by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Move over, Hello Kitty - and you too, Emily Strange. There's a new cutie-pie gunning for global pop phenomenon status, and Tamala may just achieve it. If anyone can make heads or tails of her, that is.

The proverbial "word on the street" has it that the Japanese cartoon feature Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space was originally conceived under the influence of gallons of codeine-heavy cough syrup. Colour me surprised. It follows the naïve yet foulmouthed titular kitten in an astro-jumpsuit as she splits Meguro City, Tokyo (on Cat Earth, that is) for Orion, her planet of birth. After a spaceship breakdown in the Dark God of Death's cosmic zone, she accidentally lands on the planet Q, a pretty if boring locale plagued by gang violence between cats and dogs. She gets killed there, but that's okay, because she, uh, seems to be the latest reincarnation of the goddess Minerva, who is worshipped by the underground sect that would, by controlling the galaxy's postal systems, become the cabal behind Catty & Co., the ultra-corporation that rules the universe.

Yeah, yeah I know. And I didn't even mention the bitchy leather queens, the rotting undead professor or the giant robot Colonel Sanders with the cleaver in his head. But I should flag that the film is almost entirely black and white (or rather, a rainbow array of grey tones), punctuated by flashes of colour as assorted commercial product labels and ads pop up, pointing to Tamala's divine nature (and to the sinister ubiquity of the mega-corp).

It's hard to pin down exactly who's responsible for this glorious mess. Tamala is attributed to a collective of Japanese animators, graphic designers and musicians called t.o.L, founded by a mysterious pair named K and Kuno. The band Trees of Life, an offshoot of t.o.L (or is it the reverse?), deliver a good part of the wickedly cool music here, which leaps from classical to techno-metal to folk-punk to electro lullabies. Soundtrack CDs are thus a given in the forthcoming merch parade, but in the year and change since Tamala first blew up in Japan, the lil' kitty's scored an anime TV series, toys (I've seen the giant-size Tamala Kubrick, and it's fucking boss) and soon mangas. Let's see if the cat gets out of the bag over here, too.

At Fantasia on Monday, August 4, 9:30pm; Tuesday, July 5, 7:30pm & Aug. 9, 7pm

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