SIFF Sighting: RENT-A-CAT (Comedy, Japan)

Sayoko (Mikako Ichikawa), a single twenty-something, is sad following the death of her beloved grandmother.

To cope, she raises cats as companions, then builds a business out of it, renting the felines out to other lonely folk.

What makes her enterprise so charming is that she treats it much like a modern-day adoption agency. She makes her prospective customers pass "tests," which include a visit to their home from her to ensure the surroundings are suitable for her cats. And those who are serious about renting the animals happily comply.

All the while Sayoko is meandering through her own life, hoping to marry, taping goals on the wall for herself to hopefully achieve.

Bridget Jones she's not, but she does have a familiar desperate-single-girl-with-spunk essence.

Thought the film doesn't reach any unexpected heights, the situations our heroine finds herself in (a nightmare sequence is particularly hilarious) are a delight to watch.


RENT-A-CAT screened at the 38th Annual Seattle International Film Festival.