andyhurwitz

If you've seen the work of Nick Park (Wallace and Grommit, Chicken Run) you will have a good idea of the style used here. Park is even credited with supplying the plasticine! The American cat is dropped by plane in a muddy field in Russia, where he meets Karabasov, a drunk, and offers to take him to America in return for his boots. The cat flies by using his tail as a propeller and they set off. Unfortunately, they only get as far as France, where they have some humourous adventures before they fall out and the cat sends Karabasov back to Russia.

The animation is extremely well done, easily the equal of Park, and the story is nicely paced. Karabasov speaks no English and the cat speaks no Russian, but they understand each other and it's very easy for speakers of either language to follow the plot. It's a shame this has not been more widely shown.

This is a difficult film to describe. On the face of it, a story of a provincial thug, hired by a loan shark to retrieve money owed by a defaulter in Moscow. Told to kill the man if he does not pay, he makes the mistake of giving him time to pay, with a tragic result. Meantime, he has formed a relationship, of sorts, with a 16 year old homeless girl who discards him when his usefulness is over. A grim story played out against the backdrop of Moscow's underclasses.

What makes the film interesting is the way the director is able to make you care about generally un-sympathetic characters; the surreal timeline and environment; and the staggeringly good soundtrack by Mongol Shuudan.