Kedi

Overall:  I was very engaged for the first 45 minutes, but more of the same until the end made it less interesting. Cats rule the roost in Istanbul. This film documents these felines and how they do not belong to anyone. They choose their life and who they allow in it. We’ve got the loner who doesn’t like to be petted or go inside any place. To get food he scratches the window of the restaurant where he hangs out. Funny though the restaurant is one of the nicer, upper level restaurants; smart cat. There is the cat that is extremely tough and pounces on any cat that does something in its territory that it doesn’t like. We also follow the film's first cat who makes his way around town, getting food and attention and then ends up visiting a young woman's home.

Then there are the people of Istanbul who care about the cats. We’ve got the guy who had a debilitating stroke and medication wasn’t helping, but his attention to a group of cats has healed him from his blood pressure and finding his life is much more relaxed now that he’s taking care of a group of cats.

There is the woman and her mother who make twenty pounds of cut chicken every day to feed a group of cats that gather inside and outside her home. There is also the young woman who begins the film talking about the cat who makes her a semi-home way station. The cat comes into her home, gets a scratch or two, some loving, food and then heads back out into the streets.

No one really knows how the cats started ruling Istanbul, but it seems to touch men more profoundly than women but that could have just been the filmmakers point of view. I really liked the downlow cat height shots as the cats made their way through the city streets, alleys, rooftops, and the docks near the water. The shots of Istanbul were interesting and I would have liked a better orientation of this exotic ancient city.

Ceyda Torun did a very good job on many of the cinemograph shots of these cats and how they roam the city. However, after the first forty-five minutes, it felt like it was more of the same and the point seemed to be getting lost.

Overall:  It was interesting but more context would have helped.

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