While Joyce Wieland was considered in her day a talented artist and experimental filmmaker, not all of her short films were necessarily 'experimental', per se. "Cat Food" is just a little artistic study documenting a singular and not especially unusual situation. Unlike "Sailboat" (1967), which was more like a short home movie, this approximately fourteen-minute film details an obviously staged event - as evidenced by the use of a black background - and instead of comprising one static shot, it includes multiple shoots with non-stationary camerawork. Not an outstanding piece in any way, but an interesting documentation of a fairly common occurrence.
The subject of "Cat Food" is a large tabby cat, who eats pieces of a series of fish - it seems Wieland tried different fish to see which was most manageable for the cat. Granted, it isn't necessarily a coherently-structured work in any way, with plenty of cuts and shots that don't match the preceding action. Yet this chaotic editing (not unusual to independent filmmaking) is what gives the film its style - particularly enjoyable is the pixilation technique used as a sort of timelapse to show the cat's progress on the fish. The sound of an ocean in the background is vaguely heard, but the lack of audio otherwise makes it feel along the lines of a meditative study. As stated above, not necessarily an experimental film even - just an artistic closeup study of a single activity, something a cat lover might enjoy seeing.
The subject of "Cat Food" is a large tabby cat, who eats pieces of a series of fish - it seems Wieland tried different fish to see which was most manageable for the cat. Granted, it isn't necessarily a coherently-structured work in any way, with plenty of cuts and shots that don't match the preceding action. Yet this chaotic editing (not unusual to independent filmmaking) is what gives the film its style - particularly enjoyable is the pixilation technique used as a sort of timelapse to show the cat's progress on the fish. The sound of an ocean in the background is vaguely heard, but the lack of audio otherwise makes it feel along the lines of a meditative study. As stated above, not necessarily an experimental film even - just an artistic closeup study of a single activity, something a cat lover might enjoy seeing.