MY VIEWING DIARY: PART TEN

"Cats" (2019)

"Cats", Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 stage production based on the collection of poems by T.S. Eliot, is one of the most popular and successful musicals of all time, raking in a staggering 3.5 billion dollars worldwide. The long-awaited film adaption has been made by Tom Hooper, the Oscar-winning director of "The King's Speech" and another stage-to-screen adaption of an equally popular musical, "Les Misérables", with the results being a garish, clunky and odd spectacle, devoid of any of the elements that made this enduring musical so beloved by so many people. Much like the stage show, there isn't an actual clear plot here but the outline involves a young white cat named Victoria (played by Royal Ballet dancer, Francesca Hayward making her film debut) being dumped on to the cold, London streets by her owner in the middle of the night. This is when she meets the "Jellicles", homeless cats living on these mean streets, lead by Munkustrap (Robbie Fairchild), who introduces her to their world where cats will compete for a chance to go to the Heaviside Layer, a wonderous place where they will be granted a new life. But Macavity (Idris Elba), a mysterious and treacherous cat, kidnaps the potential contestants in order for him to be selected by default.

"Cats" races through at a breakneck pace, never giving us an opportunity to consider what we have watched (since the script doesn't help) or even catch our breath before moving on to the next number. But one of the biggest problems with this movie was the decision to rely on CGI to create the cats, fusing the actors digitally with a life-like cat appearance that is equally disturbing and distracting. Another visual distraction is that the cats are not to scale to the apparent real world they are supposed to inhabit, appearing much smaller than an actual cat which throws you further off balance. We have some well-known stage (James Corden, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench) and music (Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift) performers trying their best to bring life to these beloved feline characters yet they seem overwhelmed by this manic production, unable to make much of an impression. And I definitely could have done without seeing Rebel Wilson as the domestic tabby cat, Jennyanydots, singing and dancing with a chrous line of roaches.

"Cats" is really best known for one song and that's "Memory", a melancholy ballad that has been covered an estimated six hundred times by a wide assortment of artists. Oscar-winner, Jennifer Hudson plays Grizabella, the faded glamour cat who performs this classic number (strangely as a duet with Victoria), delivering an unsettling version that simply tries too hard to move you, losing much of the emotional power of this song. Say what you will about the merits of the stage musical but it has continuously, since it's debut, brought joy and thrills to millions of fans across the globe. But this "Cats" simply dulls your senses, never managing to spark any memorable or magical moments.



"Le Samouraï" (1967)

The first teaming of Jean-Pierre Melville, a filmmaker who is considered the spiritual father of the French New Wave, and the mysterious allure of actor, Alain Delon was in "Le Samouraï", an exceptional crime-drama from 1967 that has remained a highly influential cinematic work. Delon plays Jef Costello, an icy assassin-for-hire who has been given an assignment. He methodically creates an alibi with his lover, Jane (Nathalie Delon, the actor's then-wife) before he will begin the job. Costello's target is the owner of a nightclub but after completing his mission, he is seen leaving by a number of people at the club including the band's piano player, Valérie (Cathy Rosier) who locks eyes with him. Costello is one of several suspects rounded up by the investigating officer (François Périer). Most of the witnesses are unsure if he is the actual murderer but Valérie mysteriously insists he is not. Despite this, the officer is convinced Costello is the culprit and has him followed and his apartment bugged. This investigation causes another major problem for Costello as his employers believe he has become a liability and now has to be handled.

Melville's love of Hollywood film noir is on full display here with his screenplay masterfully delivering all the action and suspense you would expect from the genre yet seen through a Gallic lens. With minimum dialogue and stark atmosphere, the director has taken us in to a world that is filled with muted emotions and stylishly self-conscious. One of the greatest faces in cinema, Delon uses his to express his character's inner turmoil by utilizing only minimal movement and cold, penetrating eyes. With his world closing in on him, Costello remains expressionless and calculating, never allowing anyone to see him sweat. "Le Samouraï" doesn't offer much that hasn't been seen before but this neo-noir thriller is presented in a chilly, captivating style that is unsettling yet endlessly fascinating.



"Bunny Lake Is Missing" (1965)

"Bunny Lake Is Missing" is a largely forgotten feature film from director, Otto Preminger and for good reason. It is a great looking yet muddled psychological thriller that doesn't feature enough logical thrills. Arriving from America to London, Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) drops her young daughter, Bunny off for her first day at nursery school. With the teacher nowhere around and needing to get back home for the movers, Ann leaves her daughter with the school's cook (Lucie Mannheim). But when she return later to pick up Bunny, the child is nowhere to be found, was never seen by her teacher and the cook has walked out on her job. Distraught and terrified, Ann calls her brother, Steven (Keir Dullea who would later be known for his career-defining role in "2001: A Space Odyssey"), who moved to England with her, and they search the entire school before contacting the police. Scotland Yard Inspector Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) arrives on the scene and laboriously begins his investigation. He finds that none of Bunny's possessions are in the house and the name of Ann's imaginary childhood friend was "Bunny". So it's not long before Newhouse begins to question Ann's sanity.

Preminger, the notoriously difficult filmmaker behind such classics as "The Man with the Golden Arm", "Anatomy of a Murder", "Carmen Jones" and "Laura", did not like the original ending of the book which the film is based by Merriam Modell. This forced screenwriters, John and Penelope Mortimer to rewrite the script many times until he was satisfied. And while "Bunny Lake Is Missing" does begin promising, full of intrigue and dread, the conclusion of this mystery is implausibly deranged. The performances by leads Lynley and Dullea are distractingly overwrought, dragging the film down to B-movie level. But the rest of the cast are solid, notably Olivier although we are unable to shake the feeling that he is here only for the paycheck. And adding to the odd nature of the film, we have Noël Coward, the English writer known for his acid wit, briefly appearing as Ann's peculiar landlord and the rock band, the Zombies (whose biggest hit is the 1964 pop song, "She's Not There" which sadly does not appear here) simply performing on a television broadcast while the characters are in a bar. "Bunny Lake Is Missing" was not particularly embraced by audiences or critics when it was initially released. But it has been reevaluated by some modern viewers who have found a greater appreciation for the film. I am not one of them.