by Mark Murton

Directed by: Lodge Kerrigan

This review contains an Implied Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Claire Dolan (Katrin Cartlidge) is an Irish immigrant who works as a Manhattan call girl to pay off a debt she owes to her pimp, Roland Cain (Colm Meaney), an “old family friend.” When her mother dies, Claire tries to escape her current life by moving to Newark where she finds work as a manicurist. As part of her new life Claire realises she wants to have a baby, and starts a relationship with a cabby (Vincent D’Onofrio). But Cain hasn’t finished with her yet . . . .

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Upon moving to Newark, Claire gets an apartment in a high-rise where she lives with a longhair tabby cat. We first see the cat when Claire is asleep in bed and the phone rings, waking her and the kitty (initially seen in silhouette) sleeping on the bed beside her.

In another scene Claire returns home and the cat is sitting inside the door waiting for her.

As Claire enters she reaches down to pet the cat . . .

. . . which then runs off into the apartment as Claire turns back to close the door.

The cat reappears later in the same scene when Cain reveals himself as having been in the apartment also waiting for Claire’s return. He tells her she is returning to New York with him and while she gets ready he goes to the table beside her chair where she keeps her cash. As he pockets her money the cat comes to see what he is doing.

Cain scoops up the cat . . .

. . . carries it to the window . . .

Implied Kitty Carnage Warning! . . . and, opening the window with his free hand, nonchalantly drops the cat to its certain (but thankfully unseen) death.

The cat actor was provided by the Dawn Animal Agency.

Final Mewsings: Cats aren’t always the best judge of character.

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