Legend of the Demon Cat

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Legend of the Demon Cat

2017

2h 9m

Fantasy

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

91%

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11 Reviews

43%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

A poet and a monk join forces to investigate the mysterious death of a concubine.

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Amy Nicholson

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

This is a movie that just has a ton of imagination... It's an absolute spectacle.

Sep 24, 2019

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Michael Rechtshaffen

Los Angeles Times

Although the often humorous film may not quite rank among Chen's best and that CGI-enhanced feline isn't always convincingly up to scratch, the buoyant yarn nevertheless casts a beguiling spell.

Mar 21, 2019

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Chuck Bowen

Slant Magazine

This modern fantasy weds the techniques of silent cinema with CGI to conjure a memorably mythic realm.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 4, 2019

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Armond White

National Review

Chen gives a fairy-tale tone to this ghost story yet always goes deeper into the issues of love, death, trust and envy, loyalty and betrayal.

Feb 8, 2019

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Rafael Motamayor

Bloody Disgusting

At the core of it all stand a couple of goofballs that never stop entertaining, and a talking black cat that gives the film a much-welcomed fantasy element.

Rated: 3.5/5

Oct 17, 2018

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Daniel Kasman

MUBI

This pulpy silliness is told with a rare kind of cinematic excess, the money thrown into every inch of screen space as luxuriant as an MGM picture of old.

Sep 19, 2018

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dustin d

Legend of the Demon Cat weaves a paranormal story about a killer talking cat in the present with a decades old story line about a murdered empress. It was intriguing, clever and original. The computer generated graphics weren't all convincing, but the sets and the composition of many shots were absolutely beautiful!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Spectacular in visual, Yang lady is so beautiful and so out of box. I love it. Saw it once, barely understand. Saw it twice, every pieces comes together which is making a big picture. Highly recommend!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

A sumptuously filmed and directed, often sublime, fantasy/mystery retelling centered on the creation of bai juyi's classic 809 CE romance poem, "the song of everlasting regret" (???) and, behind that the tragedy surrounding the death of consort yang guifei (albeit a heavily redacted and simplified version of history).

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

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Audience Member

Starts out as a fairly typical wuxia flick but quickly becomes a mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes. Surprisingly moving, emotionally. Beautifully filmed and the period sets are a joy to behold. Both the story and visuals remained with me well after I left the theatre. The titular cat could have benefitted from more advanced CGI (Weta, where were you?) but I've come to accept the budget restraints imposed on Chinese films and wasn't overly bothered. Flick is definitely worth a look and I'll be keeping an eye out for the blu ray!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

Nice pictures of the film

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

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Chen Kaige

Director

Xuan Huang

Bai Letian

Shôta Sometani

Kûkai

Yuqi Zhang

Chunqin

Hao Qin

Chen yunqiao

Liu Haoran

Bai Long

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Synopsis

A poet and a monk join forces to investigate the mysterious death of a concubine.

Director: Chen Kaige
Producer: Shirley Kao
Screenwriter: Chen Kaige, Hui-Ling Wang
Production Co: New Classic Media, 21 Century Shengkai Film, Kadokawa, Emperor Motion Pictures (International)
Genre: Fantasy, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 27, 2019
Runtime: 2h 9m

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