The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz

Ben Hopkins in The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz presents a Kafkaesque take on London on the verge of apocalypse. Ian McNeice is a million miles from Bert in Doc Martin, reveling in the role of the blind police inspector trying, through psychic means, to make sense of it all. His enjoyment of the role is infectious. There are some genuinely funny set-ups here, carried off by a cast not afraid to go for high camp. The comedy works most of the time, but when deeper meanings are the target the film is a little hit-and-miss. Shot ultra-low budget, it looks like a very slick student movie, but has enough laughs and surprises to overcome its aesthetic limitations. The films big achievement is to present London in a fresh, and vaguely frightening, way. More of interest to aspiring lo-budget filmmakers than a general audience.

This black and white film was shot on a low budget in London. It is quite funny, but occasionally in fact often very odd. I think the oddness may have been because the production was German and they have a different sense of humour over there or alternatively it may have been because the director was just having a laugh with his Art School mates.

Very funny in places though. I enjoyed it.

Apparently I have to write more so I will also say that the film uses old testament themes to play out an apocalypse in contemporary London. Much of this is quite interesting however according to my mum "the film could have done with better editing". I would say this is accurate

This movie defies description, categorization, genre placement. There is simply almost nothing like it - a clever mind trip that relentlessly weaves the plot in a neck-breaking-paced surreal, absurdest, postmodern apocalyptic story with a great soundtrack, trippiest image sequences, great sense of humor, and deep paranoia and darkness. Despite using seemingly gimmicky effects and tricks, very low budget and mostly black-and-white shooting, this movie feels so well done and so well narrated, they don't hinder it at all as they would many other movies - instead, as if on the height of its "genre", this movie absolutely flourishes with them, as the very best silent movies do on their own unhindered by the absence of sound. A must see, but also definitely a "not-for-everyone-er".

In the Revelation of St. Peter, it is said that a false Messiah will come, and that Henoch and Elijah will appear to expose the impostor. "The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz" draws heavily on such doomsday stories, canonical as well as apocryphal. A solar eclipse is imminent, the astral child is dying, judgment is coming, and, perhaps worst of all, London's tube stations are disappearing. Enter Thomas Katz, a shape-shifting space alien coughed up by a manhole off the M25 motorway. Under the watchful eyes of London's inscrutable chief of police, Katz takes over a string of high-profile identities to set in motion a vicious plan. But where does it lead? Will it, like the M25, eventually circle back on itself? Only Katz himself knows. Or does he? After all, we don't really know who he even is. Extremely inspired nonsense, miraculously produced by veteran German soap opera writer Hans W. Geissendörfer. Did this ever play in theaters? Too bad if it didn't.

You know, if you want to see something that will remind both of David Linch and Flann O'Brian, you will have to see that 9 lives. But remember - this drama won't help you to workout the positive point of view to the world. As usual for English absurd, this movie is rather dim and melancholic. Though the humor is bright and, considering the fact it was made almost without of any scripts, by only alive human inspiration, this is coming close to the highest level. I would not say I have understood something new about myself or someone else on this planet, but I certainly got the idea that not only Monty Pytons does something strange, and I'd say beautifully strange, in England.