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Catwalk: Tales From The Cat Show Circuit gives you claws to celebrate

CATWALK: TALES FROM THE CAT SHOW CIRCUIT (Aaron Hancox, Michael McNamara). 77 minutes. Opens Friday (March 23) at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. See listing. Rating: NNNN


As a recent cat owner (I adopted my ginger-haired rescue, Lucy, a year ago) I’m constantly wondering how far I’ll let my “cat lady” persona go. I splurged on a $600 dental cleaning not long after Lucy became family. My living room is now a cat gym. And my phone is full of cat photos – for Lucy’s Instagram, naturally.

But nothing I’ve done has come close to what’s captured in Catwalk: Tales From The Cat Show Circuit. Aaron Hancox and Michael McNamara’s documentary follows a season in the competitive world of Canadian cat shows, and nothing is too extravagant for these pet owners.

Kim Langille, the owner of a prize-winning white Turkish Angora named Bobby, has been a cat fancier for years. She’s got an entire room of show ribbons and framed photos of Bobby all over her home. She spends nearly every weekend driving around eastern Canada to not only compete in cat shows but organize them as well. Bobby has lapped his competition for years and Langille has her claws out for others vying for the prize.

That’s where Shirley McCollow, the soft-spoken owner of fluffy red Persian Oh La La comes in. Although McCollow is new to the scene, she’s a pro when it comes to grooming, which for Oh La La means biweekly baths followed by the cat equivalent of a blowout. Almost immediately, Oh La La is deemed a threat, with one judge proclaiming he’s “never gotten more goosebumps” from any other feline. The fur flies all season as their owners prepare for the Canadian cat equivalent to the Westminster dog show.

It’s been nearly two decades since the mockumentary Best In Show took audiences into the crazy world of competitive dog shows, and since then cats have taken over the internet and crawled into our hearts.

Catwalk is edited similarly, in a way that feels playfully self-aware. But at no point does the film come off as mean-spirited or like it’s teasing its subjects. On the contrary, it manages to dig beneath the glitz and fur to reveal that competitiveness is ingrained in the human condition – even when it’s only our pride at stake.

michelled@nowtoronto.com | @michdas

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