Popular reviews

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  Review by eely ★★★½

  RIP louis wain you would’ve loved cats (2019)

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  Review by Cinematic Underdogs ★★★★

  A movie with Benedict drawing psychedelic cats, a Nick Cave cameo (as H.G. Wells!), a quirky Victorian-era romance, a descent into artistic madness, & a brief but amusing appearance from Taika Waititi?

  I was purring before it started.

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  Review by ♦️•Lily•💋 ★★★★★ 1

  “Just remember, however hard things get, however much you feel like you're struggling, the world is full of beauty. And it's up to you to capture it, Louis.”

  Really surprised by how much I loved this considering it wasn’t at all on my radar until seeing the same trailer for it every time I’ve been to see Spencer. All of the performances are great, in particular Benedict Cumberbatch who is so good in this that I’ll refrain from calling him names like Barnoldswick Coddleswort for the rest of the year. But the real highlight of the film is the score and visuals, which both have such a delicate and unique beauty to them, to the point where I’m already planning…

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  Review by chloe ★★★★★ 2

  cats, art & benedict, 3 of my favourite things <33

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  Review by sara cinesca🦇 ★★★★★ 1

  “do you like it here, mr wain?”
  “there are no cats.”

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  Review by Bill Griff ★★★★ 1

  The Power of the Cat

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  Review by Anurag Kashyap ★★★★½ 3

  The Wes Anderson film not made by Wes Anderson . And Benedict Cumberbatch after “the Power of the Dog” and this is the best actor right after Daniel Day Louis ..

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  Review by taylor ★★★

  I’d die for every single cat in this movie especially Peter.

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  Review by Stephen ★★★★

  This isn’t the quirky, fun film about cats that the trailer suggests. Instead, it’s a much more melancholy biopic of a Victorian artist who spent his life battling mental health issues at a time when these conditions were ill understood. This could have been a fairly dour affair, but the creative team have worked hard to make this a constantly engaging and fascinating journey. I particularly appreciated the visual flourishes and the theremin-based score from Arthur Sharpe which combined to create a slightly off-key atmosphere.

  There’s a nomination-worthy performance from Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role with some impressive aging make-up work as the story moves through the decades. As well as the mental health challenges, there’s also a touching love story and, of course, the cats.

  Though Louis Wain is not a well-known artist today, this is a worthy addition to the sub-genre of artist biopics.

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★½

  Fresh off delivering the best and most unexpected performance of his career in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Benedict Cumberbatch retreats to more familiar territory in a whimsical Victorian biopic that might as well be called “The Ridiculousness of the Cat.” Of course when it comes to the late 19th- and early-20th-century artist Louis Wain — whose adorable illustrations of big-eyed moggies effectively invented our modern understanding of felines as domestic friends — “ridiculousness” is meant with utmost affection. After all, Wain was nothing if not a ridiculous man himself, at least by the rigidly classist standards of his time.

  An eccentric polymath who compensated for his lack of people skills with a savant-like gift for sketching animals…

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  Review by Ella Kemp ★★★

  Sweet! I did not care much about Louis Wain as a man very much (character is all over the place imo, too much to say in too little time in a movie that’s far too long) but I would still die for his cats. I liked it when it got a bit weird, I wish it did more often. But, my god, Arthur Sharpe’s score (theremin???) is completely spectacular. Oh and hello to literally every British actor I have ever seen in my life.

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  Review by Matt Neglia ★★★½ 1

  THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN was a delightful surprise for me. Vibrant, whimsical & dare I say electric filmmaking from Will Sharpe with lots of cats. Some may not like how dynamic & colorful it’s design is but I enjoyed it more than the average biopic. We’ve seen Benedict Cumberbatch play a socially awkward & eccentric genius before but he has such lovely chemistry with Claire Foy who along with Andrea Riseborough are also terrific.