With the multiplexes about to be taken over by American blockbusters, you've got to admire Aussie independent Rats & Cats. Made for what, quite literally, would've been the hat budget on Indiana Jones 4, this tells a familiar, universal story of what happens when fame fades.
Darren McWarren was once a rising TV and movie star. But after a scandal cut his career short, he moves to country Victoria, to focus on his music and hang out with his hangers on. Until magazine reporter Ben has to do a “Where Are They Now?” feature on the reclusive figure. Ben is welcomed into Darren's inner sanctum and gets to see his life and hear his pronouncements.
Not a lot happens in Rats & Cats. It's an episodic affair, playing like Sunset Boulevard in tracky daks.
Written by its talented stars, Jason Gann and Adam Zwar, and directed by Tony Rogers, Rats & Cats doesn't get any big laughs, but it doesn't go for them either. Instead it's a mix of droll character observations and gentle parody and so low-key as to make Kenny look like Transformers.
As an antidote to the bombast of American corporate product booming through cinemas, this is a smart and funny little flick that's well worth tracking down.
Rats & Cats rates three stars
