Review: She's Allergic To Cats (2016)

A dog groomer in Hollywood, with aspirations to remake the horror film Carrie with cats makes experimental art films. When he meets Cora, despite his own issues, he arranges to go on a date...

Sometimes calling something an experimental or art film can be a little off putting. Editing strange images, or different colours or almost dream like sequences can be distracting from the story of the film.

She's Allergic To Cats on paper is the type of film I would usually be wary off, in that regard. But once you get past the look of certain scenes, what is the rest of the film like?

Well, in some ways, it's not too bad at all. Mike Pinkney (I assume playing a version of himself), has come to Hollywood to make films, but has ended up working as a dog groomer. His home is a rat infested mess, an issue his landlord seems reluctant to deal with. His film plans, in particular his Carrie with cats idea, has hit a brick wall. He's a nice guy but in a lot of ways down on his luck.

Until Cora agrees to go on a date. They meet through Cora bringing a dog in to be groomed and seem to hit it off. It's here though that the film hits a slight stumbling block in a way. Cora is a very attractive woman, who seems to be drawn to Mike from the very beginning. On the one hand, this can happen, nice guys get the girl so to speak, but the interactions they have before the date, don't give the impression Cora would want to date a guy like Mike. But I could be reading too much into that.

(I actually saw a bit of myself in Mike, which might explain that part!)

Once the date begins, the film settles down, as the more artistic aspects of the film are put away. The film lets the relationship develop well, even if what they get up to is surprising, leading to an ending that you might see coming, but it's a good one.

The film is written and directed Michael Reich and while the artistic aspect of the film did take a bit of getting used to, I thought it a well written and directed film. Pinkney is good as Mike and Sonja Kinski (a member of the legendary Kinski family) is good as Cora too.

The film mentions Mike's plans for a Carrie remake and we see shots of a film called The Boy In The Plastic Bubble starring John Travolta. Without giving too much away, it's another Travolta film that perhaps influences the ending and it works well.

The music by Jonathan Mandabach is good and the film is well shot by Zach Driscoll. There is a lot of good things here.

She's Allergic To Cats is a film that in some ways took me out my usual comfort zones when it comes to film, but I really enjoyed this film a lot and would suggest checking it out if you can.

Rating: 3 out of 5