CAT OF THE DAY 063: THE ARISTOCATS

Posted on December 22, 2012 by annebillson

aristocats06CAT OF THE DAY 063: THE ARISTOCATS (1970)

The last animated feature to have been personally approved by Walt Disney is a Major Cat Movie. But even taking into account that the feline characters are anthropomorphised to the nth degree, I’ve always found there’s something strangely uncatlike about their movement and behaviour, as though the animators studied the movements of cartoon cats rather than real ones. For example, the prowling of Thomas O’Malley (full name: Abraham De Lacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O’Malley) reminds me more of Shere Khan the tiger or Bagheera the panther from The Jungle Book than of any real cats I’ve ever known.

However, that doesn’t stop me fancying Thomas O’Malley something rotten. This may have something to do with Phil Harris‘s voice, but then again, I never fancied Baloo the bear in The Jungle Book, also voiced by him, so maybe it’s just O’Malley’s rootless, slightly reprehensible character and street credibility.

Other animated animals to which I have felt physically attracted include Darwin the guinea-pig in G-Force (voiced by Sam Rockwell), Delgado the German Shepherd in Beverly Hill Chihuahua (voiced by Andy Garcia) and the semi-suilline protagonist of Porco Rosso, variously voiced by Shûichirô Moriyama, Michael Keaton and Jean Reno. (I’m not fussy – I’ll take him in any of the dubs.)

aristocats05

This video for the song La métamorphose de Monsieur Chat by the French rock band Dionysos re-edits some of the visuals from Les Aristochats (as the film is known in France) to charming effect.

Warning: there’s a seven-letter English profanity repeated several times in the (otherwise mainly French) lyrics, so don’t listen if you’re easily offended.

See also:

CAT OF THE DAY 057: UNE VIE DU CHAT (aka A CAT IN PARIS) (2010)

Posted in A Major Cat Movie, Cartoon Cat, Catagonist, Catpanion, Ginger Puss, Heropuss, Kitten, Multicat, White Cat | Tagged , | 3 Comments

CAT OF THE DAY 062: STRAW DOGS

Posted on December 21, 2012 by annebillson

strawdogs71[1]CAT OF THE DAY 062: STRAW DOGS (1971 & 2011)

Cats get treated as badly as the female character in this controversial Samuel Peckinpah home invasion classic and its remake. Susan George and Kate Bosworth get slapped around and raped by psychopathic rubes, not long after their cats have been strung up in the closet. “Look,” the psychopathic rubes seem to be saying, “This is what we think of your pussy.”

A horrible ignominious death is a fate endemic to household pets in thrillers or horror movies. And the film-makers rarely deem it important enough to let us know precisely which of the likely perpetrators was responsible; the killing of a domestic animal is simply an early generic indication of escalation of hostilities, the point at which abstract menace passes into physical threat.

SPOILERS after the picture!

strawdogs1104[1]

SPOILERS!

In Straw Dogs, cat-lovers are obliged to find solace in the fact that all the likely perpetrators come to a sticky end.

If you would rather see a Peckinpah movie in which the kitty survives, may I refer you to CAT OF THE DAY 000: THE GETAWAY.

Related articles
Posted in Cataphor, Catpanion, Catrifice, Catshock | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

CAT OF THE DAY 061: HAUSU

Posted on December 20, 2012 by annebillson

hausu02CAT OF THE DAY 061: HAUSU (ハウス) (aka HOUSE) (1977)

Nobuhiko Obayashi‘s legendary haunted house movie, also known as Hausu, was first released in Japan in 1977 and is a Major Cat Movie. Oshare, miffed at her dad for having invited his girlfriend on holiday with them, decides instead to visit her aunt, who lives in a house in the country; she brings six of her classmates along. From the outset, the story devolves into a riot of lurid hues and backdrops, with flashbacks styled like silent movie inserts, a jaunty soundtrack which wouldn’t have been out of place in German softcore porn from the 1970s, and all manner of cut-outs, collages and psychedelic effects.

