Looking for Kitty
Directed by Edward Burns
Using his characteristically spare and observational filmmaking style, writer/director/actor Edward Burns investigates the life-changing friendship that develops between a down-and-out private eye, Jack (played by Burns), and his client, Abe (David Krumholtz), an upstate New York high school baseball coach.
Abe is desperately trying to find Kathryn (aka Kitty, played by Ari Meyers), his beautiful run-away wife, who’s been spotted in
While traipsing around the city in Looking for Kitty, Jack and Abe wind up spending nearly 24/7 in each other’s company. Both are lonely men, and they become a sort of odd couple, quite opposite in their habits: Jack won’t dine out; Abe doesn’t drink beer. More importantly, Jack asserts that Kitty left Abe because she wanted to, while Abe clings to his hope that something else caused her disappearance.
Ultimately, however, Kitty isn’t about these guys searching for someone else as much as it is about their finding themselves, and their male bonding—tentative as it is—yields great results.
As both writer and director, Burns allows the characters of Jack and Abe the time and space they need to develop fully. Without heavy or sensational dramatization, he invites audiences to follow these two regular guys on their mutual journey of self-realization. At the same time, Burns and Krumholtz give quietly compelling performances that make following them a pleasure.
