The Strange Little Cat

Name: The Strange Little Cat
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Family
Released: August 1, 2014
Duration: 72 min
Rating: 80

2014

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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7.6

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7.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Kimstim Films | Release Date: August 1, 2014 | Not Rated

Summary: A seemingly unspectacular family get-together becomes an exciting choreography of the everyday.

Director: Ramon Zürcher

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Family

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 72 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Ben Kenigsberg

Jul 31, 2014

Mr. Zürcher has concocted something intimate yet otherworldly with this highly original debut. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Jul 30, 2014

Ramon Zürcher’s miniature debut, The Strange Little Cat, is one of the most confident and unusual first features in recent memory. Read full review

The Playlist Jessica Kiang

Jul 28, 2014

This kind of vérité surrealism doesn’t come along very often, and the glorious oddness that Zurcher manages to infuse into even the most routinely domestic activities is really the gift the film keeps on giving. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Jul 29, 2014

This odd little wonder captures the delicate textures and shadowy half-secrets of family life, mapping them out in a mosaic of fragmented dialogue and half-poetic, half-prosaic images. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Sheila O'Malley

Aug 1, 2014

Strange and creepy and entertaining. Read full review

Scott Tobias

Aug 4, 2014

A beautiful, mysterious, beguiling cinematic doodle, and an absolute master class in mise-en-scène, unfolding in odd, fragmented frames and precisely choreographed movement within those frames. Read full review

John Semley

Jul 28, 2014

As pleasant and effortless as Ramon Zürcher makes his formal persnicketiness and Akermanian aesthetic rigor seem, his film feels lightweight. Read full review

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User Reviews

LeZee

Jun 14, 2016

A beautiful video portrait of a family!

Indeed a beautiful video portrait of a family and friends coming together for an evening. I wanted to like it more, but not impressed by the overall product. However, I liked very much the film theme, not very unique, yet simpler and different thanA beautiful video portrait of a family!

Indeed a beautiful video portrait of a family and friends coming together for an evening. I wanted to like it more, but not impressed by the overall product. However, I liked very much the film theme, not very unique, yet simpler and different than those I've seen. The cat was the centre of the narration as the title suggests, but it was seen rarely within the video frame and sometimes the characters mentions it, but we know it was around there where our eyes can't reach.

On an ordinary day, about an ordinary family and their ordinary event which might remind you your own family or the others you're familiar with. I don't know the cast, but I liked their character displays. Each one offered so many topics on what they were doing, because I can easily say it was not completely written script, but they were improvised while the camera was on the roll. As the actors that's what they do, but as a viewer I must appreciate the effort. Even the kids were so impressive, yet like I said overall film fallen short by a slight margin.

I'm a semi-artist, those who are interested in the art would stare at the paintings for a very long time to observe the details closely like every visible stroke the artist did. Likewise, in this, the details were very impressive. In every scene, there's something happening like each scene has its own twist before going to the next. What I meant was, it was not like those lazy films I'd seen in my life with boring scenes where camera stands still and nothing happens for a very long time. That's the reason I usually dislike art films, but a very few like this makes my day.

6/10… Expand

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Gamzguy17

Aug 21, 2021

Attempts to be an artistic statement of work by telling a small story using long static camera shots that hang onto a character's facial expression or action while both background and foreground sounds are playing to act as transitions to the next long shot. It's certainly commendable, butAttempts to be an artistic statement of work by telling a small story using long static camera shots that hang onto a character's facial expression or action while both background and foreground sounds are playing to act as transitions to the next long shot. It's certainly commendable, but in my opinion, it does not translate to an entertaining nor engrossing film for general audiences and even some movie goers. It should really be viewed more as a study in cinematography.… Expand

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