Of course, once the girls get to their destination, the aunt turns out to have a hidden agenda, and her fluffy white cat, hitherto friendly, starts shooting green lasers from its eyes. One by one, the girls succumb to terrible fates that have to be seen to be believed. One is bitten on the bottom by a severed head, another is eaten by a piano, and the cat turns into an evil cat painting which gushes so much blood that another girl drowns in it.

hausuevilcatpic_2

The gruesome deaths, gushing blood and severed limbs might have been sadistic and unpleasant had they been rendered by realistic-looking modern CGI, but the special effects in Hausu are even more bonkers than the story – lots of crazy zooms, wacky animation and what looks suspiciously as though someone has been scribbling on the film with fluorescent felt-tip pens. Ironically, the crudeness of the effects now makes Hausu now almost seem more like an avant garde experiment than a horror movie. Almost – because (and take note Amer) there is a story here, albeit a barking mad one.

The overall effect is like Suspiria crossed with Tears of the Black Tiger, but stranger and funnier than either. There’s even a bit of gratuitous schoolgirl nudity and panty-sniffing. It’s all so bizarre and stylised that it’s hard to care too much about the characters (probably just as well, since they come to such horrible ends) though I did develop a soft spot for a feisty wench nicknamed “Kung-Fu”.

This is obligatory viewing for lovers of the kitsch, the cool and the crazy, but be warned – don’t watch it under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, or your head could explode.

This is a re-edited version of a DVD review first published on theartsdesk.com

Stay tuned for a mini-Japanese lesson after this poster!

House_obayashi

MINI-JAPANESE LESSON!

The Japanese title ハウス (ha-u-su) is formed by three Katakana characters. Katakana カタカナ (ka-ta-ka-na) is the alphabet used principally to transcribe words borrowed from other languages, as well as for onomatopoeia, which you can sometimes see in manga even after they’ve been translated into another language.

For example, the sound of a cat miaowing in Japanese is ニャンニャン (ni-ya-n ni-ya-n). In other words – NYAN NYAN! Hurrah!

Related articles

CAT OF THE DAY 041: KURONEKO

 

Posted in A Major Cat Movie, Catguffin, Catrifice, Catscallion, Catshock, Catzilla, White Cat of Evil | Tagged , | 1 Comment

CAT OF THE DAY 060: THE MUMMY

Posted on December 19, 2012 by annebillson

TheMummy01CAT OF THE DAY 060: THE MUMMY (1999)

Question: “Why doesn’t he like cats?”

Answer: “Cats are the guardians of the underworld. He will fear them until he is fully regenerated.”

Also, they play the piano.

Related articles
Posted in Heropuss, White Cat | Tagged | Leave a comment

CAT OF THE DAY 059: ABRE LOS OJOS

Posted on December 18, 2012 by annebillson

abrelosojos97CAT OF THE DAY 059: ABRE LOS OJOS (aka OPEN YOUR EYES) (1997)

Is it real or is it Memorex?* Alejandro Amenábar‘s clever, genre-busting psychological thriller is about a good-looking playboy (Eduardo Noriega) who makes the mistake of accepting a lift from his crazy stalker ex-girlfriend (Najwa Nimri). She crashes the car, leaving him horribly disfigured.

Or does she? The story keeps moving the goalposts, till neither the protagonist nor the audience is able to distinguish between dream, reality and… something else.

But one thing is clear; Penélope Cruz, who plays Noriega’s ideal woman, has a pussycat. Even if we do see it in only one scene.

Cruz plays the same role in Vanilla Sky, Cameron Crowe’s lame remake for Anglophones who can’t be bothered to read subtitles, but she here has a dog instead of a cat. Yet more proof, if any were needed, of Hollywood’s insidious anti-cat agenda.

She does talk cat, though: “See you in the next life, when we’re both cats.”

So there.

