7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Algiers, 1920s. Rabbi Sfar has more than one problem. His beautiful daughter Zlabya is becoming a teenager and above all, his parrot-killing cat has just started talking. The delivery of a box from Russia further complicates things when a painter is discovered inside, more dead than alive. He is on a quest for a hidden tribe and its mythical city in Africa. Convinced that the city exists, he sets off on an incredible adventure, taking with him the Rabbi, his cat, a wise old Arab Sheikh and an eccentric Russian millionaire.
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, François Damiens, Éric Elmosnino, Hafsia Herzi, Karina TestaForeign | 100% |
Animation | 64% |
Comic book | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Jews don’t like dogs? Perish the thought! Now in full disclosure mode I’m only half Jewish but I have never been without at least one dog for more than a few days for my entire life (and for most of my adult life I’ve always had two), and my wife, who is completely Jewish, is exactly the same. Of course when the titular character of the charming French animated film The Rabbi’s Cat makes the point in some early narration that Jews don’t like dogs, the feline is actually speaking more or less metaphorically. The cat avers that his owner has told him that Jews prefer cats because collectively they as a people have been “barked at” by so many for so long. That of course is something that should be firmly categorized under the heading “poetic license”, and after all, wouldn’t it be perfectly reasonable to assume a cat would say that people prefer cats over dogs, irrespective of their cultural heritages? The Rabbi’s Cat is the brainchild of Joann Sfar (a male), a French comic book author who perhaps rather incredibly also wrote and directed the wonderful Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, a fanciful biographical film about Serge Gainsbourg, the French agent provocateur who stormed the international music charts with the lovely (if just slightly naughty in its original version) “Je t’aime. . .mois non plus”. (See my Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life Blu-ray review for more information about that tune as well as Gainsbourg in general.) Many of Sfar’s literary works exploit his Jewish heritage, and in the case of Sfar, it’s a rather interesting one. One of Sfar’s parents is an Ashkenazi Jew while the other is a Sephardic Jew. For those of you unschooled in the oftentimes convoluted history of Judaism, Ashkenazi Jews tend to come from Eastern Europe (though many ultimately settled in Germany), while Sephardic Jews tend to come from Spain, Portugal and Northern Africa. The two “subgroups” have radically different cultures, worship styles, music (Sephardic music is incredibly evocative), and even languages (Sephardim tend to speak a highly distinctive tongue known as Ladino, which is a heady brew of Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish and even other elements like French.)
The Rabbi's Cat is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of New Video Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. New Video has brought out some really unusual looking animated fare lately, including Tales of the Night, A Cat in Paris and the especially lovely Chico & Rita, and The Rabbi's Cat makes a very appealing companion piece to this growing group. The animation style here is fairly whimsical. I'd compare the creature designs to the old DePatie Freleng pieces from the 1960s and beyond, notably their iconic Pink Panther franchise. The humans are a varied lot, but kind of look like "kinder, gentler" version of Edward Gorey characters at times. The Byzantine backgrounds are incredible, with lots of arabesques and intersecting patterns that are so evocative of Algiers. Colors are bright and bold, and several shots have a nice multi-plane aspect to them that adds a dash of dimensionality. Line detail is very crisp and even with the surfeit of busy patterns, no aliasing or other artifacts were noticed in preparation for this review.
The Rabbi's Cat features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in the original French language (with optional English subtitles) that comes wonderfully alive in several outdoor scenes as well as with the film's really charming and evocative score. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and fidelity is excellent. There are some issues in the subtitles with "special" characters (like words with French accents) that display incorrectly.
As superb as so much of contemporary American animation is these days, it's nice to visit "foreign lands" courtesy of some of these recently imported titles, for there's a completely different sensibility and storytelling rationale that is often quite surprising and enjoyable if not expected to be stuffed whole cloth into some preconceived notion of what a "proper" three act scenario should be like. The Rabbi's Cat is bright and breezy with just a hint of melancholy and a dash of unexpected violence that may actually shock some viewers, but it's also a sweet and noble film that explores issues of religious identity with a rather refreshing élan. Pacinf issues and an episodic storyline may throw some viewers for occasional loops, but for those with a taste for something different, this will easily fit the bill. This Blu-ray offers superior video, excellent audio and has some nice supplements and comes Highly recommended.
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