Thread by @BilgeEbiri

Here's a weird little thread about movies and pets. (1/9)

My cat Vixen, who is deaf, has never really shown much interest in movies. She doesn't seem attracted to screens, or even windows. Her brother, Penguin, who died last year, was a lot more fascinated by the TV. (2/9)

But late last summer, while writing my Criterion essay for Kiarostami's 24 FRAMES, I had to watch the film multiple times. And lo and behold: (3/9)

Vixen was utterly transfixed. She sat there watching the screen, then went up to it tried to get closer to the various animals and landscapes in the film. (4/9)

She even pawed at some of the birds, and even peeked behind the TV to see if they were there. (5/9)

Now I let her watch the movie regularly. She never shows any interest in any other thing on the TV, but as soon as 24 FRAMES starts up, she's mesmerized again. (6/9)

Which all makes perfect sense. Because 24 FRAMES is a great movie -- very haunting and beautiful -- and it's filled with striking landscapes against which various natural world vignettes take place. (7/9)

And given how fascinated the late Abbas Kiarostami was with animals and nature, I think he'd get a kick out of the fact that his final work was my cat's favorite film. (8/9)

Here's the essay I wound up writing. I don't mention Vixen in it (I probably should have!) but she wasn't far from my mind (or, frankly, far from my face and my keyboard) as I wrote it: (9/9) criterion.com/current/posts/…