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Sundance 2023: Cat Person Review

Smartphones, dating apps, and social media make finding dates easier than it’s ever been. But navigating the digital dating scene presents unique challenges. When getting to know someone remotely, you may be dealing with their authentic self or their digital persona. 

Director Susanna Fogel’s thriller Cat Person presents a sobering look at today’s dating scene. It’s a cautionary tale about how women must dance around the emotional landmines littering fragile male egos. 

College student Margot (Emilia Jones) spends nights working the snack counter at a hipster movie theatre. One evening, a patron named Robert (Nicholas Braun) approaches her for some awkward flirting. Margot’s not head over heels for the guy, but he’s tall and mysterious, so exchanging numbers seems harmless enough. 

Before Margot knows it, she’s hooked on their text exchanges. Robert is funny, charming, and even sensitive in his own way. So despite her best friend Taylor’s (Geraldine Viswanathan) warnings to take things slow, Margot agrees to a kinda-sorta first date. 

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A bizarre series of events turn their “not a date” meetup into a disaster. Chalking that up to chance, they have a proper first date. Yet somehow, things go even worse the second time. After realizing their texting chemistry doesn’t translate to the real world, Margot fears she doesn’t know Robert as well as she thought.   

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Cat Person begins with a Margaret Atwood quote stating, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” That quote perfectly encapsulates the film and its examination of power dynamics between the sexes. 

A man and woman can be on the same date but have two different experiences. Unless a guy dates the next Santanico Pandemonium, he likely doesn’t have to worry about his physical safety.  

Look up violent crime stats in any country, and most perpetrators are men. Of course, women are capable of the same terrible acts. But relative to men, how many women are charged with raping, stalking, kidnapping, and human trafficking? 

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Cat Person digs into the complicated feelings women experience when dating a new guy. Specifically, the stressful inner dialogue about how much to trust a physically imposing stranger. When dealing with Robert, Margot must decide whether to stay vigilant or let her guard down. Keeping up that defensive wall gets exhausting and risks alienating genuinely nice guys. But misjudging a potential psycho would be a fatal mistake. 

Cinematographer Manuel Billeter does an excellent job using cinematic language to make you experience Margot’s fear on a visceral level. He applies a stark visual contrast between the moments when she feels safe and when she feels threatened.  

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Life’s all fun and cheer when Margot’s among family and friends in cozy, well-lit interiors. But once she is alone or on a date, it’s like she stepped onto the set of Halloween. Billeter often films her isolated in the frame and flanked by shadows. There’s a constant sense that something terrible is about to happen. This technique reflects what it feels like to live with the constant threat of violence. 

People often frame conversations about sexual consent in black-and-white terms. Michelle Ashford’s script dares to suggest there is also a moral gray zone. One scene explores a sexual encounter’s power dynamics in real-time. The uncomfortable sequence highlights the nuances of sexual power dynamics, expressing reasons women aren’t always comfortable telling a man no.  

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I am one of maybe twelve people on the planet who had never heard about Cat Person before. Published in The New Yorker in 2017, the short story Cat Person went viral and became their most-read piece of fiction. After watching the film, I get why.  

The film digs into the nitty gritty details of a hot-button issue. And Fogel elevates the material into a gripping thriller full of shocking twists and turns. This incisive social commentary will have viewers on the edge of their seats and spark heated debates after the credits roll. 

Cat Person is screening as part of Sundance’s Premiers section.     

Head here for more of our coverage from Sundance 2023.   

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