Flow 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Flow 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Water, ship down.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 30, 2025

The first independent film to take home an Oscar for Best Animated Feature and a rare non-live action entry into The Criterion Collection, Gints Zilbalodis' Flow was a breakthrough effort for the Latvian filmmaker. It was also the first film he put together as part of a team, working closely with fellow animators, producers, and others (including members of the production companies Take Five and Sacrebleu) rather than doing everything himself. Continuing his penchant for completely dialogue-free stories driven fully by visuals and atmosphere, Flow follows a dark grey cat and other animal survivors of a catastrophic flood as they navigate the human-free world with little more than a derelict boat and their own instincts. Excluding the director's earlier work like Away (included on this release as an extra), there's little to compare it to besides for similarly meditative animated films like 2016's outstanding The Red Turtle.

In other words, Flow occupies a very small corner of animation that will undoubtedly explode in the near future. Made for a fraction of the cost of the films created by Disney/Pixar, Sony, Dreamworks, and Illumination via the open source graphics software Blender, Flow isn't bogged down by overcooked visuals, celebrity voices, or needle-drop music cues, though its story tackles familiar themes that can be understood by all ages. After all, it basically follows a ragtag group of underdogs on a perilous journey where their success -- or in this case, survival -- fully depends on everyone working together. Who's in the group, you might ask? Besides for the dark gray cat, there's a chilled-out capybara, a possessive and worldly ring-tailed lemur, a faithful Labrador Retriever, and a massive secretary bird who all bring unique skills and handicaps to the team as they sail through barren, post-apocalyptic locations amidst an ever-rising sea level and other threats including sudden downpours, raging winds, and roaming animals higher on the food chain.

While it can certainly be enjoyed or at least appreciated at face value, Flow aims for something a little deeper with central (but hardly preachy) themes and story elements related to climate change, human nature by way of ever-so-slightly anthropomorphized animals, and nature's unyielding life cycle. Several merciless moments may not sit right with extremely sensitive and/or younger viewers, while a few more abstract and ethereal developments may require explanation. No matter -- Flow is such an ultimately uplifting and rewarding experience that it's the kind of film you'll enthusiastically recommend to anyone and everyone after seeing it for the first time. Made with unrivaled attention to detail that required careful animal study and absolutely no motion capture, real-world audio recordings (which led to an unexpected change in casting for the capybara's "voice"), and stunning 3-D rendered backgrounds that allowed Flow's animators to plot out the entire film with a full animatic rather than storyboards, the end result feels like both a giant leap forward for independent animation and a tantalizing glimpse of things yet to come.

Though it was available on Blu-ray and UHD earlier this year via import, Criterion has thankfully shepherded Flow to domestic audiences in short order via a 4K/Blu-ray combo pack and a stand-alone Blu-ray edition. Both also include co-writer/director Gints Zilbalodis' earlier 2019 full-length film Away and a full disc of additional bonus features, many of which feature participation from key members of the cast and crew. Add in the expected high-quality A/V presentation and beautiful packaging and you've got one of the year's most unexpected surprises on home video.

Please note that "Flow" runs for a brisk but full-bodied 85 minutes; the "160 minutes" listed above also includes Gints Zilbalodis' 2019 animated film "Away", presented here as a bonus feature and detailed below.

Flow 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included Blu-ray, available separately and reviewed here.

Flow might be the very first Criterion Collection release I've ever gotten that doesn't advertise any technical details regarding the transfer or mastering other than it being "director-approved", which leads me to believe that both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs make use of the same materials -- and possibly even encoding -- as those used for Curzon Film World's UK editions released earlier this year. (Criterion's 4K disc is indeed triple-layered whereas the Curzon disc is a BD-66, but it also includes the feature-length film Away.) Either way, that's hardly a complaint since Criterion's 4K is a predictably strong and stable effort and runs at an exceedingly high bit rate that often ventures into 90 Mbps territory. Fine detail is object-dependent with character designs that feature little to no true textures, while the backgrounds are comparatively a lot more complex; the latter shine brightly in UHD even when "limited" to SDR, if only because the colors and toon-shaded lighting are so stylishly dramatic that further enhancement doesn't feel necessary.

That said, Flow's particular visual style exhibits rather strong banding and even noticeable pixelation on countless occasions so, in many respects, it's basically impossible to determine where native shortcomings end and possible authoring defects begin. But given that every other version of Flow that's I've seen -- trailers, stills, work-in-progress demos -- features these same issues to varying degrees, I'm fairly confident that Criterion's 4K edition is about as strong as the film will ever look on home video... but I'm still a bit hesitant to award it truly perfect marks.

Flow 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, first-timers might think that the dialogue-free DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio mix represents "almost, but not quite" since Dolby Atmos is so prominent nowadays, but I can say more confidently that 7.1 is Flow's native format so I'm certainly glad it was preserved here. And while it somewhat surprisingly doesn't feature a consistently active sound field considering much of the subject matter, this mostly front-forward presentation does indeed open up dramatically during key moments including those involving harsh weather, heavy atmospheric activity, and of course more ethereal and/or dreamlike segments, will plenty of room for the score by Gints Zilbalodis and Rihards Zaļupe. It's another solid effort considering the film's modest roots and, as such, earns similarly near-perfect marks.

Optional English SDH subtitles are included during the film and all bonus features (a rarity for Criterion releases), although both the main feature and Away are all 100% dialogue-free so only descriptions are present.

