The Cat Vanishes
This cat is best left in the bag.
SCREENINGS:
Saturday, September 10, 7:30pm
Scotiabank Theatre 3 (259 Richmond Street West)
Sunday, September 11, 12:00pm
AMC 4 (10 Dundas Street East)
Sunday, September 18, 9:30pm
Scotiabank Theatre 3 (259 Richmond Street West)
If you’re looking for some cinematic tourism of Buenos Aires (this year’s City to City spotlight), The Cat Vanishes isn’t for you. A domestic drama set largely in the home of a middle-aged couple, Luis (Luis Luque) and Beatriz (Beatriz Spelzini), director Carlos Sorin’s camera rarely leaves the confines of his protagonists’ home, turning their upper class residence into a pseudo gothic abode. When Luis returns from a stint in the psych ward (the details of which are laid out in painful detail during the film’s opening sequence), Beatriz starts to question whether or not he has been cured…especially when their cat goes missing.
Though musically rich and shot with deft cinematography, the film feels more like a genre experiment in melodrama and suspense than a compelling narrative feature. Further, despite creating a sense of impending doom and foreshadowing horrors to come with terrifying dream sequences, the ultimate payoff is far from the cat’s meow.