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Looking for Kitty

written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

In his latest venture, Looking for Kitty, the prolific Ed Burns seems to have done his shooting on a DV camera. The cast list is starred with somewhat modest names that might hardly attract an audience. After sitting on a dusty shelf for two years, this film shows that Burns has come back to his roots of pure independent filmmaking in his beloved New York City. Without crispy vision or an over-the-top drama, his film style is noted for regurgitating one-liner jokes and presenting one-dimensional characters. This time, though, he takes a rather laid-back and observational approach in narrating the story of Abe (David Krumholtz), a devoted baseball coach in upstate New York.

Abe is generous and a Good Samaritan to his kids. One day, out of the blue, his wife packs her bags, leaving him a note saying "I can't do this anymore." This baffles Abe, who can't wrap his mind around her sudden departure. Then he comes across a picture of her in agossip column, in which she is seen as part of the entourage of small-time rocker Ron Stewart (Max baker), who might be the one she's shacking up with. In Abe's one-track mind, he vows to travel down to the city to capture his runaway wife in the Big Apple.

To assist him in his aim, Abe hires Jack (Ed Burns), a depressive private investigator, and much to our surprise asks Jack to get along with him. Soon their solitary lives merge as they share their personal sufferings. Jack also has his own demon, in the form of grief over the passing of his wife. Both men start to share a common emotional ground, and are put at ease by each other's quirks.

During their odyssey, Abe gets hit on by Julie (played by SNL's Rachel Dratch), a flirtatious tourist who insists they go see a Broadway show together, a rendezvous that diverts him even further from his quest of finding Kitty. Krumholtz needs to be strongly acknowledged for his genuine performance, in which he combines a thoughtful and distinctive vulnerability with a mature mindfulness. Even some of his cranky moments also show evidence of his ability.

The film touches on the universally shared experience of how our grief, left unattended, can hover down memory lane, and how we can self-indulgently refuse to let it go. Abe and Jack's case, grieving is a nostalgic voyage that takes them into a rediscovery of the possibilties of life as they slowly accept the facts of loss. Here, Ed Burns is simply flexing his muscles of digital filmmaking. In his post-production work, he's added a quality of bleak wintriness to urban building shots that only a true New Yorker could embrace with affection. Let's face it--if this movie had been directed by an unknown, it would never have a chance of theatrical release, given the facts of DV filmmaking and a drama that isn't hard to come by. This time, though, we succumb to the challenge.

Written and directed by Edward Burns
Director of photography:William Rexer II
Edited by Sarah Flack
Music by Robert Gary and P. T. Walkley
Produced by Mr. Burns, Aaron Lubin and Margot Bridge
Released by ThinkFilm.
Running time: 78 minutes.

Cast: Edward Burns (Jack)
David Krumholtz (Abe Fiannico)
Max Baker (Ron Stewart)
Connie Britton (Ms. Petracelli)
Kevin Kash (K K)
, and Chris Parnell (Guy Borne).