Trapped Cat Short Film Review

★★★★

Directed by: #JaimeFidalgo

Starring: #RaúIInsa, #Poyetethecat

Short Film Review by: Alexandra James

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Trapped Cat is a short Spanish film which shows the frustrating side to the lockdown mayhem. One man is caught looking after his friend’s cat, agreeing that it will just be a couple of days. However, he becomes caught up in the pandemic and is unable to escape, did I also mention that he is allergic to cats? This short is stir crazy and many of us I am sure experienced this feeling in lockdown, however, this man takes madness to another level. Trapped Cat is funny, weird, and dramatic and is a more extreme emotional response to hearing that we are heading into yet another lockdown!

RaúI Insa is our main character, and the scene opens with him phoning his friend about how long it will be until he returns home. As the conversation develops, the audience can see a clearer view of the home as RaúI paces anxiously around the flat. We notice oddities, such as pictures half off the wall and the main character already having a big glug of wine when it seems to be morning time! The poor cat is out on the balcony and along the balcony window, there are red markings counting the days our tormented protagonist has been watching over his friend’s pet, as if logging the day’s he has left in a prison!

The camera follows the characters frantic movements around the small flat which adds to the chaos and reveals just how small his living space is, and only makes the character feel more confined and unable to escape his feline friend without going bonkers! The film was only 2 minutes long and that is all that was needed for this funny short. Within the midst of the pandemic, many of us had moments like this so it was a great snapshot of what we have all had to endure over the past 2 years. Trapped Cat is a brilliant connector of all our emotional states during lockdown, feeling imprisoned, claustrophobic and unbelievably restless. However, it just becomes funnier when you add an innocent feline taunting a man full of allergies and on the brink of a mental breakdown.

A very amusing short film which also brings back traumatic memories of the pandemic…so if you are ready to relive those emotions again for a second time around this is the short film for you.