Wagahai wa neko de aru (1936)

movie

(22)

Country: Japan
Genres: Drama
Release: 1936-04-14
Director: Kajirō Yamamoto
Writers: Masaru Kobayashi , Natsume Sōseki
Language: Japanese
Stars: Sachiko Chiba , Kamatari Fujiwara , Yuriko Hanabusa , Hyo Kitazawa , Sadao Maruyama , Musei Tokugawa , Hiroshi Uruki
Runtime: 87 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: Wagahai wa neko de aru , I Am a Cat , Wagahai wa neko de aru (Japan)
Plot: A small cat wanders into a household and is the witness to the snobbery and preoccupations of a teacher's household and its interactions with the nouveau riche neighbors.My notes indicate this was based on a popular novel by Soseki Natsume. In the movie, the cat is the inadvertent and uncomprehending observer of the petty rivalries of the neighborhood. Unfortunately for me, this results in a rather incoherent movie, in no small part because I am unfamiliar with the societal assumptions of the era. Everyone seems a bit self-obsessed, despite occasional references to the First World War; the cat turns up at odd moments on screen, and at other times, it offers its thoughts on issues that have nothing to do with the human drama going on; whether this is a statement of the unimportance of such things -- from a cat's viewpoint anyway -- seems unclear. The result is rambling and a bit dull.
IMDB:tt1436484