The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz

Last updated

The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz
The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz.jpg
German poster
Directed by Ben Hopkins
Written by Ben Hopkins
Tom Fisher
Produced byCaroline Hewitt
Starring Tom Fisher
Ian McNeice
CinematographyJulian Court
Music by Dominik Scherrer
Distributed byE.D. Distribution
Release date
20 July 2001 UK
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz is a 2000 Anglo-German black and white surreal comedy. It has been described as an "avant-garde comedy about the Apocalypse", [1] co-written and directed by Ben Hopkins.

Contents

Premise

On the last day of creation, a stranger arrives in London. No one knows who he is or where he has come from but by the time he leaves, the entire universe will have been erased. [2]

Cast

Critical response

Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian , "a distinctively English, rather than simply British, movie in its loopy, diverting surrealism...Nothing so obvious as a plot is allowed to cramp this movie's style as it swoops weirdly across the dream landscape of London like a demented, dishevelled bird." [3] George Perry wrote on BBC Films, "this has to be one of the strangest films of the year, a weird apocalyptic vision shot in the most mundane of London surroundings, with all too obvious budgetary constraints pushed asunder by the sheer energy of the director's imagination." [4]

Awards

The film was the winner of the Evening Standard Best Newcomer Award 2000, for director Ben Hopkins. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Taxi Driver</i> 1976 American vigilante crime film

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying and morally bankrupt New York City following the Vietnam War, the film follows Travis Bickle, a veteran working as a taxi driver, and his deteriorating mental state as he works nights in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underworld (band)</span> British electronic music duo

Underworld are a British electronic music group formed in 1987 in Cardiff, Wales and the principal collaborative project of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith. Prominent former members include Darren Emerson, from 1991 to 2001, and Darren Price, as part of the live band from 2005 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Junkin</span> British comedy writer and performer

John Francis Junkin was an English actor and scriptwriter who had a long career in radio, television and film, specialising in comedy.

<i>Home Movies</i> (TV series) American animated television sitcom

Home Movies is an American television sitcom created by Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard. The show centers on an eight-year-old aspiring filmmaker, also named Brendon Small, who makes homemade film productions in his spare time with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis. He lives with his divorced mother Paula and his adopted baby sister Josie. He develops a skewed father-son-like relationship with his alcoholic, short-tempered soccer coach, John McGuirk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Wilde</span> British actor (1927–2008)

Brian George Wilde was an English actor, best known for his roles in television comedy, most notably Mr Barrowclough in Porridge and Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine. His lugubrious world-weary face was a staple of British television for forty years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon Kane</span> Fictional character

Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late-16th-to-early-17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms. His adventures, published mostly in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, often take him from Europe to the jungles of Africa and back.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Lincoln</span> English actor

Andrew James Clutterbuck, known professionally as Andrew Lincoln, is an English actor. His first major role was as the character Egg in the BBC drama This Life (1996–1997). Lincoln later portrayed Simon Casey in the Channel 4 sitcom Teachers (2001–2003), Mark in the Christmas-themed romantic comedy film Love Actually (2003) and Dr. Robert Bridge in the ITV television series Afterlife (2005–2006).

David Katz is an American author and documentary radio and film producer. He has been described as "one of the world's foremost authorities on reggae, dub, and dancehall".

Trevor Thomas is a British actor. He acted mostly around the late 1970s mostly in television programmes, but also starred in the 1977 film Black Joy, alongside Norman Beaton, as well as in stage productions. Thomas's other film credits include Yesterday's Hero (1979), A Hole In Babylon (1979), Inseminoid (1981), Sheena (1984), Underworld (1985), Playing Away (1987) and The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz (2000). His television appearances include Space: 1999 (1976), The Fosters, The Professionals, Rockliffe's Babies, Silent Witness, Minder and The Sweeney.

<i>Ten</i> (2002 film) 2002 Iranian film

Ten is a 2002 Iranian docufiction film starring Mania Akbari and Amina Maher. It was released with Abbas Kiarostami credited as the director; however, his role in the film and the source of the footage have been disputed by Akbari since 2016.

The Home-Made Car (1963) is a short, silent film directed by James Hill about a young man who rebuilds a vintage car and finds love. The film was nominated for an Academy Award, and won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Yoshiyuki Baba, known professionally as Togo Igawa, is a Japanese actor who works primarily in British films and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Atkinson (actor)</span> English actor

Frank Atkinson was an English actor and writer.

Harold Douglas Hopkins was an Australian film and television actor.

Ben Hopkins is a British film director, screenwriter and novelist.

Andrew Stuart Harrison is an English actor.

<i>Run for Your Wife</i> (2012 film) 2012 film by Ray Cooney

Run for Your Wife is a 2012 British comedy film, based on the 1983 theatre farce Run for Your Wife, written by Ray Cooney, who along with John Luton also directed the film. Upon release, the film promptly received universally negative reviews from critics and has been referred to as one of the worst films of all time, after it grossed just £602 in its opening weekend. It was released on 14 February 2013.

The Gingerbread Man is a stop motion animated children's television series about a gingerbread man and his friends, who come to life in their kitchen home when the Big Ones are asleep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davidson Garrett</span> American poet

Davidson Garrett, also known as King Lear of the Taxi, is an American poet, living in New York City, New York. He drove a New York City yellow taxi cab from 1978 until 2018 to supplement his writing career. Garrett has authored six books of poetry.

Kevin Loader is a British film and television producer. Since 1996, he and co-owner Roger Michell have run a London-based production company, Free Range Films, through which the pair have made several feature films directed by Michell, including The Mother, Enduring Love, Venus, Hyde Park on Hudson, and Le Week-end. Their most recent film is an adaptation by Michell of Daphne Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel. The company is also developing and producing film and television projects with other directors. Loader was awarded the Bafta for Best Television Serial in 2015 for The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Nine Lives Of Tomas Katz". Curtisbrown.co.uk. 17 July 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  2. "The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz | BFI | BFI". Explore.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  3. Peter Bradshaw (20 July 2001). "The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz | Film". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  4. George Perry Updated 17 July 2001 (17 July 2001). "Films – review – The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz". BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2014.