by Linda Kay

Directed by: Kelly Reichardt

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

Synopsis: In 1820’s Oregon, a chef named Cookie (John Magaro) meets and befriends Chinese immigrant King-Lu (Orion Lee). Together they plan to raise money to start a business, even though the path to success entails some petty larceny.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Cookie and King-Lu are able to raise money by selling oil cakes, a rarity in the area due to the fact that there is only one cow in that part of the country. The cow is owned by Chief Factor (Toby Jones) who, not knowing the pair are stealing his milk at night, asks Cookie to bake something for a get together. At the event, Factor’s wife (Lily Gladstone) is sitting with a silver Persian tabby cat on her lap. Factor motions for her to put the cat away and she quickly sets the kitty aside.

At night the cat has sneaked into the kitchen and is nibbling on some leftover food.

Factor’s servant (Mitchell Saddleback) removes the cat and drops it outside.

Before going to bed, the servant remembers he put the cat out and gets a lantern before going outside to call for the kitty. “Come back, you stupid cat!” the servant calls. This is a pivotal moment, because the cat causing the servant to go outside leads to trouble for Cookie and King-Lu.

The animals for the film were provided by Talented Animals with the trainers Lauren Henry and Roland Sonnenburg.

Final Mewsings: Cats don’t cry over stolen milk.

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