Neko to Shôzô to futari no onna

Alicia Malone, in her TCM introduction, called this film from Shiro Toyoda a comedy. I wish to totally disagree. First of all, it's easily a half hour too long and excessive length is almost always a comedy killer. Secondly, as a previous reviewer observed, the dialogue and mood tend to be on the sad, rather than funny, side. Thirdly, and most importantly, there aren't any sustained laughs. Occasionally Toyoda makes a feeble attempt at physical comedy (an ice cream cone thrown in an innocent bystander's face or an insincere suicide attempt) but the main physical action, rather than being humorous, revolves around violent cat fights (no pun intended) between the two women of the film's title that verge on the abusive. And speaking of abusive I really could have done without the animal variety to which director Toyoda subjected Lily. All in all, a rather ugly film. No wonder Pauline Kael liked it. C plus.