Although it certainly has its streak of Roald Dahl dark humor (the implications of that ending!), The Rat Catcher hinges on a brilliantly comic performance from Ralph Fiennes in the title role. Called to an English village experiencing a rodent problem, the smug “rat man” comes gingerly stepping down the alley, with gray stringy hair falling on his shoulders, and pronounced front teeth. Worst of all, he has a rat’s smugness when describing his profession to the newspaperman (Richard Ayoade) and car mechanic (Rupert Friend) watching him at work. (The short’s biggest laugh comes when Ayoade’s newspaperman blurts out what we’ve all been thinking: “You’ve almost got to be a rat yourself!”) Adapting a Dahl short story into a 17-minute film, Wes Anderson adds some distinctive cinematic touches—the camera moving down a sewer tunnel with the hesitance of a cautious rodent; the use of puppetry and stop-motion animation to bring another rat to life—but mostly he leans on the goofy genius of Fiennes’ thoroughly committed performance. (Part of a collection of Anderson shorts adapted from Dahl, alongside The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, and Poison.)
(11/2/2023)
