Cat's Eye (DVD 2002)

Three short films in one long film tied up by the perigrination of a cat looking for the girl who is going to adopt it as a pet. The cat will find the girl. The first adventure reveals the obsession of smoking in a society that considers that activity as a quasi-crime. Some people are ready to do anything to quit and the society is also ready to do anything to force the reluctant candidates to quitting to quit. The procedure is to punish the people the smoker loves to make him - in this film it is only men that are concerned, and we do have to question why - quit and stick to his decision. This reveals a society that has privatized such a mission and this mission becomes criminal in its own way, even if the ethical aim is to be considered. To torture innocent people may be effective but it is unethical in all possible ways. The second adventure has to do with betting among high life criminals : the rich who make their dough from all kinds of illegal activities, such as drugs. And what happens when the stake of the bet is the wife of one crook ? Criminal challenges, murder and vengeance. Breath taking and unbearable for people who suffer of vertigo. Funny too in the reversal of the situation from one vengeance to the next. The third story is more humane and dark at the same time. Cats are nice pets but here a mother has a fixation against such an animal and is ready to do anything to get rid of it. But cats are obstinate and children, here a girl, are also very powerfully determined to get their ways. The « Kobold » is absolutely charming in its evilness though I prefer the good « Kobolds » I have met so often in germanic traditions. But its end is definitely Dante-like. There must be a special hell for these vicious and obnoxious beings that only want to hurt and wound if not even kill poor little defenseless children. But cats are definitely not defenseless, far from it. Careful with children : to watch such a film might give them nightmares with many boogeymen in them.