SHEDDING

SHEDDING is a unique fantasy, now streaming on Amazon and elsewhere, about a bored house cat who mysteriously changes into a young man and helps a mother and her daughter overcome grief over a dead family member. SHEDDING has an interesting concept, solid performances and little objectionable content, but it suffers heavily from poor technical quality.

The movie begins with a cat roaming around an empty house. The cat spends most of his time looking out a window at the trees and passersby. There’s no dialogue, but it’s clear the cat wants to explore outside when the homeowner takes out the trash and leaves the door ajar. The cat sees an opportunity to explore, but realizes it will be difficult to do as a cat.

On one of the cat’s people-watching sessions, he sees a frantic woman get into a car. There is a cool breeze, and his owner is gone. As the cat falls asleep, he dreams of running free in a field. The cat is interrupted by another cat in the house but soon falls asleep again.

To his surprise, the cat wakes up as a full grown human man. At first, the young man tries to continue his life as a cat, but soon realizes his new body allows him to go outside. The man decides to explore the world, but he’s met with an unfamiliar world. He can’t climb trees as well as he once could, and people seem to avoid him because he’s completely naked. The man learns to run and hides from the people he sees. However, a woman sees him and offers him a blanket. The woman takes the man home, clothes him and seems to have a connection to him.

After eating ice cream like a cat, the woman seems slightly weirded out, but eventually joins the man and starts to treat him like her son. She takes him on an adventure, and the duo visits the beach, city and park. However, when the daughter arrives home, she’s overwhelmed and lashes out at the young man. The daughter and mother must learn together how to heal and overcome their crippling grief.

SHEDDING has an interesting concept but suffers heavily from poor technical quality. The performances serve the story well. The story does explore grief and healing in a subtle way that is overwhelmed by awkward cinematography and an unsatisfactory ending. Unfortunately, the story’s intellectual approach to the themes of healing, forgiveness and family is never elevated above a cheap student project with a compelling premise. In the end, while there are no major cautions, the faulty execution will offer little moral value for viewers.