A Cat in Paris | Film review

 

With U.S. animation completely overtaken by computers, it’s more than refreshing to see this old-school hand-drawn export from France: It’s exhilarating. Titled A Cat in Paris for English-speaking and -reading audiences (although its French title, Une Vie de Chat, translates as A Cat’s Life), this cartoon noir distills Hitchcock into 64 brisk minutes for middle-schoolers and up.

In case the stylized, non-computer-generated imagery didn’t tip you off to the fact that you’re not watching an American film, there are several other signs. Most notably, Dino, the titular cat, never speaks, except to meow or hiss. Meanwhile, we’re not subjected to excessive cartoon violence without consequence, but we do see a cartoon penis. (It belongs to a statue.) The only other time we’ve seen one of those was the quick cameo by Bart’s wiener in The Simpsons Movie.

From the very start, the film announces its retro visual style with a dynamic title sequence that zips across the screen, bursting with Saul Bass-influenced dynamism. Its plot follows three very different humans—a gutsy police detective; her mute daughter, Zoe; and a nimble burglar who prowls Parisian rooftops—whose parallel lives are inched ever closer together by Dino, who splits time between both homes. Several suspenseful sequences and one “oh no!” plot twist later, directors Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol craft the perfect Hitchcockian bookend: a climactic chase sequence along the sprawling parapets of Notre Dame. The images’ moody palette finds fine accompaniment in the pitch-perfect score, both jazzy and thrilling. A Cat in Paris isn’t flawless, but it is nevertheless fantastic.

CICFF screens A Cat in Paris in English at 5pm Sunday, October 23, at Facets Multimedia (1517 W Fullerton Ave); in French at 11:45am Friday, October 28, at Thorne Auditorium (375 E Chicago Ave); and again in English at 1pm Saturday, October 29, at Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall (1212 E 59th St.).