The Cat and the Moon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

The Cat and the Moon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 31, 2020

Whether you react to The Cat and the Moon as a heartfelt semi-autobiographical story or the over indulgent attempt by a budding so-called “multi-hyphenate” may depend on both your age and perhaps your tolerance for character pieces that may not provide a ton of narrative momentum. Alex Wolff has already made something of a name for himself in the film world in mainstream efforts like Hereditary, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level, as well as arguably more cultish fare like My Friend Dahmer. Fans of Wolff may already know that he has a nascent music career as well going back as far as his involvement with The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie, and Wolff (in true "multi-hyphenate" style) contributes to the score in this film. Music definitely plays into The Cat and the Moon as well not just with regard to a jazz ambience suffusing the soundtrack, but the kind of semi-improvisatory feel of the entire film which offers a coming of age story for a character named Nick (played by Wolff).

If the general outlines of this tale seem to exhibit at least some elements culled from Wolff's life (his Dad is a jazz pianist and he grew up in Manhattan), specific pieces of Wolff's screenplay are obviously fictional, including in this case the fact that it's ultimately revealed that Nick's mother is in rehab and his father is dead, necessitating him moving in with a guy named Cal (Mike Epps). Much of the film documents Nick's attempts to matriculate into this new environment, with a new coterie of friends who help him explore various nooks and crannies of New York. There are some very effective vignettes scattered throughout this film, and the performances are uniformly winning, but there may not be enough forward momentum here for some.

The Cat and the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Cat and the Moon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FilmRise with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. I haven't been able to track down any authoritative technical data on the shoot, but the transfer here is crisp and rather evocative looking at times, highlighted by quite a bit of dusky or actual nighttime cinematography that can verge on slightly Impressionistic at times. As such, things can look a bit on the hazy side, but many of the grading and lighting choices look beautifully suffused and definitely help to support the moods of the piece.

The Cat and the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Cat and the Moon features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mixes. The surround mix nicely opens up the soundstage, which offers a glut of urban ambient environmental sound effects throughout the bulk of the picture. Dialogue and music are all rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.

The Cat and the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:37)


• Photo Gallery (1080i) is authored without a timecode, but does advance automatically, so have the Pause button on your remote handy if you want to linger on any given image.

The Cat and the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My hunch is younger viewers who are fans of Wolff and who may be going through their own "coming of age" dramas will probably resonate best with this obviously heartfelt but still kind of cliché ridden enterprise. Wolff definitely has chops of many varieties, however, if he can finally get out of that darned Jumanji game. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.