User Reviews

I'm not going to lie, I was shocked when I finished to watch this short, but I guess that means it worked.

You might not like the subject, but that doesn't mean it's a bad project, and this one is far from being bad.

The animation technique is amazing and the plot, even when is raw is important. In a country like Mexico where the rates of violence between couples just keeps growing is important not to normalize toxic behaviour, and this short handles it straightforward.

Even when it's not its intention, it does also show what a street animal must face in a daily basis, and as the owner of two rescued cats I think is very important to raise awarness of animal abuse too.

Okay, so I think most people saw this at the We Are One film festival on Youtube. I saw the film then went to the Youtube comments (why did I bother) and was rather curious about all the comments stating that it's terrible and traumatic and all of the animal violence and stuff. Once again, I went to IMDB out of curiosity and all the reviews here (the only 2) are bashing this.

Now, I would not call The Cats a great film, but it certainly isn't a bad one. I see that most people are abhorrent towards the animal abuse but it's depiction here isn't used purely for shock, but it is used to show how some people may find comfort in abuse. It's a rather interesting topic. If anyone has ever wondered about the stories they might have read in the newspapers or heard somewhere about real people suffering under the hands of their abusers and thought - why not just leave them. I suppose this gives a glimpse into what it feels like. Now, The Cats doesn't really go in depth into the psychology of what they might feel, but for a runtime of about 10 minutes, it's does pretty good. It does what it is sets out to do.

Perhaps there could have been a warning in the film's start, or the festival could've put it out in the description. Though that would have ruined the film's mid-twist, it would push aside the people that think this is another kids friendly short film that they could just plunk down their kid and occupy them for the next 10 minutes. I suppose this may have been an oversight, though try not to be that hard as most film festivals aren't held online and I think this is probably a first for the organizers.

Saying that The Cats has no value defeats the purpose of cinema and art. It would mean that films with any controversial aspect to it, done without a purposeful moral for people to learn from are valueless. Films like Naked, Come and See, A Clockwork Orange are films that depict horrible, shocking violence, and other taboos. They don't particularly end us with much hope or a particular moral that we should learn from, but are they without value? Do they not in some semblance emulate the reality that we live in?

There is nothing to see in this twisted short, absolutely no content or substance. Avoid it.