The Rat Catcher (2023)

September 29, 2023 7:52 AM

In an English village, a reporter and a mechanic listen to a ratcatcher explain his clever plan to outwit his prey.

More details from web-goddess' "Dahl nerd" site.

posted by bbrown (8 comments total)

Released on Netflix today.
posted by jazon at 10:21 AM on September 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you don’t want me at my Pettigrew, you don’t deserve me at my Voldemort!
posted by Isingthebodyelectric at 6:30 PM on September 29, 2023

I'd forgotten that there was something particular about Dahl's stories that is quite difficult to put your finger on. It's not just about cruelty or narrative twists, it's much closer to the uncanny (the half-man, half-rat rat-catcher just appears on the orders of an ephemeral higher power, performs magic not unlike a disturbing counterpart of Cole Hawlings and leaves again; the real question that suffuses the story is the unanswered What's in the hayrick?), and these adaptations reminded me. In fact they might be the only Dahl adaptations I've seen that have ever really caught it - not so much Tales of the Unexpected, more a really nasty Jackanory. Didn't the original Champion of the World come from the same set of stories about the petrol station?
posted by Grangousier at 4:25 AM on October 1, 2023

Yes, according the Roald Dahl Fans’ page.
posted by bbrown at 4:16 PM on October 1, 2023

I didn't care for Asteroid City, but these shorts have been fantastic. I love how they just have the props crew wander through the scene handing off items as needed.
posted by Eddie Mars at 5:54 AM on October 2, 2023

There must be something in the hayrick.
posted by mcstayinskool at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2023

There's a missing persons poster behind Richard Ayoade's table. He and Rupert Friend both glance at it. I assume there's a corpse in the hayrick.

I also loved the shift in lighting, framing and tone Friend becomes a rat and "fights" Fiennes.
posted by mrphancy at 10:53 AM on October 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

Probably among the most faithful adaptations of written fiction - not just in plot and character but the tone is 100% right on.
A real boon.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:37 AM on October 11, 2023