‘Cat Person’ Review: Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun in a High-Wire Adaptation of the Viral New Yorker Short Story - Hollywood Reporter

Their initial interaction echoes the shy coolness of the short story: Margot makes fun of Robert for buying Red Vines and he jokes that she’s bad at her job.

Taking up the technique of recent social horror films — like Get Out and Promising Young Woman — Cat Person translates the terror of society’s issues into atmospheric dread.

Hovering around these taut interactions underscoring the failures and anxieties of cishet dating are the check-ins — the interludes that want to make sure we’re picking up what Fogel, Ashford and Roupenian are putting down.

Monologues on ants given by Margot’s anthropology professor (a scene-stealing Isabella Rossellini) or fantasy therapy sessions with an unnamed analyst (Fred Melamed) loudly telegraph the stakes and too neatly package the themes.

The relief, however, is in the filmmakers’ approach to these tense scenes: Fogel and Ashford loosen their grip, at last trusting us to sit in our discomfort, draw our own conclusions and sharpen our tools for the discourse.

Venue: Sundance Film Festival (Premieres)Production companies: 30 West, Echelon Productions, Imperative Entertainment, Studio Canal, The New YorkerCast: Emilia Jones, Nicholas Braun, Geraldine Viswanathan, Hope Davis, Fred Melamed, Isabella RosselliniDirector: Susanna FogelScreenwriter: Michelle Ashford, Kristen Roupenian (based on the short story by)Producers: Helen Estabrook, Jeremy StecklerExecutive producers: Daniel Hank, Susanna Fogel, Gino Falsetto, Michelle Ashford, Anna Marsh, Shana Eddy-Grouf, Rachel Henochsberg, Elizabeth Banks, Max HandelmanCinematographer: Manuel BilleterProduction designer: Sally LeviCostume designer: Ava Yuriko HamaEditor: Jacob CraycroftComposer: Heather McIntoshCasting director: Deanna BrigidiSales: StudioCanal 2 hours