Kedi is a weird mix of documentary and fiction style film that tries to express the modern and oriental life that exists in Istanbul through the eyes of street cats in the city. So having grown up in Istanbul, I was ecstatic to finally have the opportunity to see Kedi at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in Lower Manhattan.
The movie is made by Ceyda Torun, who’s a cat lover herself, but more importantly, a lover of the city of Istanbul. The former is quite obvious due to the fact that this movie was made. Although the latter is quite well shown on the screen, there are a few details I feel only a native of Istanbul would be able to take away from the movie; the way the city is shown in the movie that is. What I mean by that is, upon watching the movie, I realized that the city was reflected in a way that a Hollywood movie never really did, intentionally or otherwise. The most recent examples I can think of are Skyfall and Taken 2. I’ve been to the set of Skyfall, which was located near where most sequences of Kedi was shot. The difference between the way these two movies portray the city is absurd. Skyfall, and this is coming from a huge Bond fan, shows the city as if it’s stuck in the 70s. From the cars, and how the only “modern” cars in the Turkey-scenes are driven by only the characters while every single extra drives a Lada or a Beetle, to that weird Mad Max-like yellow tint to give the impression that Istanbul is in the middle of some desert in North Africa… It’s all very strange how easy it is for Hollywood productions to take a dump on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world. Not even going to bother typing about Taken 2 and how that movie pretty much turns the Eminonu/Karakoy area (same location where Skyfall and Kedi were shot, interestingly enough) into a… Anyways. Having said that, Kedi does the complete opposite. It tells the story of street cats in the city, yes, but I think it does something that’s a level or two above that: It shows the city as it is. And I think that’s a good enough reason to watch this movie, and enjoy the company of about a dozen cats while doing so.