Tomcat

Austrian director Handel Klaus's Tomcat is a mediocre Michael Haneke tribute act at best, and is inept, plot-less, and generally off-putting at worst. And let it be said, this is not a movie for cat lovers or animal rights activists by any stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately, the titular tomcat comes to a violent demise at the hands of Stefan (Lukas Turtur), who up until this interspecies murder, has been leading a fairly quotidian life as a French horn player and live-in lover of Andreas (Philipp Hochmair), an orchestra admin guy of some stature. This seemingly inexplicable burst of violence on Stefan's part opens the floodgates to more irrational violence and disturbing revelations in the couple's relationship. The performances here are believable enough, especially from Moses the doomed cat, but the abrupt freakish change in Stefan comes a little too out of nowhere to be completely credible. One minute he's tending his garden and hosting dinner parties with his partner, and the next he's a mad feline strangler. And once the poor kitty gets it, it's all downhill in this slow-paced story of a dormant dysfunctional relationship waiting to fully surface. Unfortunately, all Tomcat can really offer is a middle finger to the ASPCA and failed pretensions to be edgier-than-thou art house fare. Not a necessary purchase. (M. Sandlin)