Goliath

1st watched 1/30/2012 – 5 out of 10(Dir-David Zellner): Sad, heartbreaking and sometimes funny depiction of a broken man from a divorce who tries to bring back his lost companion, a cat named Goliath, as his last piece of his life that was still there to possibly get back. This independent film was made by the Zellner brothers, who were supposedly famous for their shorts at the Sundance festival, and this was their first feature film. The movie has it's positive moments with it's tongue-in-cheek humor and the realistic portrayal of a loner(who didn't choose to be alone) – which unfortunately I can relate to. The negatives of the movie are that the star, David Zellner, as the anti-hero is not altogether likable partially due to his vengeance against a local sex offender --- whom he believes ran over his cat with his car. Then the sex offender, played by the other Zellner, is partially disabled but the main character doesn't let up on his torture upon him. Sometimes the movie is bittersweet, but also very dark in it's portrayal of an every-day man who is down on his luck. In a way I kind of feel nit-picky about his treatment of the disabled sex offender, but I just think they went to far with this thinking that it might be funny(but it wasn't). I liked the slow non-Hollywood pacing to the story(letting it unfold before your eyes instead of throwing it at you) shot by the director in a kind of home movie fashion, and would like to see another film by this duo, but I just think they should have been a little more tactful in their approach toward the sex offender. This man, with so much affection for his cat – seemed to not be able to carry that kind of affection for people in his life, and I guess that's why his marriage failed – and maybe that was the point of the movie—but this wasn't made very well, in my opinion. Nice try, and will be looking for the next – hoping this duo learned something.

I saw this movie at the Sundance Film Festival with a packed audience. We all watched as a man had his life fall apart in a variety of different ways, the breaking point being the lost of his cat (hence the title). Sometimes it was extremely funny, sometimes extremely sad. The outbursts of laughter were equally matched by silent awe and quiet sadness.

It's not really about a cat, but about how people (this one man in particular) fixate on something in order to cope with what's not working around them. The divorce signing scene alone is brilliant. A challenging scene that everyone I went with talked about afterwards, a total range of emotions...

And without spoiling it, things turn from bad to worse for him and the cat. But the end has the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

I thought the filmmaker did a good job and treading a fine line between the absurdly funny, and the reality that comes w/ divorce, isolation, and lost.

We would have given it 2 stars, but the cat was cute. Would be a great short film if they edited it down to about 30 minutes. The filmmakers are know for their short films, and this time they made a full length film by taking a good short film and dragging out the scenes forever. Like the interminable scene of watching the couple sign their divorce papers. That should have lasted about 10 seconds. Or the scene where the guy eats his microwaved TV dinner. We would have gotten the point in a matter of moments. We don't need to watch him eat the whole thing. Also, the acting was just not that great. From the Sundance synopsis, I was expecting a comedy, but it just wasn't that funny.

If I could rate this with negative stars, I would.

This has got to be the hands down worst movie I have ever been subjected to. I literally was getting a headache while watching this piece of crap.

"Manos - The Hands of Fate" is an Oscar winner compared to this horrible film.

Almost half the film is the main character wandering around saying "kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty..." about a thousand times. Scenes go ON, and ON, and ON forever. I mean really...an uncut, 10 minute long scene of the main character and his ex-wife signing documents? Gaaaaaah...

That isn't art. That is pure crap.

I seriously wonder about people who actually enjoyed this horrible, horrible waste of film.

ZERO out of ten.

If so-called filmmakers continue in this mind-numbingly STUPID post-millennial vein, I'm gonna abandon the medium altogether.

Since 1998 or so we've been subjected to this kind of garbage. It seems to be derived from 'Seinfeld': film devoted to recording NOTHING but images hanging from a flimsy, even non-existent 'story' lacking in effective dialogue and narrative development.

Face it, folks. Storytelling in film died in the late 1990s. All people want to see now, and all they can handle, are empty, directionless, and plainly silly contrivances like this one.

I've tried to stay contemporary, but writers, actors, and directors today in North America are simply weak and incompetent. A film like this shows how vapid both filmmaker and watcher have become. Way to go.