If This Ain't Heaven1984

"Mr. G is a 50 year old black man who speaks to and for his cat, Africa. 'Speak darling, speak,' his voice implores as images of dark exotic jungles swirl by. Roberta Cantow's camera work shimmers between shadows and light, hard edges and softly blurring imagery. 'I'll speak for you,' he says in his gravely seductive voice, a voice that trails off into choppy hesitating grunts as he begins to talk about life... Anthropomorphism is a tender form of ventriloquism. With the invention of a voice and a language emerges a complete character from the imagination of the pet owner in much the same way that a ventriloquist invents a character... Cantow has made an oddly beautiful and powerful film, a discourse on extreme solitude that is frightening because nobody wants to be lonely and estranged, endearing because Mr. G is a kind and lovable man." – Lee Sokol: "Art Papers."