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“One can never get enough of this prodigiously talented octogenarian artist and his bestiary… In THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT, he fluidly moves over and under Paris, capturing images of fugitive beauty and pathos.”
– Manhola Dargis, The New York Times
“Chris Marker remains as lively, engaged and provocative as ever. Quintessential Marker, THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT is a digressive, serendipitous city portrait. (A) legendary, unclassifiable filmmaker.”
– J. Hoberman, Village Voice
“Fascinating! Playful and deceptively light. It plays with several adorable shorts, one of which stars Marker’s own pet, sprawled comfortably on a DX7 synthesizer.”
– Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out NY
“DON’T MISS! Kitty lovers, you know where to put your paws: Chris Marker’s doc has politics, laughs and plenty of pussy.”
– Time Out NY
“One of his wisest, most provocative, most delightful documentary essays yet! Intertwines passion, playfulness and a philosophical overview that’s… refreshingly affirmative of humanistic values. Light-handed and sure-footed, Marker is cinema’s cool, caring, camcording cat.”
– Jay Carr, amNY
“Legendary French essay-documentarian Chris Marker fuses cat graffiti, contemporary international turmoil, animal love, art, Western imperialism, and the crisis of the left into another one of his delectably unclassifiable ruminations on the nature of history. “
– New York Magazine
“Leave it to Chris Marker to take an unexceptional event and turn it into an exceptional film!”
– V.A. Musetto, New York Post
“One more surehanded example of (Marker’s) sly, astute brand of essayistic film. His cultural and political commentary is poetic, engaged, playful, reflective, and deeply invested with a sense of the shifting currents of 20th-century history. Merges the personal and political under Mr. Marker’s thoughtfully wry voice-over.”
– Nicolas Rapold, The New York Sun
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THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT (2004 • 58 minutes) A bold yellow and black cartoon Cheshire cat, more grin than body appears
mysteriously -- as graffiti on walls, rooftops and chimneys throughout Paris. Who is this cat and what does he stand for? Chris Marker
(LE JOLI MAI, SANS SOLEIL, LA JETÉE, REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS TO COME) embraces the cat as a talisman of the left that so
often takes to the streets in France. His infatuation with all things feline extends to Bolero, the beggar-cat who lives in the Metro, and
Guillaume-en-Egypte, Marker’s own music-loving pet, who stars in one of the five charming short pieces (a “mini-bestiary”) included in
this program. Not to be missed: the tango-dancing elephant. |
For the first time this program collects his short films devoted exclusively to animals, CAT LISTENING TO MUSIC, AN OWL IS AN
OWL IS AN OWL, ZOO PIECE, BULLFIGHT IN OKINAWA and SLON TANGO. Animals in Chris Marker’s films often function as
cultural or political metaphors (“A cat is never on the side of power,” Marker has explained.) In this anthology of short films, however,
Marker avoids the commercial cinema’s tendency to anthropomorphize animals in favor of a simple celebration of their exotic beauty,
primal nature and mystery.
Cat Listening to Music: Marker fans are familiar with the cartoon representation of Guillaume-en-Egypte, Marker's beloved pet cat,
which has become the reclusive filmmaker's alter ego. In this charming short, Marker reveals the real-life Guillaume, stretched out lazily
in the filmmaker's apartment, as he listens to the lilting rhythms of a piano sonata by Federico Mompou. (3 mins.)
An Owl Is An Owl Is An Owl: A visit to an aviary yields a rhythmically edited series of close-ups of the rapidly rotating or intently
staring feathered heads of a colorful variety of owls, accompanied by an ambient electronic soundtrack. (3 mins.)
Zoo Piece: A leisurely-paced montage of animals, many of them confined in cages or enclosures-including seals, kangaroos,
leopards, gorillas, wolves, monkeys, ostriches, and a sleeping rhinoceros. (3 mins.)
Bullfight in Okinawa: Two enormous black bulls engage in a contest of brute force, egged on by their screaming handlers, as they
butt heads and lock horns in an attempt to rout their opponent. (4 mins.)
Slon Tango: In this astonishing, sustained shot, an elephant in the Ljubjana Zoo ambles around its enclosure, performing syncopated
dance steps to the accompaniment of Igor Stravinsky's "Tango." (4 mins.)
A First Run/Icarus Films Release |
