A bank robbery, hostages, a hotel, 2 lovers…
Written by Christoph Fromm, based on the novel “Das Leben einer Katze” by Uwe Erichsen, and directed by Dominik Graf, The Cat is a taught thriller with plenty going on, enough to surprise even the most regular watchers of this type of film. The writing here is great and the direction brings it to the screen in just the right way, helping the twists and turns become more effective than in recent releases and making the film a sort of blueprint for solid bank heist films. The film here has tension, action, violence, a bit of sex, some backstabbing, and cat and mouse chase. There is a lot in here and it all makes sense, making the film feel like more than a simple heist film, but one that is effective on all fronts.
The cast here is absolutely solid, everyone involved gives a strong performance, showing up for the story, for their individual characters, and for the viewer. There is a ton here and for them all to keep everything making sense performance-wise while the story moves along is a feat of its own. Of course, the cast here does this beautifully well and shows that a strong cast paired with a solid director and script can lead to a truly great, tense film. The leads here are played by Götz George and Gudrun Landgrebe are perfect in their parts, showing the right emotions at the right times, pulling back when needed, and showing that they can hide their hand until needed by the script. The supporting cast here is just as strong as the leads, with a few minor exceptions here and there, rounding out the performances in a strong manner.
The cinematography by Martin Schäfer is on point here, using the look of the locations, the lighting available and brought in, and the characters’ interactions to build a world that looks specific to the film while looking good. There is a certain je-ne-sais-quoi to this film’s look and it works at both placing it in a specific era but also giving it a sort of outside of time style. The film is from the late 1980s, looks a bit like a 1970s thriller, and moves like a current action-thriller. There is a lot here visually and it all work really well. Of course, the pacing and how the scenes connect with each other is thanks to the editing by Christel Suckow.
The Cat is a strong thriller with a lot of twists and turns that work really well. Of course, some of the story beats are familiar and fairly typical of this type of film, but there is a whole lot more here and the film makes the most of it final act. The writing, direction, cinematography, acting, costuming, editing, decor, and just about everything else works just right here, creating a timeless thriller for the ages that seems to have somehow missed main audiences (outside of Germany) back in the day of its original release.
This new release of The Cat comes courtesy of Radiance Films with their usual beautiful treatment of the material in both its physical form and its on-screen look. This new release has a newly graded by Radiance Films HD transfer that was overseen by the film’s director that looks and sounds fantastic. The extras here are interesting with a bunch of interviews being the highlights of the disc here, including interviews with director Dominik Graf from 2024, one with writer Christoph Fromm also from 2024, and one with producer Georg Feil from the same year. Also on this disc, there is a selected scenes commentary from the film’s director.