*Memorex VHS tape commercial from 1982:

Related articles
Posted in Catpanion | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

CAT OF THE DAY 058: HARRY AND TONTO

Posted on December 17, 2012 by annebillson

harryandtonto03_2CAT OF THE DAY 058: HARRY AND TONTO (1974)

Harry and Tonto, directed and co-written by Paul Mazursky, is a coast-to-coast American road movie featuring one man and his cat, and is a Major Cat Movie. Art Carney, a much-loved character actor probably best known for his role in the American TV sitcom The Honeymooners, won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a strong field that also included Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part II and Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

I’m not sure Carney’s performance is better than theirs, but when he sings Roamin’ in the Gloamin’ it always makes me cry like a baby. And much as I love The Godfather: Part II and Chinatown, both of which are – let’s face it – better films than this one, neither of those fine actors has ever made me bawl like that.

Had there been an Academy Award for Best Cat, Tonto would surely have waltzed away with it. In my opinion he carries the film – maybe even more so than Carney.

“Until the picture, I never liked cats. But Tonto is a helluva cat. He had two stand-ins – cats that looked exactly like him – in case he got sick or was hit by a car. But old Tonto was a real trouper, never used a stand-in once.”

(Art Carney, quoted in Time magazine, reposted on imdb.com by “MyOpinions”)

harryandtonto02_2harryandtonto06_2

Related articles

 

Posted in A Major Cat Movie, Catagonist, Cataphor, Catpanion, Ginger Puss, Multicat | Tagged , | Leave a comment

CAT OF THE DAY 057: UNE VIE DE CHAT

Posted on December 16, 2012 by annebillson

uneviedechat07CAT OF THE DAY 057: UNE VIE DE CHAT (aka A CAT IN PARIS) (2010)

This animated French film attracted attention after unexpectedly receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature (this was the year Rango won), and is a Major Cat Movie. It was made by the French animation studio Folimage and is a French-Belgian-Swiss-Dutch co-production.

Zoe is a small girl who hasn’t spoken since the death of her policeman father at the hands of a gangster kingpin. Her mother, also a police officer, is investigating a series of burglaries; neither mother nor daughter is aware that Zoe’s cat, Dino, moonlights as the burglar’s sidekick. When Zoe is kidnapped (because she’s a small girl, and I’m afraid this is what always happens to small girls in films), the cat and the goodhearted thief team up to go to the rescue.

The film noir lite story fills the one hour running-time nicely, and though the hand-drawn animation may seem crude by Pixar standards, it has a naive nostalgic charm harking back to such painters as Marc Chagall. Recurring motifs include decorative male stubble, exquisite jewel-like colours and some beautiful views of the Paris skyline.

uneviedechat06

MINI FRENCH LESSON!

In French, to lead “une vie de chat” (a cat’s life) means to lead an easy, comfortable life. The French have lots of other cat-related expressions and idioms. Here are just a few:

“Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter” (literally: to have other cats to whip) is the equivalent of the English expression “to have other fish to fry”.

“Avoir un chat dans la gorge” (literally: to have a cat in the throat) is the equivalent of the English expression “to have a frog in the throat”.

“Appeler un chat un chat” (literally: to call a cat a cat) is the equivalent of the English expression “to call a spade a spade”.

“Il n’y a pas un chat” (literally: there’s not a cat) means there is absolutely no-one present.

French Wikipedia has an even longer list of cat-related proverbs and expressions (in French).

uneviedechat04
AN APOLOGY: Please accept my apologies for the absence of CAT OF THE DAY on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th December 2012. I learnt the hard way that posting to this blog from an iPad Mini is not a viable proposition. Certainly not from the WordPress app, anyway.

Related articles
Posted in A Major Cat Movie, Cartoon Cat, Catagonist, Catguffin, Catpanion, Catscallion, Heropuss | Tagged , | 2 Comments

CAT OF THE DAY 056: CAT PEOPLE

Posted on December 13, 2012 by annebillson

catpeople01

CAT OF THE DAY 056: CAT PEOPLE (1942)

Pet-shop owner: “You can’t fool a cat. They seem to know who’s not right, if you know what I mean.”

