The Rabbi’s Cat is Joann Sfar’s second directorial
effort (this time in collaboration with Antoine Delesvaux) and it’s a definite
upgrade from his Serge Gainsbourg biopic, if only because the energy never
flags and the eponymous hero has none of Gainsbourg’s questionable behaviors.
The cat, who has no name, is a creature of pure appetite, given to eating fish
and birds without hesitation. (Come to think of it, he’s more like Gainsbourg
than I thought, but he doesn’t do drugs or booze.) After apparently eating the rabbi’s
parrot, he gains the ability to speak and almost immediately adds two new
tricks to his repertoire, Talmudic disputation and lying.
Adapting his own books for the film, Sfar has
concocted an entertainingly elaborate story that combines such classic elements
of children’s adventure as a quest for a lost utopian city, a hunt for treasure
and a close-knit band of friends to share it all with. Sfar and Delesvaux also
have an eye on the adults in their audience and the film is as rich in its
supply of inside jokes as the classic Warner Brothers cartoons of the ‘40s and
‘50s, ranging from a playfully snarky homage to Tintin to a rather pointed dig
at Russian monarchists. The underlying message of the film is one of tolerance
for diversity and for feline desires for fish, both of them admirable themes
energetically enacted.
The screening starts at 7:30 p.m. I have no idea when the film will get a theatrical run, although it deserves one, so grab it while you can.
