Review of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) by Tanya K — 11 Jun 2011

'Nasty and unobliging' are the first two words that comes to mind when I think of this film. It's an expose on insecurity and greed. Each character, a rabid ally cat hissing for dominance, their claws out and ready for battle.

Tennessee Williams' searing dialogue cuts like a razor and and machine guns the viewer into submission; no matter where you turn, there's no getting away from your insecurities. The film makes us squirm, perhaps because it makes us turn an inward eye onto ourselves (after all, we all have an ugly side).

The ugliness in the characters manifests as sufferings holding them back: Buck's broken leg, Maggie's infertility and Big Daddy's cancer. Maggie suffers rejection after undignified rejection from her husband, everyone wants something and everyone's judging everyone else.

Paul Newman is as understated as Elizabeth Taylor is an explosion of energy - his suffering is internal while hers is painfully written in every twitch and expression of her face. All great art exposes necessary truths from which to grow, to take away the best from this film would be to look at one's own life and see it in perspective.