From Cat People (BFI film Classics, 1999) by Kim Newman:

The protagonists of WereWolf of London and The Wolfman are also shunned by otherwise friendly dogs and cats, and the animal who is sensitive to supernatural dangers unperceived by its master is a cliché of ghost stories. Variations on the scene recur in a great many horror movies, most extravagantly  as the monkeys at a wild-life park erupt into a frenzy of chittering at the presence of the Anti-Christ in The Omen (1976).

catpeople10

Related articles
Posted in A Major Cat Movie, Catagonist, Cataphor, Catpanion, Catperson, Catscallion, Heropuss, Kitten, Siamese Cat | Tagged , | 1 Comment

CAT OF THE DAY 055: WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

Posted on December 12, 2012 by annebillson

whileyouweresleeping01CAT OF THE DAY 055: WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING (1995)

I was convinced Sandra Bullock had a cat in The Net until recently, when I watched it again and saw no, she just had a computer. However, this pretty much performed most of the functions of a cat in the film, enabling her, a single woman living on her own, to talk out loud and provide exposition when there was no-one else physically present in the room. But a computer falls short in some of the other ways by which a cat’s presence can enhance a film – cute reaction shots, for example, or the visual dynamic of the feeding ritual.

Perhaps I was thinking all along of this Bullock rom-com that came out the same year, her first starring vehicle after Speed and one that put the seal on her adorable, slightly klutzy, slightly geeky girl-next-door persona. Bullock plays Lucy, a single woman so lonely that when the family of a comatose man mistakenly assumes she’s his fiancé, she plays along with the charade so she can spend time with them.

And of course, Lucy has the ultimate signifier of the single woman – a cat. Its name is Fluffy. Sure enough, she talks to Fluffy when there’s no-one else around, and every so often we get some cute reaction shots.

Interestingly, the other major single female character in the film – Coma Guy’s real fiancée – also has a cat, which in this context fills a CATGUFFIN function by providing Lucy with a reason to go to Coma Guy’s apartment to feed it, leading to some comedy business there with his brother (Bill Pullman). This is important for the story because Lucy and the brother (you know it as soon as he walks on the screen, so it’s hardly a spoiler) will eventually get together, but in the meantime it’s not that easy finding narrative pretexts for them to run into each other.

whileyouweresleeping02_2

Related articles
Posted in Catguffin, Catpanion | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

CAT OF THE DAY 054: THE DEATH OF MR LAZARESCU

Posted on December 11, 2012 by annebillson

lazarescu02_2CAT OF THE DAY 054: THE DEATH OF MR LAZARESCU (aka MOARTEA DOMNULUI LAZARESCU) (2005)

Mr Lazarescu, a 63-year-old widower living with his three cats in a drab Bucharest apartment block, feels poorly. While he waits for an ambulance to arrive, his neighbours comfort him in an offhand way – and complain about the smell of the cats – but aren’t quite willing to accompany him as he starts off on an epic journey through the Romanian health service, in which the staff at various hospitals, inundated with casualties from a traffic accident, repeatedly find excuses not to admit this poor old codger who smells of alcohol.

We don’t really have a chance to get to know Mr Lararescu before he falls ill, but cat-lovers will note that he feeds them and talks to them, so they will give him points for that. Cat-lovers might also worry about who’s looking after the cats after Mr Lazarescu is taken away, to spend the rest of the film being shuttled around between hospitals.

Cristi Puiu’s film, shot docu-drama style with handheld camera, is as much allegory or absurdist black comedy as drab social realism, and though shot through with little rays of compassion, it’s a sad indictment of the way Western society (all Western society, not just Romania) consigns its old folk – and their cats – to the scrap heap.

Related articles
Posted in Catpanion, Multicat | Tagged , , | Leave a comment