Catz

(Image from the movie's IMDb page.)

The wife & I have been getting out to see movies lately, in addition to watching lots of them from Netflix.  In particular, we've gone twice now to Magnolia At The Modern, the arts film theater in the Modern Art Museum Of Fort Worth.  We've enjoyed going so much that my notoriously cheap wife is thinking of becoming a member of the museum just for the film discounts!

Tonight we saw Kedi, a documentary about the stray cats in Istanbul.  I confess that most of what I know about Istanbul has to do with when it was Constantinople, so seeing the images of a gorgeous city full of fabulous people - who happen to care about cats - made me really want to visit.  But even more so, the cats of the city seemed just amazing.

& look, I like documentaries but I am aware that documentaries about animals are almost always going to be heartbreaking.  But Kedi manages something different.  Without giving anything away - at a glance you can see it's a movie about the feral stray cats of Istanbul & the people who interact with them - I will just say there's nothing but a celebration here.  I did want to perhaps hear something about attempts to spay & neuter, because I know that outdoor cats live far shorter lives than indoor cats* but I didn't let that detract from just eighty glorious minutes of clever filmmaking highlighting animals I truly love, even if these probably don't speak any English.

Which is my way of saying, I recommend it, especially if you're a cat lover.  It's still showing all over the country so maybe you'll get a chance to see it, but it'll be on DVD & streaming soon enough.

Maybe I'll tell you about the other films I've seen in this space one day soon.  Right now, like with Kedi, it's all about the wonderful cats.

* Not to depress you, but here's what it says: "Cats who are kept indoors can reach the ripe old age of 17 or more years, whereas outdoor cats live an average of just two to five years."