FLOW - Plugged In Review

Published Jan 10, 2025, 5:08 PM

Adam Holz with Plugged In reviewed Flow. It's a film that feels less like a product and more like a painting. There is no dialogue in this Latvian film which takes you on a journey with animals at its center. Through them, our own character traits are seen in their vanities, their curiosities, their selfishness, and their sacrifice. Adam also reviews 'The Room Next Door.' Read the full reviews at pluggedin.com.

It is Friday Friday.

Field trip day.

On snow days 2025.

It's snowing here in the Tennessee Valley and Adam Holtz is our guest. We plugged in. Good morning Adam.

Good morning. It's. Everything is so topsy turvy right now. You know, I'm out here in California now. And so watching the news about the fires, just constantly and like the rest of the world, is having the worst blizzard in the history of the world. It sounds like it's just extreme. It's so extreme. Just what's going on right now?

Well, Adam, speaking of the fires, and you are in California, how are you guys doing? Are you anywhere near that? Are you safe?

Yeah. We're safe. We're almost six hours north of Los Angeles, so it's a it's a long ways away. It functionally, it feels like it's in another state. But I will say having grown up in the Midwest, I grew up in Iowa. I've mentioned that from time to time, the coasts can feel like a different world. They feel a long ways away, and I think being closer has made me, um, I don't know, maybe a bit more sensitive to the reality that that this is real. And I think sometimes when we watch these images on the news because we've seen so many disaster movies, you know, tying it back into Plugged In, there's an unreality about it. But, um, obviously we know it's real. I'm not trying to suggest that people think it's a hoax, but, um, being closer to it, um, it sensitized me. Uh, and I, I appreciate, you know, people like Chris Pratt, who has been online asking for prayers and, and really invoking the name of Jesus in the midst of it, not just sort of generic prayers, but, you know, Jesus is there in the midst of those fires. And I don't say that lightly or lightly. Uh, there are believers. Levers. There are there are unbelievers, you know, and I, I pray that God can use those who have a spiritual perspective there. Um, maybe there's a moment of opportunity for some of the people who have lived lives of privilege, you know, relative to the rest of society. Uh, maybe something happens here and, and some of them get a wake up call that there's no other way it could have happened. So there's so much we could talk about with that. That's not really why we get together on Fridays, but, um. But. Yeah, thanks for asking, I appreciate it.

Well, Adam, uh, we'll get to some of the, uh, movies that are available here this weekend, but let's really talk about this as as followers of Christ and those people that are, uh, in California or in California now, and, and it's it's more real to you than it's been since you've been in the middle of the country. Uh, coming from Washington state, fires are a part of every summer for us, especially up and down the coast. So I get it. But until you live through something. Yeah. Or at least it touches you in some way, it way. It doesn't really become real. But you mentioned something that it is an opportunity to point people, to hope that can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

No, that's right. And I think that, um, weirdly enough, Hollywood really deals in hope right now. Certainly there's lots of depressing stuff that comes out of Hollywood, and we're going to get a number of those things nominated for Academy Awards that are like, well, these are not hopeful movies, but but I think at the end of the day, we talk about the happy ending, right? And they lived happily ever after. And I think Hollywood is still in the happily ever after business, for the most part. And this doesn't feel like a happily ever after, but it's a moment to recognize what really matters. And I and I have been, I guess I'm not sure what the right word is gratified, maybe, to hear so many people saying, you know, we lost everything, but we have each other. You know, there's a recognition that what really matters Is those relationships. And that's true for us too. Right. And I hope that we don't have to lose everything to realize, man, what really matters in life and what is lasting and valuable is our connection with each other. Um, and so I am hopeful that that there can be something redemptive out of this. Although, you know, Tom, you mentioned growing up in Washington state. I've been in Colorado Springs for 30 years, and we have had two fires since I have been there. And one of them, I watched roll over the Hill and roll down into the neighborhood where I had friends and had friends that lost houses. And I, I think that fire took about 300 houses. And I remember driving through that neighborhood months later because they wouldn't even let anybody in for weeks and weeks and weeks, and just being shocked at the devastation and what's happening in California is, you know, ten times or 100 times more. And, Man. So I think we're inundated. Excuse me. Inundated with bad news, but I. I hope that we can find it in our hearts to to pray for the believers there and pray for those who don't know Jesus, that maybe this is a time for them to meet him.

Adam Holtz with us with plugged in movie reviews. And we're talking movies. And you say there's maybe a strange one out. Adam.