Flow 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This three-disc release ships in a gorgeous foil-enhanced Digipack case with attractive artwork throughout; the 4K disc sits by itself on the left, whereas both Blu-rays are on adjacent overlapping hubs. Also tucked inside is a folded insert booklet with more artwork and a new essay by critic Nicolas Rapold, as well as a sticker sheet for the kids.

The impressive on-disc bonus features are mostly exclusive to Criterion and spread across all three discs.

DISC ONE (4K UHD movie disc)

• Audio Commentary - This new audio commentary for Flow by Gints Zilbalodis, which is spoken in English but also includes optional SDH subtitles, covers a solid amount of ground in which the co-writer/director details his contributions to the film while also crediting just about every member of the creative team. There's a great deal of information about key technical details but Zilbalodis leaves plenty of room for story interpretations, personal memories, connections to earlier films, stories from press tours and post-awards interviews, and even a bit of humor, as he lightly roasts the more than two full minutes of studio logos that kick off the film.

• Away (75:18) - Gints Zilbalodis' debut full-length 2019 film, which he made entirely by himself with the 3-D animation software Autodesk Maya, is presented here in 2160p/SDR but sadly limited to lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (and 192 kbps at that). That said, it's an intensely stylized and similarly meditative effort that fans of Flow should enjoy, as it follows a stranded teenager who navigates an unknown and mostly barren world while trying to evade a massive, slowly-moving monster who sucks the life out of everything it consumes. Throw in a brave yellow bird, a vintage motorbike, and about a hundred cats and you've got a recipe for unusual but unforgettable DIY filmmaking. Although the character designs and movement are far below the level of Flow, its backgrounds are wonderfully rendered and the story itself is very effective and suspenseful at key moments. As for the A/V presentation, it's similar to Flow in that 4K resolution isn't a game-changer -- perhaps even less so here, due to the lower amount of detail -- and the heavy banding is baked in. See my Blu-ray review for screenshots.

DISC TWO (Blu-ray movie disc)

• Audio Commentary - See above.

• Away (75:18) - The same as above, but presented in 1080p/SDR.

• Trailer One (2:23) - An appropriately wordless promotional piece for Away.
• Trailer Two (1:55) - A similarly-toned promo with alternate music and critic quotes.

DISC THREE (Blu-ray bonus features)

• Meet the Filmmakers (13:20) - This episode of Criterion's ongoing series features a 2024 chat with Gints Zilbalodis, who speaks about his interests and interests as well as the making of Flow.

• Feline Phenomenon (10:47) - A 2025 interview recorded by Criterion that features co-writer/co-producer Matīss Kaža, who again speaks about Flow and his collaborative history with Gints Zilbalodis.

• Dream Cat (57:28) - This mid-length 2025 documentary was created by Latvian Television and lightly chronicles the making of Flow during its extensive five-year production while also sharing the spotlight with various members of the creative team and their unique contributions. It's also the only piece presented in Latvian but, like the other bonus features included here, includes optional English subtitles.

• Short Films - A pair of early short films written and entirely animated by Gints Zilbalodis, each presented with optional newly-recorded audio commentaries by the filmmaker.

• Aqua (2012, 7:35) - An obvious early inspiration for Flow, this roughly-animated but expressive adventure follows a cat trapped in a world flooded by water until a stray boat comes along.
• Priorities (2014, 9:27) - Display a noticeable step up in animation quality and visual dynamics (and playing like a similarly early precursor for Away, but without any mysticism), this short film concerns a man and his dog who are marooned on an island and must find a way to escape together.

• Process Videos - An assortment of miscellaneous clips and other footage.

• Proof-of-Concept Teasers (2 clips, 2:52 total) - A pair of promotional pieces from 2019 and 2021 which were assembled by Gints Zilbalodis to advertise Flow to potential investors.
• Animatic (80:41) - Made piece by piece in lieu of traditional storyboards and presented here in full, this feature-length animatic for Flow is largely free from sound effects and was partially scored by Gints Zilbalodis to plan the pacing, camera movement, and character dynamic of the final film.
• Unused Shots (8:50) - A silent reel of 13 deleted and alternate sequences (all presented in either animatic or partially animated form) with audio commentary by Gints Zilbalodis.

• Promos and Trailers - Five different promotional pieces for Flow.

• "For Your Consideration" Reel (3:55) - A quasi-trailer spliced with interview clips featuring Gints Zilbalodis, brief clips from his earlier short film Aqua, and development footage from Flow.
• U.S. Trailer (2:10) - No narration, surprisingly, but there is on-screen text and critic quotes.
• International Trailer (1:42) - Similar in tone, but with different music cues and editing choices.
• Awards Spot (0:32) - Do you like critic quotes and palm leaves? If so, you're in luck!
• Director Endorsement Spot (1:09) - More praise, this time from various directors and actors.

Flow 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gints Zilbalodis' Oscar-winning Flow is just about as brilliant as you've heard, a fairly original animated adventure with an accessible story, great music, and uniquely effective visuals that carry the film for all 85 dialogue-free minutes. This is probably the best film of its kind that I've seen since 2016's The Red Turtle and will likely stand the test of time while further opening the door for another wave of independent animated films from talented artists and storytellers around the world. Criterion has thankfully brought Flow to domestic audiences quickly as either a 4K/Blu-ray combo pack or a stand-alone Blu-ray edition, both of which include supportive A/V merits, Zilbalodis' excellent feature-length 2019 animated film Away, and a full disc of worthwhile bonus features. Very, very Highly Recommended.