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The Case of the Grinning Cat

Play trailer Poster for The Case of the Grinning Cat 2004 58m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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94% Tomatometer 18 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Filmmaker Chris Marker follows the trail of graffiti cats and -- in the process -- documents recent French history.

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The Case of the Grinning Cat

Critics Reviews

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John Monaghan Detroit Free Press 04/05/2007
3/4
[Director] Marker may be windy, but he also enjoys the wisdom that comes with age. His masterful command of the camera shows that he can lecture and entertain at the same time. Go to Full Review
Wesley Morris Boston Globe 01/20/2007
3.5/4
The Case of the Grinning Cat is further evidence of Chris Marker's exhilarating wit. His hour-long cinema essay offers a snapshot of France that's been realized in Marker's daydreamy developer fluid. Go to Full Review
Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter 01/03/2007
Demonstrates that this cinematic provocateur [director Chris Marker] has lost little of his gift for social observation. Go to Full Review
David Walsh World Socialist Web Site 02/14/2021
The Case of the Grinning Cat will further damage the (overblown) reputation of French filmmaker Chris Marker. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 04/15/2008
B+
A playful 58-minute documentary. Go to Full Review
Karina Longworth Cinematical 02/01/2008
Feels like Marker's attempt to implicitly reconcile his own advanced age...one is bound to see history repeat itself in full, ignorant swing, if one lives long enough. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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03/27/2013 Interesting documentary on the atmosphere in Paris around 2001. The filmmaker uses the mysterious drawings of a grinning cat that appear all over the city to talk about several topics. However, this movie would have benefited from some editing to make the transitions between topics a bit smoother. See more 04/11/2010 In watching this I had to decide what it was a product of... Drugs? Boredom? Insufficient creativity to carry out an interesting idea? My friend and I convened on old age trying to rediscover youth. If you are into political protest, you might really like The Case of the Grinning Cat. I am not, and this must have intimate links with my increasing boredom and listlessness while viewing the footage. I was in Paris for part of the period documented, and the anti-war protest I attended may well have been one of those featured here. But the attempt to connect the (fictional) graffiti cats appearing all over Paris to some overarching historical symbolism didn't move me at all. The Case of the Grinning Cat is undeniably a different movie. The same things that I dislike about it would probably make it a unique pleasure to someone with different tastes. See more 06/03/2009 Pee Euw. An arrogant, meanderingly lost film with bad camerawork and obnoxious voice over. Hardly goes anywhere and accomplishes nothing more than showing how people waste time, which wastes yours. See more 05/03/2009 The Case of the Grinning Cat is about as haphazardly and half-heartedly interesting as Marker's fleeting interest in and overview of protesting and demonstrations. Though it's a luxury that a documentarian exists who would even bring us the story of a mystery graffiti cat's involvement with anti-war protesting, and though the ending is Marker at his teasingly poignant best, the mystery in the end is all there is. What really makes this DVD worth renting is the extra short called Three Cheers for the Whale, a 16-minute slide-show poem about the history of whale slaughter. See more 12/30/2008 Le Chat is a silent revolution. Utterly brilliant. See more 12/28/2008 I like Chris Marker, but I just wasn't taken by this film. I actually enjoyed the short films that came on the DVD beside the feature much better. See more Read all reviews
The Case of the Grinning Cat

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Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Chris Marker follows the trail of graffiti cats and -- in the process -- documents recent French history.
Director
Chris Marker
Screenwriter
Chris Marker
Production Co
Arte France Cinema
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Canadian French
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jul 21, 2006
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 25, 2017
Runtime
58m
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