As a self-confessed “cat person,” it was only a matter of time before I found myself exploring the rabbit hole of films about cats. While not all of the great films about our feline friends and our obsessions with them are available to South African audiences, there’s still a good selection of cat-related films out there to intrigue and entertain all levels of cat lovers from the mildly curious to the maniacally obsessed.
Here are three that offer some much needed respite from the drudges and worries of the real world in the company of the world’s oldest, purring pets.
THE ARTHOUSE ESSENTIAL:
- Black Cat, White Cat — Mubi.com
Only tangentially cat-related in that two of its recurring characters who act as bemused observers of its carnivalesque joyful chaos are cats, who provide the title, Bosnian born director Emir Kusturica’s 1998 madcap adventure is a vigorous celebration of the crazy, beautiful eccentric life of his beloved Balkan gypsies.
A Felliniesque farce about two warring low-level gangsters and their impossible-to-control families who attempt to broker a peace deal through the marriage of their children, it’s an on-the-fly, off-the-cuff and memorably dizzy portrait of a unique people and their inventive spirit.
Vulgar, energetic and exuberant, it’s filled with memorable comic setpieces worthy of the golden age of silent-era comedy that offers one of hell of a cinematic party you won’t soon forget, and which keeps a smile on your face from its opening minutes through to its cacophonic but satisfyingly uplifting conclusion.
Like all of Kusturica’s work, it also has plenty to say about the absurd divisions within his homeland that led to the civil war and the tragic breaking apart of the region. Here, however, those take more of a back seat to the on-screen circus than in previous films and the movie remains a fitting tribute to the indomitable spirit of the region and its people that still manages to find something to smile about in spite of the dark clouds of real world tragedy enveloping the world beyond the frames.
TRAILER:
Three great films about cats
While not all of the great films about our feline friends are available to SA audiences, there’s still a good selection of cat-related films out there
Image: Supplied
As a self-confessed “cat person,” it was only a matter of time before I found myself exploring the rabbit hole of films about cats. While not all of the great films about our feline friends and our obsessions with them are available to South African audiences, there’s still a good selection of cat-related films out there to intrigue and entertain all levels of cat lovers from the mildly curious to the maniacally obsessed.
Here are three that offer some much needed respite from the drudges and worries of the real world in the company of the world’s oldest, purring pets.
THE ARTHOUSE ESSENTIAL:
Only tangentially cat-related in that two of its recurring characters who act as bemused observers of its carnivalesque joyful chaos are cats, who provide the title, Bosnian born director Emir Kusturica’s 1998 madcap adventure is a vigorous celebration of the crazy, beautiful eccentric life of his beloved Balkan gypsies.
A Felliniesque farce about two warring low-level gangsters and their impossible-to-control families who attempt to broker a peace deal through the marriage of their children, it’s an on-the-fly, off-the-cuff and memorably dizzy portrait of a unique people and their inventive spirit.
Vulgar, energetic and exuberant, it’s filled with memorable comic setpieces worthy of the golden age of silent-era comedy that offers one of hell of a cinematic party you won’t soon forget, and which keeps a smile on your face from its opening minutes through to its cacophonic but satisfyingly uplifting conclusion.
Like all of Kusturica’s work, it also has plenty to say about the absurd divisions within his homeland that led to the civil war and the tragic breaking apart of the region. Here, however, those take more of a back seat to the on-screen circus than in previous films and the movie remains a fitting tribute to the indomitable spirit of the region and its people that still manages to find something to smile about in spite of the dark clouds of real world tragedy enveloping the world beyond the frames.
TRAILER:
THE STONE COLD CLASSIC:
A hugely enjoyable oddball fairy-tale from Soviet era Czechoslovakia in the years before the Prague Spring, that viewed within the light of its historical moment gains an extra poignancy but also succeeds as a piece of pure escapist imaginative whimsy on its own merits.
Set in a sleepy, small town in Bohemia, it’s the story of what happens when a charming magician arrives with his travelling circus and his star performer — a sunglass-wearing tabby cat whose magical powers will soon upend everyone’s lives. The cat has a supernatural gift, which enables it to read people’s inner natures and make them change colour to reflect this to others.
The cat in effect reveals people’s true colours and while this spooks many of the townspeople, the cat’s ability to make it possible for people to live with more truth and honesty about others, leads the local schoolteacher to adopt her as a symbol of hope and inspiration to his rowdy but talented art students who all seize on the moment to produce dazzlingly brilliant and bright painted tributes to their new messiah.
Underneath all the undeniably heartwarming singing, dancing and joyous oddity, there lurks a deeper message about the repression of creativity and self-expression under Communism that uses smartly imaginative measures to achieve its aims and bypass the era’s grimly grey censorship restrictions. A singularly strange and surprisingly uplifting film that still offers much to entertain beyond the messaging of its time and place.
TRAILER:
THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH:
A warm, enjoyably sweet film for the young and the young at heart, this lesser work from the formidable Japanese animation Studio Ghibli still provides strong family-centred storytelling and just enough off-centre characters to lift it above run-of-the-mill, equivalent Western fare.
The narrative centres on a daydreaming, cat besotted young student — familiar to many real-life cat obsessives — whose kindness to the feline race is rewarded by her admittance to the Kingdom of Cats, where she’s swept along on an unwilling adventure that sees her become the object of desire of a feline prince who’s not about to let her go so easily.
It’s an unusual but heartfelt, easy to digest celebration of all things feline told with love and large doses of visually impressive imagination.
TRAILER: