REVIEW - THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT

In Ramon Zurcher's ostensibly straightforward meditation on the quotidian affairs of an extended family, in his focus on immediate time and place, we see both past and future, distilled but not simplified. A casual glance, an innocuous remark, all as spontaneous and as instinctive as the behaviour of a strange little cat, all signposts pointing in a surprising new direction, one potentially at your individual discretion. Though not oblique, Zurcher is resolutely non-specific in these details (yet so specific in his recreation of reality), save a few ill-advised flashbacks. His technique requires refining - there are too many ideas of little use to his film and its intended effects, which are magnified as the number of directorial ideas are reduced at any particular moment. The Strange Little Cat thrives on Zurcher's ideas, though, since his application of them is mostly so advantageous. How he creates a sense of stillness in an otherwise bustling environment through the most basic methods of filmmaking, yet the most advanced understanding of them, or a sense of chaos in an essentially placid atmosphere. Shrewd scripting, never too precious to drop its naturalism and play directly to our intellect, establishes a dynamic emotional plane both to compliment and to contrast the physical plane that is, in that immediate time and place, more obvious, and thus directs our thoughts to times and places elsewhere, imaginary yet as real as the reality he depicts on screen in our imagination. It's not that, without this essential strain of relative abstraction, The Strange Little Cat would be a colourless bore, rather that without this slightly austere authenticity, Zurcher would risk adding another distraction, another set of ideas of little use to his film. It is unwaveringly at its best when so ostensibly straightforward, yet so internally rich in design and detail.