Il Gatto Dal Viso D'Uomo

 

 

Alternative Titles: The Cat with the Human Face

Director: Mark Dray

Year: 2009

Starring: Jean-Benoit Angely, Frederic Aubry, Laurent Bonnard.

 

Context:

 

The giallo was all but dead in 2009 with the last notable entry being 2004's Eyes of Crystal (Occhi di Cristallo) and so it was out of nowhere that writer/director Mark Dray announced his arrival to the genre with the French short film (with Italian title) Il Gatto Dal Viso D'Uomo, and arguably helping to start (or at very least pre-empt) the neo-giallo ethos of style over substance.

 

Synopsis:

 

A man picks up a female hitchhiker while a serial killer of women, nicknamed The Cat is on the prowl for another victim.

Review:

Il gatto dal viso d'uomo is the debut and only commercially released film to date for writer/director Marc Dray, and contrary to the title's language is a French rather than Italian production, coming a year before fellow French giallo Blackaria (2010), making you wonder why the sudden interest from this country and did these films influence the work of Belgian duo Cattet and Forzani?

 

Clocking in at forty-two and a half minutes, this short film is at times extremely stylish, in particular regarding its use of colour, but frustratingly at other times it betrays it's shot on video nature making for a captivating yet infuriating watch as it threatens so much but lacks the final execution required.

 

It begins showing us a young woman hitchhiking, gaining a lift from middle-aged Octavien (Jean Phillipe Lafargue), in return she offers him a drink in a local bar as a thank you and from here the strangeness begins while we soon learn that the police are out looking for a mysterious serial-killer, known only as the cat.
 

As is the current trend the film (well now at least) the film lacks a traditional giallo lead character such as an amateur sleuth, as Octavien has his own issues and as a result the film shifts additional weighting to the killer although this seems a practical rather than creative decision, especially considering the duration and narration. It is worth mentioning that this shift however does not add much more depth to the film but may merely be a shooting convenience.

 

Meanwhile, the opposite is true about the fantastic score, channelling the spirit of Goblin (particularly Tenebrae) with a hint of what Anton Maiovvi would later go on to become famous for, the soundtrack greatly contributes to the quality of the film and deserves a special mention.

 

Il gatto... is clearly made by a man with a love for the genre and features the expected genre tropes and nods to past movies and scenes with one example being the killer's look reminiscent of Blood and Black Lace albeit with a different mask while the movie itself also appears to have a slight slasher undercurrent, although this could be more to do with the SOV quality and one murder scene than anything else.

 

Lacking the characters and red herrings of the initial wave of gialli the film compensates with a incohesive narrative, leading to some critics calling the film ‘Lynchian and promising’ and while it certainly has promise, the Lynch comparison is very flattering at best, as with his films you feel as if there is a point or meaning beneath the surface.

 

Making little sense and with a largely unmemorable plot, it is the imagery and set-pieces that stick in your mind after the film has ended and while ultimately not as strong as fans of the genre would hope there is still plenty to recommend about this film for at least a single viewing.