She and Her Cat (1999)

This is a very early film by Japanese movie-maker Makoto Shinkai. 16 years ago, he wrote, directed and voiced the narrator in this one. He was in his mid-20s when he made this black-and-white film and built a nice career on this early effort, including "Voices of a Distant Star", another successful short movie from him, but also a couple full feature films.This film here is about a cat, voiced by Shinkai, and his special relationship with his mistress. We also find out about another cat he meets and about life in general. This is a film that does not really tell a story, but more relies on atmosphere and emotion in an almost poetry-like manner. Still, unfortunately, it did not work for me to an extent where I would recommend it.

Makoto Shinkai is a force to be reckoned with. The buzz surrounding his 2002 film Hoshi No Koe, (available on domestic DVD as Voices of a Distant Star) catapulted him to fame in his native Japan, eliciting hyperbolic claims of him being the "next Miyazaki" That film, a 30min mix of 2-D and 3-D animation was as celebrated for its novelty as much as anything else—it was created by Shinkai entirely at home on his Macintosh—but his followup, the beautiful feature film The Place We Were Promised In Our Early Days, demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt the skills of an animator with a beautiful visual sense.This short, Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko (She and Her Cat ) is an early work by Shinkai, done in 1999. A charming monochrome piece, the story relates the relationship between a young Japanese woman and her cat, told from the perspective of the cat.Pretty and endearing, the film is also an excellent primer on a number of common anime stylistic techniques—mundane objects slowly panned and artistically framed, ellipses of black, and on-screen text, serve to balance the whimsicality of a woman and cat love story with an almost nostalgic sadness.**Check out all our weekly reviews at ShortoftheWeek.com

I have always enjoyed watching films that are quite, soft and touching to the heart and in a way "old fashioned" to enjoy a Saturday afternoon and this film fits the bill exceptionally.The use of classic black and white images to convey the mood and atmosphere of the story was wonderfully done and as short as the story was it wasn't necessary to go any further because it had already left a life long impression on me.The woman referred to as only "she" by the cat wasn't always on screen but when she was you could see just how beautiful she was by the way her hair and and body was shown in each of the frames in the screen shots.A very moving short film that is highly recommended for a lazy Saturday afternoon in the suburbs.

A beautiful short film that is an extra on the Voices of a Distant Star DVD. In a mere five minutes, you are taken into the world of the cat, Chobi, and his life with his beautiful owner, known to him as "She". I can't really say too much without ruining the experience. There are 3 different options to watch it in (digest, 3 min or 5 min), I advise watching the 5 minute version, you'd be surprised at how much more detail is in it. The only minor problem I had is that there is no dub. Normally I dislike dubs, but I feel if they had done a good dub it would have given me more time to admire the imagery.Words really can't do this justice. See it for yourself.