by Linda Kay

Starring: Kevin the cat

Directed by: Graham Foy

This review contains a severe Kitty Carnage Warning!

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

Synopsis: A quiet, somewhat confusing yet still thought-provoking film which explores teenagers’ views on life, death and social structures. Best friends Kyle (Jackson Sluiter) and Colton (Marcel T. Jiménez) spend their days exploring a ravine near their home until a shocking event changes their lives forever. In a parallel story, a girl named Whitney (Hayley Ness) finds solace in the ravine until she disappears. Eventually their stories intersect in an unusual way.

Severe Kitty Carnage Warning! Near the start of the film Kyle and Colton are exploring a construction site and come across the body of a dead black cat. With curiosity they poke at the cat’s body, intrigued and giggling. But eventually they feel compassion and decide to give the cat a kind of burial. They place the body in a plastic bag then prepare a small raft, include some flowers and send the body floating down the river.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): At the end of the film, Kyle returns to the construction site and is sitting alone when he spots a black cat nearby.

The cat crosses to him and climbs into his lap and the film ends on a shot of the pair comforting each other.

Much of the film is left up to interpretation but we would like to think that this is the spirit of the deceased cat the boys gave a funeral for at the beginning of the movie. The cat was credited in the end as Kevin the Cat. The animal handler was Stephanie Stanton-Linder.

Final Mewsings: Even deceased cats appreciate a little kindness.

Relevant Links:

To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on Facebook and X.