GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany—For 20 years, Stefan Diete, a lab chemist at an oil refinery in this western Germany town, was a member of a far-left party with Communist roots. In this month’s ...

“Flow,” the dialogue-free Latvian animated epic that’s been nominated for two Oscars, presents the absurd and possibly actionable case that cats are more resourceful and virtuous than dogs.

This was as welcome as it was inevitable. During the previous decade, which was ruled by skinny suits and narrow lapels, shirt collars had been reduced to such vanishing proportions that wearing a ...