by Linda Kay
Original Title: Otesánek
Directed by: Jan Svankmajer
This review contains a severe Kitty Carnage Warning!
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: From the imagination of the famed Czech animator and filmmaker, Jan Svankmajer. Bozena and Karel Horák (Veronika Zilková and Jan Hartl) are a married couple who long for a child but are both infertile. Their desperation turns to horror when they adopt a tree stump shaped like a baby and try to pass it off as their own, not realizing the creature is growing . . . and hungry!
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): The couple own a black cat named Mikeš. Bozena is holding Mikeš as she is sadly going through baby clothes which have been packed away.
The cat scurries past Karel as he carves a watermelon.
The neighbor girl, Alzbetka (Kristina Adamcová), meets Bozena on the apartment building stairs where Bozena is holding Mikeš on a leash after they have been out walking.
Mikeš is drinking milk from a bowl as Bozena once again looks over the baby clothes.
Bozena is sitting depressed at a table as Mikeš helps himself to some of her food. She strokes the cat gently.
Karel enters with the wooden baby they call Otik and Mikeš is quick to react, meowing his disapproval.
Sadly after Otik arrives the poor cat is usually shoved out of subsequent scenes by an overprotective and impatient Bozena.
The cat plays with the baby’s bath water and is shooed away.
Leaving their cabin, which is separate from their apartment, Karel spots Mikeš and asks where he’s been.
Coming back to the cabin another time, Karel is surprised when he opens the door and Mikeš bolts, taking cover in a nook high above.
Mikeš gets bold and approaches the fussing Otik, knocking the pacifier from the “baby’s” mouth. Once again he is pushed away by Bozena.
Severe Kitty Carnage Warning! Unfortunately Mikeš doesn’t follow his instincts to stay away and Bozena and Karel are shocked to find a horrific scene in Otik’s room which includes tufts of black fur, bits of flesh and a cat’s skeleton.
The cat is credited at the end as actually being named Mikeš. This could be a nod to the popular Czech children’s book Mikeš, the Cat.
Final Mewsings: If you can’t have kids, adopt more cats!
Many thanks to Celia for letting us know about the cat in this film.
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