Worldview Entertainment
Starring: Al Pacino, Holly Hunter
Directed by: David Gordon Green

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Angelo Manglehorn (Al Pacino) is a small-town locksmith who has become disconnected from the world around him, longing for a lost love and possibly missing out on a new romance in the form of a sweet bank teller named Dawn (Holly Hunter).

Cinema Cat: Manglehorn lavishes more affection on his pet cat Fanny than he does most of the people in his life.  Fanny is a white angora cat which is first seen after Manglehorn finds her in the cupboard.

Fanny is not well and Manglehorn is concerned about her not eating.  It doesn’t help when he loses his temper and throws furniture around their home (the cat is not with him when this happens but emerges the next morning).

There are some strange flights of fancy in this film, such as when Manglehorn takes Fanny out fishing with him, only they never seem to get to the fishing spot.  Instead they end up in a tall tree (no explanation of how they got up or down).

They watch some dancers.

And finally they come across a surreal accident scene involving several cars and a lot of watermelons.

Manglehorn takes Fanny to the veterinarian who explains that she has an obstruction in her intestines.  She has swallowed a small key and they must operate to remove it.  Manglehorn spends some time with Fanny before her operation, softly singing the song Paper Moon to her.

Kitty Carnage Warning: For some reason the filmmaker decides to show the operation as it happens, so needless to say if you are squeamish about this kind of thing you will want to zoom past this part.

Fortunately Fanny survives and is reunited with Manglehorn.  When he brings her home, Manglehorn is thrilled as Fanny starts to eat again.

Fanny is on hand when Manglehorn makes some drastic changes to his life near the end of the film.

The animal coordinator on the film was Sid Yost of Amazing Animal Productions.  Fanny is a very important part of the film and it’s a shame the cat actor(s) did not receive credit for their parts.  Fanny is even featured on the cover of the film’s soundtrack release.

Purr Blur:  In one scene, Manglehorn is going through some photos in Dawn’s bathroom and comes across a shot of her with a black cat.

Final Mewsings: Cat actors can hold their own, even with Al Pacino.

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