Japanese visual arts and music collective t.o.L. gives viewers a lot Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space. There’s world building, here depicting a mostly cat universe where interplanetary shopping and traveling exist. One of those travelers is the titular Tamala (Hisayo Mochizuki’s voice). Her destination is the violent Planet Q, where she meets Michelangelo. Shinji Takeda plays the male cat who becomes Tamala’s road trip buddy. What they don’t know is that there’s more to Tamala, secrets that only a Zombie Cat (Takeshi Katō) knows about. Part of what he knows is a conspiracy backstory showing Tamala’s connection to Tatla (Béatrice Dalle), a God machine.

The film throws everything on screen – tethered Hello Kitty, etc. – and a lot of it actually sticks. A lot of it is pretty adult and dark, like a humanoid cat with a neck brace. But other moments are absurd yet light, like Michelangelo being a fan of cat Clint Eastwood. The absurdity also comes from characters’ behaviour, like when Tamala goes on top of Michelangelo’s desktop computer. Although, come to think of it, is that absurd, because cats love sitting on top of computers. If anything, Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space reminds viewers that absurdity is just reality with dark twists.

Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space does have its tendency to get too dark, too sideways, as there’s a subplot here about Tamala and Michelangelo encountering a sex pest of a cop dog. The cat propaganda here is telling viewers that all cops are bad, a message I actually support. The aesthetic switches here from black and white to dark Metroporisu to technicolour make some sense. But it switches aesthetics and plot points, leaving the dog behind to focus on the Zombie Cat. He’s searching for Tamala and connects that search to his dark and colossal galaxy-wide conspiracy theory.

A story that spans millennia, Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space‘s conspiracy subplot can throw viewers off. Or maybe it’s a me problem, where I’m used to films introducing conspiracy plots early on. The third act normally is about the protagonist defeating the conspiracists and saving the day from whatever forces of evil. Also, the infantilization and sexualization of Tamala is distracting but that’s just an Asian thing. Regardless, I do appreciate a film that can mix things around, and sometimes, style works. A Punk Cat has a lot of style, a perfect multi genre film for those who embrace chaotic cinema.

Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space comes soon to OVID.