‘That’s the lie that will kill your lover…’
Despite being a prolific director in his own right, Paul Schrader will always be best known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese (whether he likes it or not). Schrader wrote Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead for Scorsese, two of the most seminal American films ever made, and two other revered Scorsese classics, and it is this that will feature most prominently in Schrader’s obituary when he goes to the big film studio in the sky. That’s partly because of just how great those collaborations were and partly because, aside from a few highlights, Schrader’s directing career has been mostly forgettable. Cat People does nothing to dispel this fact…
A loose remake of Jacques Tourneur’s acclaimed 1942 film of the same name, Cat People takes two freaks in the shape of Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell and has them be sex obsessed… well… cat people. There isn’t much plot to speak of really. The supporting cast features John Heard, Annette O’Toole and Ed Begley Jr.
The issue with Cat People is that it’s dull and forgettable. It has the same kind of arty sensibility as Tony Scott’s The Hunger, a film that I found similarly tedious, and while Kinski is absorbing, it’s simply not enough. To say I watched this film literally two days ago, I can already remember very little of its punishing 188-minute running time (although Giorgio Moroder’s score is unsurprisingly excellent), which is perhaps a testament to the fact that Schrader’s remake feels unnecessary at best and negligent at worst.
This could be a me problem. I didn’t much care for the original Cat People either, so perhaps this is just a concept that I’m not particularly interested in. One thing is for certain: I’d rather spend 118 minutes with my actual cat (shout out to George) than watch this film again.
