Cat Person

Watched this in a mystery screening tonight and love the idea of not knowing what to expect so came here with a clean slate.

Really enjoyed this film. Its really different and its main theme is based around the famous quote "men are afraid women will laugh at them and women are afraid that men will kill them".

It goes into some depth in its description of this quote and realises this in the 2 main characters and especially with many of the rambling imaginations of 20 year old Margot. It covers issues with consent and communication in this day and age, and how so many things can be misconstrued when there is limited information using non verbal methods of communication.

Its uncomfortable and dark at times, I actually cringed quite a few times, but also has some humour and light moments and explores the different perceptions society can have in some depth that I haven't seen any other film do in the same way.

I like different and this certainly is that.

Cat Person is a very sharply observed, darkly funny, and insightful dissection of modern dating and the complications and fears it can lead to for women.

The story is told from the perspective of college student Margot, as she embarks on a relationship with the seemingly decent Robert. For the most part the story isn't overly original, but it's more the perspective and creativity in telling the story that stands out, really allowing you to get into the mind of the character.

It achieves this through a solid script that balances dark comedy with serious drama and social commentary, as well as engaging lead performances from Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun.

My only real complaint is that the pacing is far too slow throughout the film. It easily could have been twenty minutes shorter and had even more impact as a result.

Despite this I thought this film was great. Good concept with brilliant execution and a couple of solid lead performances to boot.

Romance, both sides seek it, but often there are very different ideas about what that means.

The movie explores pitfalls of idealisation of the other person, placing looks above genuine connection and feelings as well as double standards and jumping to conclusions without trying to deeply understand another person.

It is also accurately portrayed how people read more into text messages than the sender intends both positively and other times negatively perceiving a neutral or opposite intent, or just making it wildly colourful.

Although the characters are somewhat stereotypical and extreme the situations are not far from everyday life, so they are relatable.

We are given a relatively good background on why Margot is seeking an older partner and why she goas along with uncomfortable situations.

The movie is primarily told from the female perspective, but it balances it with some insights into quirky male motives and true intentions.

I (as a male) did not feel that the feminist agenda was pushed too far, the reviews which claim that this is a movie just to blame males is highly inaccurate.

There is a glimpse into a therapy session and obviously both characters struggle with deep unresolved mental health issues, which ultimately helps to fuel the escalation of violence.

Overall its an enjoyable movie and I did not find it too predictable and I certainly did not expect it to answer all the questions it posed. I also did not expect to side with one character or the other like another review says, you do not always have to take sides.

There are some metaphors in the movie and some of the scenes are just portrays of imagination which could have been connected a bit more smoothly.

It would have been nice to add a more neutral external perspective like the therapy session on top of the two extreme sides with the occasional grounding (though biased) view of the friend.

It would have also helped to better understand the male character by providing a similar family background story to the female character.

Cat Person. I don't understand the poor reviews for this film. I watched it on the recommendation of Mark Kermode (potentially pretentious film critic) who loved it and suggested his side kick Simon (Everyman) Mayo would love it too. So why the poor scores on rotten tomatoes and IMDB? I was intrigued. And after watching the film, Kermode was spot on. Margot, who works at her local cinema meets Robert, a regular cinema-goer at her place of work. She thinks he's a little strange. He's a little awkward but likes her and asks for her number. She acquiesces. There then follows a series of text message exchanges. They form a 'relationship' without having properly met. Margot gets images of how it's going to play out when they finally meet. And most are not good ones. Robert thinks that this might be the start of something special. And they eventually meet and it doesn't go according to plan. But how much of this is real and how much is imagined from their text history? No spoilers here but the interpretation of this film may not be as clear cut as either Margot or Robert might think. It is narratively simple yet its interpretation is, for me at least, purposefully ambiguous. And its all the better for it. An intriguing 8 out of ten.

I went into this movie expecting this crime story with a huge plot twist and it wasn't even close. I wasn't exactly disappointed though because I actually enjoyed most of the movie. It was just the ending that let it down for me.

So the first half of the movie I totally understand.. as a female who dated for years before settling down I found myself laughing at the awkward situations the movie reminded me of. There is this fear, stress and complete awkwardness to modern dating. The movie captured that spot on. I can't speak for other women but I found myself relating completely to both of the main characters.

When it got to the end though I felt like there was just this desperation to make the movie end on a shocking note but it just didn't fit the rest of the movie. Id of rated it higher if they went their separate ways and learn from the mistakes they made.

(P. S Robert was definitely on the spectrum and Margot's super "woke" best friend really annoyed me.)