A charming documentary, “Kedi” winds its way through the streets of Istanbul, giving audiences a feline-level view of the city’s back alleys, abandoned lots and open air markets.
3.5/5 STARS
Director Ceyda Torun shows off Istanbul’s world of cats and the humans that care for them. Intermittent with beautiful, gliding overhead shots of the city and accompanied by Kira Fontana’s swelling original score, Torun simulates all the beauty of a nature documentary. The only difference is that viewers are already familiar with the animal subject: the house cat.
In lieu of this natural wilderness and a discernible plot, mysticism and the element of human empathy drive the film. Straying farther away from typical nature documentaries, “Kedi” has no David Attenborough or Morgan Freeman narrating the cats’ daily lives.
Instead, we hear testimonials from the neighborhoods themselves. Local residents chronicle each of the cat’s zany personalities as if they were owners describing their own cat’s individual quirks and charms.
Although there’s at least one cat in every frame of “Kedi,” the film only names seven, and while they all exhibit “personalities” of their own, as the locals profess, it is the interviewees themselves that really attribute uniqueness to these cats.
Early in the film, a woman spends a gratuitous amount of time describing how a particular cat, Gamsiz, will turn sideways as if posing in her window and knock, rapping the back of his paw against the glass with more class than any of the men in her cell phone contact list.
But as I watched two women describe their daily routine consisting of cooking 20 pounds of chicken each day to feed to any cat smart enough to hang around, I wondered if these people represent all of Istanbul.
Surely not everyone sees this “pest” problem as individual blessings, who, as one interviewee put it, absorb bad energy. A few times in the film locals hint at urbanization and development driving the cats away, gesturing at the skyscrapers in the distance, taking over the green spaces essential to the cats’ livability.
Early in the film a caption proclaims that cats are a part of Istanbul’s soul. It’s the city’s affection towards a phenomenon any other city would term an infestation that makes the film more charming than any fluffy animal could.
Many of the interviewees share personal stories of the cats’ charm. One boater tells of how a cat pointed him to a wallet full of money after he wrecked his ship and needed cash. While speaking to the camera, he bottle-feeds a litter of kittens he visits every day to help them stay alive. Other locals don’t have such lucky stories, but care for their feline visitors simply because of the positive energy they bring.
This relationship between the residents and cats of Istanbul quickly becomes the focus of the film. While most interviewees give the cats names and characteristics, one local woman asserts that the cats are the closest thing humans have to aliens, remarking on how different they are from humans. “Kedi” shows a kind of utopia where cats and humans live amongst each other, neither one exerting dominance over the other.
While “Kedi” was screened at the Louisiana International Film Festival held April 20-23, those interested can still catch the film on Sunday, May 7 at 2 p.m. at the Manship Theatre.
3.5/5 STARS
Director Ceyda Torun shows off Istanbul’s world of cats and the humans that care for them. Intermittent with beautiful, gliding overhead shots of the city and accompanied by Kira Fontana’s swelling original score, Torun simulates all the beauty of a nature documentary. The only difference is that viewers are already familiar with the animal subject: the house cat.
In lieu of this natural wilderness and a discernible plot, mysticism and the element of human empathy drive the film. Straying farther away from typical nature documentaries, “Kedi” has no David Attenborough or Morgan Freeman narrating the cats’ daily lives.
Instead, we hear testimonials from the neighborhoods themselves. Local residents chronicle each of the cat’s zany personalities as if they were owners describing their own cat’s individual quirks and charms.
Although there’s at least one cat in every frame of “Kedi,” the film only names seven, and while they all exhibit “personalities” of their own, as the locals profess, it is the interviewees themselves that really attribute uniqueness to these cats.
Early in the film, a woman spends a gratuitous amount of time describing how a particular cat, Gamsiz, will turn sideways as if posing in her window and knock, rapping the back of his paw against the glass with more class than any of the men in her cell phone contact list.
But as I watched two women describe their daily routine consisting of cooking 20 pounds of chicken each day to feed to any cat smart enough to hang around, I wondered if these people represent all of Istanbul.
Surely not everyone sees this “pest” problem as individual blessings, who, as one interviewee put it, absorb bad energy. A few times in the film locals hint at urbanization and development driving the cats away, gesturing at the skyscrapers in the distance, taking over the green spaces essential to the cats’ livability.
Early in the film a caption proclaims that cats are a part of Istanbul’s soul. It’s the city’s affection towards a phenomenon any other city would term an infestation that makes the film more charming than any fluffy animal could.
Many of the interviewees share personal stories of the cats’ charm. One boater tells of how a cat pointed him to a wallet full of money after he wrecked his ship and needed cash. While speaking to the camera, he bottle-feeds a litter of kittens he visits every day to help them stay alive. Other locals don’t have such lucky stories, but care for their feline visitors simply because of the positive energy they bring.
This relationship between the residents and cats of Istanbul quickly becomes the focus of the film. While most interviewees give the cats names and characteristics, one local woman asserts that the cats are the closest thing humans have to aliens, remarking on how different they are from humans. “Kedi” shows a kind of utopia where cats and humans live amongst each other, neither one exerting dominance over the other.
While “Kedi” was screened at the Louisiana International Film Festival held April 20-23, those interested can still catch the film on Sunday, May 7 at 2 p.m. at the Manship Theatre.
