Goliath

The Zellners are filmmaking brothers from Austin, TX and they don't make conventional comedies. By this, I don't mean theirs is a cinema akin to the sort where you'd find Borat or Scott Pilgrim, I mean truly unconventional. The closest mainstream archetype I'd propose would be Steven Soderbergh when he made Schizopolis. If you watch expecting a laugh-out-loud, tidy story, then of course you'll be disappointed.

Goliath is a stark, simple story of a man who loses his cat while going through an emotionally wrenching divorce. While this scenario would likely find widespread appeal in a Hollywood comedy if handled in a broad, facile manner, The Zellner brothers craft the narrative in an unsettling slow-burn that may be as disturbing to some as it is humorous to others. So if you can appreciate a comedy that has traces of Fassbinder and the Kaurismakis as well as Mel Brooks, then maybe this one is for you.

I saw this movie at Sundance Film Festival and again at SXSW. The place was packed! At the Sundance Film Festival,this particular show was shown at 8:30 in the morning to a packed audience! Everyone seemed to get in the spirit of the film. I just viewed it again on the Sundance Movie channel - cable T.V. I am so glad to see that the movie is finally on television! We have been waiting for it to come out on DVD for some time as well. Regarding Goliath,the cat, he was a minor addition to the plot, but the center of the main character's life during a heart wrenching break-up with his wife. The movie is worth a view!

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 love movies. I love cats. I love off-beat quirky weird movies. I will try almost anything once.

This film - turned it on, watched for 2 mins, flipped through the scenes & put it back in its case.

Why? Low production values: (not a killer category always) not great in this flick. Amateurish acting: ditto. Pointless POV: yes, really bad. & I have a strong stomach & like tough action movies. The stuff in this one was cheap,crappy "humor" - not funny, not original, not worth describing. Unappealing lead: oh, yeah, in every way.

Cat? not around.

Do not bother!

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.