The Cat Vanishes

A subdued drama disguised as a Hitchcockian thriller, The Cat Vanishes details the turmoil that ensues after a stocky professor (Luis Luque’s Luis) is released from a mental hospital after supposedly being cured of his violent tendencies – with the film subsequently (and primarily) detailing Luis’ wife’s (Beatriz Spelzini’s Beatriz) attempts at accepting her husband back into their home. Filmmaker Carlos Sorin kicks off The Cat Vanishes with a thoroughly bizarre pre-credits sequence in which a roomful of doctors and officials dryly discuss whether or not to release Luis, with the movie segueing into a fairly tedious domestic drama that seems concerned mostly with Beatriz’s growing concerns over Luis’ mental state – with the disappearance of the family cat only exacerbating Beatriz’s suspicions. And although Sorin does an effective job of peppering the movie with a few ominous moments and images (eg Beatriz’s recurring nightmares), The Cat Vanishes boasts an almost extraordinarily slow-paced midsection that tests the viewer’s patience on an increasingly prominent basis. The uneventful atmosphere certainly makes it more and more difficult to wholeheartedly care about what’s really going on, and it’s impossible not to wonder just what Sorin originally set out to do here. (If he was hoping to craft a Hitchcockian thriller, he’s unquestionably failed.) And while the film does feature a remarkably tense stretch towards the end, The Cat Vanishes concludes with a twist that unfortunately doesn’t make a lick of sense (eg whose glasses are those? How did they get there?) – which cements the movie’s place as a watchable yet thoroughly misguided bit of filmmaking.

** out of ****