Dominik Graf's THE CAT (1988) - U.S. premiere of new restoration!
We present this electrifying bank heist thriller, one of the great underseen German crime films, newly restored courtesy of American Genre Film Archive.
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Feb 11, 2025, 8:00 PM
2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA
The Cat (Die katze)
directed by Dominik Graf
1988, West Germany, 118m, DCP
U.S. premiere of a new restoration courtesy of American Genre Film Archive (AGFA)
doors/bar: 7:30
film: 8:00
Often described as the least-known master of modern German-language cinema, Dominik Graf is a consummate genre filmmaker, whose prolific, highly acclaimed work in television led to a series of theatrically-released masterworks–films that have rarely crossed over internationally, but are just starting to become appreciated in the U.S. Among them is his electric bank heist thriller THE CAT, one of the greatest German crime films. A criminal mastermind (Götz George) watches the bank heist he orchestrated from the hotel window across the street, coordinating with his lover (Gudrun Landgrebe), the wife of the bank’s director. Yet soon it all goes wrong, escalating into a full-blown hostage crisis. With echoes of the chilly slickness of William Friedkin and masculine ennui of Michael Mann, THE CAT is catnip for crime film lovers.
Special thanks to Bret Berg (AGFA) and Ryland Walker Knight.
“THE CHAT was Graf’s first masterpiece for theatrical release, and, more than three decades later, it arguably remains the finest crime actioner ever made in the German language: tough, icy, obsessed with symmetries and rituals.” -Olaf Moller, Anthology Film Archives
“An ice-cold thriller that manages to be surprisingly emotional as well.” -The Hollywood Reporter