Yeah, yeah there is. It's called flow, which doesn't really tell you anything. This is an oddball movie, if ever we have talked about one, but kind of interesting and kind of weirdly delightful. It is a Latvian movie from Latvia in Eastern Europe, and this is a movie about a flood that, um, basically. Well, how to put it, it really ends up with a whole bunch of animals helping each other try to survive this flood and to rescue other animals, the chief among them is a character we just know as Cat. And, uh, Cat is a cat. And Cat does cat things, and cat sort of lives cat's own life. We don't know whether cat is male or female. So, um, but this flood happens, and Cat gets thrown together with three other very, very different animals a capybara, a lemur and a secretary bird. Oh, and also a pesky little yippy dog. And so together the five of them try to rescue other animals from the flood. Now, the interesting thing is, even though this movie is Latvian, you might be thinking, oh, I hate movies with subtitles. I'm not interested. There's no dialogue. Yeah. I mean, for all intents and purposes, uh, and it's an animated movie. I don't know if I mentioned that. It's it's almost like a silent movie. And so we have to depend on the animal's facial expressions to just get a sense of what's happening here is.

There's like a soundtrack with it to help emotionally.

At all. No it's it's not. Yeah. It's I mean there's, there's sound effects and music, but there's no dialogue. Um, this is a really interesting story. Um, a little bit of bathroom humor, but other than that, there's nothing else that's inappropriate for kids. But I would also say I'm not sure kids will get it. I mean, this feels like a movie that is made for a more mature audience. Um, capybaras notwithstanding.

Okay.

I mean, it's kind of funny, Adam, that they have the world's smallest dog, a little yippy dog, and the world's largest, largest rodent.

The world's largest.

I mean, I'm sure that the dog could use the capybara. Kind of like as a horse if.

You wanted to.

Um, but it sort of feels like a movie about how do we respond in times of tragedy. In a weird way, it segues into our opening conversation of just what does it look like for us to to look out for the needs of others? Um, anyway, it's a remarkably Creative and delightful and quiet little film that will be here and gone. But it's fun to have something just totally not a sequel, not a big budget blockbuster. Um, there's no names you recognize. There's no dialogue at all. But this is an interesting film.

That's really interesting. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. And so I'm kind of intrigued. I may want to watch it.

Yeah. No, I think you might like it. It's. If you do, I would love to hear what you think of it, because it's, uh, it is a different kettle of fish, as they say somewhere. Although I've never personally had a kettle of fish, so I don't know where that story comes that that cliche comes from.

Well, it.

Definitely didn't come from me because I don't like fish in any form or fashion. You know, Adam, as you're just talking about and describing this, it just talks about how, um, there are moments of difficulties that thrust people together, um, of different backgrounds and that you would never think that they would have anything in common. But the more you boil it down, we have more in common with one another than we even think possible.

No, that's exactly right. And that's actually a great segue into our next film, because I think Scripture says we're created in God's image, and because of that, we have dignity. We have sanctity. We have value. Our value comes from the fact that God has created us. And there's so much in our world that beats us down, that dehumanizes us, that it's important for us to remember that. The next film I want to talk about is called The Room Next Door. This is a PG 13 movie starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton as two longtime friends named Ingrid and Martha, respectively. They had time together when they were much younger, and they've not really been around each other for many, many years. But Julianne Moore's character Ingrid learns that Tilda Swinton's character Martha has cancer, and so she comes to her friend's aid and basically says, I'm here for you, I will help you, I will care for you. And so it's it's kind of a remarkable story of friendship that takes a very dark turn in that what Tilda Swinton wants is for her friend to help her take her life. Uh, you know, assisted suicide. She basically says, uh, I'm not going to let cancer get me. I'm going to get myself first because she's terminally ill with cancer. And so we watch Julianne Moore's character sort of wrestle with the ethical implications of helping to kill her friend. And ultimately, spoiler warning, she does that. That's where the movie ends up. And I think just like we saw with Million Dollar Baby back in the day, that's been, oh, man, probably 15 or 20 years ago. Um, this is a movie that makes an emotional case for euthanasia, for mercy killing. And I think this is a is a movie that, um, those sorts of emotional cases in the moment can really work on us, right? It's like, well, yeah, why wouldn't I want to help my friend escape suffering? And if we, by the movie's logic, we end up in a place that I think is really at odds with what Scripture says about that sanctity and dignity of of our lives as human beings, even amidst suffering.

Okay, that's that's not exactly where I thought this was going to go. As you started talking about truly, I was just thinking that that the pathway would come back to, uh, you know, the truth of that, life is important rather than taking it down there, but it does explore those very difficult issues that keep coming up as we talk about being pro-life. Adam, usually you think about infants, but we don't think about the other end of the spectrum.

No, that's exactly right. And the idea that life has value, even when it doesn't look like what we think it should look like, is really important. Uh, and that's certainly important when we're talking about the pro-life movement, as we typically think about that, that an unexpected pregnancy often is not in a young woman's plans. And it seems like there's an easy way out. But we know that the cost of that is is staggering. And so I think movies like these can be a talking point. I think this one will have limited appeal simply because it's a small drama. It's an intense movie. Um, but I get frustrated when we get essentially what I feel like is propaganda for a message that is absolutely at odds with what Scripture teaches about the value that we have as human beings, and it does so in this emotionally, um, powerful way. I mean, it's a really well made film, but, um, we've got to be careful when we watch movies that make emotional appeals for all kinds of things that ultimately don't line up with truth.

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