Kedi (2017)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Cat Bijou

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

This YouTube Red documentary is, like my son says, an hour-long cat video. But Kedi is also a love poem to the cats that roam the streets of Istanbul, connected to certain places or people, but remaining free spirits. A man tells the story of how the wide array of cats might have come to be there, arriving on ships, getting off to explore the land, and then missing the ships when they departed. Most of the people interviewed claim that the cats have made their lives better in some way; one man claims that a cat led him to a lost wallet full of money, and others assert that cats are like a midpoint between humans and God. Director Ceyda Torun uses impressive camera techniques to capture breathtaking overhead shots, as well as ground-level shots of what a cat's POV might look like. The cat footage is consistently adorable and entertaining; there must have been many hours of discarded footage to achieve this lovely 78-minute final product. Kedi is not rated, and is in Turkish with English subtitles, but is acceptable for all ages. If your child is old enough to read, or if parents don't mind reading subtitles out loud, this is a great family film as well as a life-affirming documentary.