Cat Soup: Liquid Art Edition

-Central Park Media (2003)

Summary

Death. Blood. A circus. God. Murder. Confusion. So many underlying meanings with two cute kittens caught right in the middle of it all.

My Thoughts

Cat Soup is a dark and surreal short animated film that centers around two kittens, Nyaako and Nyatta. Like Hello Kitty, the kittens are a cute pair, but are actually very malicious. It is difficult to really explain Cat Soup without spoiling the experience for you. It is something that just needs to be watched to fully appreciate it. It is odd, full of dark humor, and is something that would be well loved by Goth kids and anyone into the worlds of Tim Burton.

As far as the purpose for all the insanity, here is the main story. Nyaako’s soul is taken by Death. Her brother, Nyatta tries to get her soul back, but is only able to get half of it. They then make a journey to find a red flower that contains the other half of Nyaako’s soul. That is all you really need to know before viewing this. There isn’t any dialogue in the film. The voices of the characters are represented with various sounds. Anything that is actually said comes in word balloons, of which there are very few.

The piece contains some strange imagery and you may not know what the heck is going on at times, but that’s okay. It’s only thirty minutes long, so you can easily view it again, plus you want to try to catch everything that happens. At times it doesn’t feel like something you would find in an episodic series. Cat Soup is almost more a work of abstract and random art and should be taken as such. This would fit well into one of those hipster film festivals.

As such, the animation is excellent and the 5.1 sound does its job. There is one sequence in particular that was made with 5.1 in mind and it shows.

Extras

The Liquid Art Edition of Cat Soup comes with a cover that has a little Nyaako and Nyatta drowning in a sea of blood. Tip the case and watch the blood run down the picture and the two kittens along with it. You can also take the piece out and frame it if you’re so inclined. This is a very unique cover and is something I’ve never seen done with another DVD. This is also the only difference between this edition and the regular collector’s edition. The “on the DVD” extras are the same for both editions.

The commentary is with the director. It’s interesting that he explains that many of the scenes do not have an underlying meaning or if there was one, he forgot what it was.

“How to Make Cat Soup” is an interview with director Tatsuo Sato where he explains how the project came to be. He explicitly states that neither he, nor anyone on his staff, were junkies when they made this.

There is also the trailer for the film, trailers for other anime programs, and an art gallery. I figured the art gallery would be concept art or sketches for the film, but it’s merely stills from the film itself.

Score

Film: 9.0

Extras: 7.5 (extra points for the liquid art cover)

Edition: 7.5 (same here)

-Shawn