Month: November 2023

CAT PERSON (2023)

Last week week I saw 4 films at the cinema: Saltburn, Thanksgiving, Dream Scenario (also featuring Nicholas Braun) and this one; Cat Person.

In the movie trailers featured when I saw Saltburn there was a trailer for this one. I closed my eyes, blocked my ears and tried to take in as little as I could so as not to spoil it.
I wanted to go in clean, no prejudice, no expectations.
I knew Cat Person was based on a New Yorker short story and the word was that it wasn’t meant to be as good as the story (I disagree, it’s equally good).

Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun in Cat Person

Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun in Cat Person

Sophomore student, Margot (Emilia Jones) begins a relationship with an older man, Robert (Nicholas Braun) and emotions and thoughts escalate the situation. 

The perils of modern day dating, or really just dating, whatever era you live in. The age old dilemma of trying to find love, connection and companionship go south in this psychological comedy thriller.

After watching the film I read the short story written by Kristen Roupenian and the film, although obviously expanded, kept pretty much all of the story and 90% of the dialogue was verbatim.

The story was well written and shows how quickly things can go pear shaped.
Cat Person is enjoyable, funnier than the article which was down to the casting, writing and the actors involved. 

Geraldine Viswanathan and Emilia Jones in Cat Person

Geraldine Viswanathan and Emilia Jones in Cat Person

Emilia Jones portrays Margot, a 20 year old college student with the right balance of smarts and naiveté. Jones is an English actress who was excellent as the lead in the outstanding CODA. Nicholas Braun gives the perfect amount of awks, humanity and possible threat as Robert. Isabella Rossellini plays Margot’s tutor and is always a welcome addition to a cast, she was great as Marcel’s grandmother in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Australian actor, Geraldine Viswanathan is a great best friend who is filled with her own issues; shit, who isn’t? Hope Davis delivers another top performance as Margot’s mother, herself filled with issues.
Special mention goes to Lisa Colón-Zayas who plays Officer Elaine, she’s also in The Bear, which is a top series.

Emilia Jones and Isabella Rossellini in Cat Person

Emilia Jones and Isabella Rossellini in Cat Person

On Monday I started to read The Outsider by Albert Camus, I had picked it up from my childhood home when I was back there visiting my Mother a few months ago and it looked interesting and short and maybe easy to pace through. I had finished it by Thursday when I saw Cat Person.
In The Outsider (L’Étranger) the main protagonist, Mersault, finds himself in a situation where he is judged for an act that he seems unconnected to and is condemned by society for telling the truth, his truth, a truth that is not in line with the common thinking.
In Cat Person, a truth revealed spirals the whole situation out of control, the truth told in Cat Person would normally be avoided to save hurting someone’s feelings.

The real world is so far away from where our imaginings take us. The stories we tell ourselves are filled with fears, insecurities and lies for the most part and have little to do with reality. Until our dangerous thoughts become manifest one way of another. 
We really do create the world we live in, whether it’s actually real or not.
We seem to be so afraid to ask direct questions in case we are thought of as an idiot (men being laughed at) or less than cool and this is a big problem and leads us down too many unneccesary roads. 
When did hiding become the norm, were we always judged as harshly as we imagined or is this a modern problem? The social etiquette line is a thin one to walk.

Directed by Susanna Fogel and adapted by Michelle Ashford, Cat Person addresses these issues and entertains at the same time. Who said entertainment couldn’t teach us something? So, best to tell the truth like Mersault, unless it’s not best, which at times, it clearly isn’t.

See it now at a cinema near you.
119 Minutes

DAMAGE (2023)


Trauma, old age and a taxi.

This could be the tagline for this interesting, intimate piece about belonging and our place in the world. Whether you are in a country ‘illegally’ or living in your own country as an elderly person whom society sees as an inconvenience. Neither feel wanted.

Ali is an undocumented man who is using another man’s taxi license to earn a little money to survive and Esther is an old woman who doesn’t know where she is going and doesn’t recognise the world anymore. The film takes place on a taxi journey where they both learn about each other in a world that is filled with surveillance cameras, constantly watching and judging.

Ali Al Jenabi as Ali in Damage

Ali Al Jenabi as Ali

This low-budget film is directed by Madeleine Blackwell. Her background is in acting having studied at Australia’s National Institute of Drama (NIDA) and acted professionally before moving on to directing and being involved in community work. It’s clear watching this film that she cares and wants to use her creativity to make a change or at least shine a light on problematic subjects. This is ultimately a human story about two people from very different places and seeks to find the commonality between us all.
After all, we are all together and apart at all times.
A part of the whole.

Ali is played by Ali Al Jenabi, who in real life is an asylum seeker who fled Iraq 20 years ago at the height of the war and is the subject of an award-winning book called The People Smuggler ‘The True Story of Ali Al Jenabi, the Oskar Schindler of Asia’ by Robin de Crespigny’.
Here, he brings warmth, charisma and compassion to the character of Ali, who is frustrated where he has ended up but never gives up hope for a better world.

Imelda Bourke as Esther in Damage

Imelda Bourke as Esther

Esther is played by Imelda Bourke, who IRL is the mother of the director and is a singer who has performed on radio, television and stage for over 50 years and this is her first feature film role.
Blackwell wanted to use non-actors to bring an element of realism and non-performance to the film. This works at times and not so much at others but is worthy of a hat-tip.

Although there was a script for the film, Madeleine wanted to keep it loose and use it as a blueprint for the two actors to improvise and find moments together and there are some lovely moments in the short running time of 81 minutes.

Imelda Bourke and Ali Al Jenabi in Damage

Imelda Bourke and Ali Al Jenabi

The music by Peter Knight, Mohammad Ameen Marrdan, Kate Reid, Jerry Wesley-Smith and Jem Savage sits well with the images on screen and acts as a fitting companion to the film.

We are shown surveillance cameras and the footage they see, some of which came from WikiLeaks including audio of American soldiers murdering Iraqi citizens and there is a thank you during the credits to Wikileaks and Julian Assange. There is some great drone cinematography by Mark Blackwell of the unnamed city that the film takes place in and intercut throughout the film and uses many overhead shots denoting perspective and has a dehumanising quality that renders people as ants. There are also shots of an unnamed, destroyed city which adds tension to the tale, as does the editing by Raphael Rivera which has dynamism, rhythm and urgency.

Big brother is watching YOU

Big brother is watching YOU

Director, Madeleine Blackwell has said about the making of the film:
“Witnessing cruelty and dehumanisation becoming normalised in the world around me compelled me to write a screenplay that would redeem the sense of hope, understanding and resistance….Damage cannot be undone; the invasion of Iraq cannot be undone. The film is about memory and how fragile it is. Damage is permanent so when we lie about the need to go to war, when we condone the militarisation of the entire world we are setting fire to the future.”

In cinemas November 9th in Australia.

81 mins.