Rent-A-Cat

Chopin - Nocturne No. 4 in F, Opus No. 1, Sandor Falvay

I'm not an animal person. Never was. Sometimes had close shaves and loved a few animals (some human) but for whatever reason I don't have much love for them. Perhaps it was because I was bitten when I was three years old by a crazy terrier. Perhaps it was also because the first ever pet I received when I was 6 or 7 (a goldfish, which is arguably not a pet at all) died the very second day I had it. I had it in a jar of water next to my bed and wished it to sleep, only to be mortally wounded in the heart to see it lying cold next to me. Flushed it down the toilet after with much apprehension...

Since then I haven't had much affinity for animals, perhaps because I'm very frustrated trying to communicate with them. They're expensive, they're unpredictable and they die. That really hurts a lot and is probably the reason why I don't spend much time with them. A deep-seated defense mechanism for sure.

I have and had many friends who are animal lovers, I'm often bewildered why they are so, but only recently have I noticed that they're a much better judge of character. I'm incredibly dull when it comes to slicing apart a person's "sense" so to speak. Blind from the intentions of people by being immersed in my own selfishness. Perhaps it's observing the behavior of other living creatures that help to give more perspective on self-analysis. I have no proof of this obviously but it's something to think about.

I just watched a really nice movie called Rent-a-Cat (Rentaneko) by Naoko Ogigami. Lovely film about an oddball woman who lives with a bunch of cats and rents them out to lonely people. I wanted to watch this a few months ago because I had a cat day with my friend on a trip to Tokoname (the place is famous for pottery and cats) but I didn't have time to watch it. I decided to rent it again. Ogigami's style is slow burning, immersive, vivid and very unique. I've seen four of her films, Glasses (Megane), Toilet (Toireto) and Kamome Shokudo. All "odd" films to say the least but they're wonderful and funny, they remind me a lot of Local Hero, they're not over-the-top but understated. If Ogigami can make 4-5 more films of the same caliber I would really class her in the higher echelons of Japanese cinema. She's got a couple of other films that I want to watch also. Pool is another one worth seeing with the same cast of Megane directed by Mika Omori. It's got the same "neo-hippy" living style vibe (made famous and commercially available around the world by Muji) that seems to be making patterns in cinema around here. Shiyawase no Pan (Happy Bread?) about a bakery in the mountains is another one of those films but apparently sucks.

Returning to animals, I hate cats... I really do. Worthless little things that always cause a fuss and don't do anything. For those cat aficionados out there, you've probably identified that I'm a dog person... if there was any animal that I would invest my emotion into. ;-) However, animal love mud slinging aside, it's really quite amazing for someone to find some sort of connection that's worthwhile. It doesn't matter what it is, it's the love you put into it that's the only thing worth caring about. This scene from Rent-a-Neko sums up this notion quite well. So I suppose whatever you love only matters. Not what anyone else thinks.

Here's a trailer for the film. Sadly, no subtitles in the trailer but hopefully it'll interest you.

If you're wanting to ask what kind of dog I would get, it would be a beagle. I grew fond of them since watching The Royal Tenenbaums. Seriously, Buckley is so cute!!! Ahem....