy they got recognized, esp. since Latvia has never won any Oscars or even been nominated before. Gints is also fun to follow on social media, as he often posts a lot of fun stuff!
This was WAY better than I thought it would be. I was in awe of what I watched. I await for what he does next and hopefully more animated films from countries that never got a shot at the Oscars.
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