CATNIP (Kevin Dayrit, 2012)

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There is a big difference between obscure and cluttered. CATNIP, I think is too concerned with trying to impress with visuals, and verbal metaphors and what-have-you that the story is lost in translation. Some parts are funny, others sentimental, and maybe even shocking, but as a whole the film fails neither to impress nor to express. There's too much going on and too loose a narrative for a film that runs just a few minutes past the one-hour mark. The experience is like a Gaspar Noe feature sans the shock value.

Introvert Liv (Lauren Young) who has a history of family abuse finds comfort in seemingly perfect Cieca (Maxene Magalona). Told via a series of flashbacks, segment gaps, and way too much figures of speech for one sitting, the story jumps from documentary to comedy to drama to psychological thriller. If for any comfort, Ramon Bautista's cameo is so outrageous you will remember it for eternity. 

Perhaps there's a target audience for this, what particular group of people though I am currently unaware. I am one against spoon-feeding the story to the audience, dotting the i's and crossing the t's, but give us something to work with. It's like a student whodunit play I saw at my University a couple of months ago where the list of perpetrators of a murder wasn't even narrowed to a shortlist. You just do not reference Samuel Beckett without understanding metaphysics.   

The film's music is kickass though.  

RATING: 2/5

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