Les 9 vies de Tomas Katz

This has to be one of the oddest movies that I ever laughed hysterically at. I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival where half of the people laughed at everything like me, and the other half walked out. If you love insane humor, check it out. That is if it ever gets a distribution contract, which it definitely should. If it does ever come to a rental house near you, instant cult classic status.

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".

As the movie started, I have expected somehow good picture, an intriguing mix of art and expressionism. And I've got all of that, but in the very bad way. The movie starts very promising (accelerated crowd in London with techno soundtrack + first blust of Tomas) but that's where ends everything nice and reign of absurd starts. And it made me starting to hate the movie, and left me confused and angry. I'm not a huge fan of art movies but I could watch anything while it has a logical story to follow. And, the most important, while it is tasteful. This movie isn't! It has a short story of the end of the world with many unconnected and unnecessary scenes which spoil the whole movie. I am a huge fan of Monty Pyton. It isn't very logical but it is very tasteful. This movie is mainly a BAD TASTE.

This is a film that has been improvised, and you can tell from some of the rather sketchy scenes. Some of the acting comes into its own from this freedom to improvise, and I especially noted the acting of the young Joshua Morrall, who acts the football captain. He really shone through on the screen, and I'm sure that he will blossom into a fine actor. Some of the elder, more accomplished actors seemed a little uncomfortable with the weight of improvising, but all of the characters come out with a lot of depth, and the film comes together very nicely because of it. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this films turnout. I highly recommend it.

During my cinematic explorations I've seen a lot of of far out movies, but The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz has got to be one of the strangest. It's a paranoid yet hilarious film, mixing post-modern end-of-the-world visions with biblical ones. It's one heck of a ride, and though the budget has obviously been quite small, the creators of the film have not let the finances bind their imagination.

In The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz the fair city of London stands on a brink; a solar eclipse is going to darken the skies, and madness begins to emerge. Arcanely dressed Thomas Katz rises from the sewer, and it soon becomes obvious that he is the harbinger (or even the cause) of the chaos to come. The only hope lies in a blind police commander, who is deeply connected with the spirit world. Can he save the white astral child who represents life before Thomas Katz goes through his weird series of metamorphosis, thus sealing the fate of London. And what is Dave going to do about it? What, don't you know who Dave is? Well, he knows who you are, and after you've seen the film you understand why.

When I saw the film the director, Ben Hopkins, was there to present it; he told that much of the dialogue was done by improvisation, and many of the scenes were invented right before they were shot. It's not hard to believe those claims. The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz is not thematical whole; instead it is a series of funny, eerie and surreal scenes portraying the chaos that inhabits our world. While some of these scenes may not work, most of them are, in all their absurdness, scaringly accurate. This clarity of vision covers for the lack of coherence, and makes The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz a worthwhile watch. In it's depiction of irrationality and chaos the film owes much to Luis Buñuel (a debt it openly admits), and it could be even said that this is Buñuel for the post-modern age. Still, the film is highly original in it's own right, and such comparisons should not be taken as claims of plagiarism. Ben Hopkins is not the new Buñuel, but The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz is a film Buñuel would've been proud of.