by Linda Kay

English Title: Man is Not a Bird

Directed by: Dusan Makavejev

Synopsis: A young hairdresser named Rajka (Milena Dravic) begins an affair with engineer Jan Rudinski (Janez Vrhovec) who is staying at her parents’ boarding house while working on a city project. This relationship is contrasted with that of factory worker Barbulovic (Stojan ‘Stole’ Arandjelovic) and his abused wife Zena (Eva Ras).

Kitty Cameo: One day Rajka enters Jan’s room where he is lying on the bed stroking a black cat.

Later in the film the pair are making love on the bed which is covered with a black fur blanket. The cat is lying nearby on the same covering.

Director Dusan Makavejev seemed to have a fondness for cats and used a similar black kitty (or perhaps the same one?) in a bed scene for his film Love Affair or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator. He even cited a Felix the cat cartoon shown at his kindergarten as being one of the things that inspired his filmmaking career.

Final Mewsings: We love it when directors share their love of cats on screen!

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