An ample community of cats has set up home around the Shinto shrine in Ushimado. Some local residents take care of them, others are disturbed by their mess. Kazuhiro Soda observes their co-existence with kindness, precision and occasional involvement.
..if you don’t like cats, do you even really like cinema? For us sensible people, anyway, the film offers many of the same pleasures as the most durable of all genres on YouTube.
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Hannah Strong
RTLittle White LiesFeb 21, 2024
Soon there might not be any cats left at Gokogu Shrine, but the lives they have touched remain, and Soda’s sparing, sweet film is a gorgeous tribute to the independent felines, and the kind people who lived in harmony with them.
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Julia Gunnison
RTScreen SlateAug 25, 2026
Soda works with the same tools he always has, and his films demonstrate the value of consistency and repetition. Rather than crafting an alternative vision, he models a wise, compassionate, and easily replicable way of looking at the world.
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Codie Allen
RTThe CurbJul 18, 2025
The Cats of Gokogu Shrine offers a gentle, hopeful vision of a world where we can find harmony amidst the chaos, simply by learning to share and care for what we have, no matter how fleeting it may be.
