Catfight was an amusing and entertaining dark comedy to watch, and my first introduction to the work of director and actor Onur Tukel. Fast forward to 2023 and I’m now inclined a little more to keep the helmer’s resumè in my purview per his penchant for fun-poking satire, knowing full well what his target audience is, especially with his latest horror nod, Poundcake.
Tukel writes the script for the film which sets itself in New York City as the U.S. government readies for war in the middle east following a Presidential election. There is a multitude of characters on stage here, but the core story focuses on actresses Sandra Oh and Anne Heche who respectively star as Veronica and Ashley – the former, living affluently in SoHo with her husband and son, and the latter, a Bushwick resident struggling to get her art studio off the ground. As Veronica’s husband, Stanley, stands to profit from a newly signed contract for debris cleaning in lieu of the president’s “war on terror”, the two leave for a party in his company’s celebration for which Ashley and her live-in partner, Lisa, are catering. Little do they know that the shindig would lead to a fortuitious and ultimately bitter reunion in which ideologies and beliefs clash, ensuing in an isolated drunken brawl and a raw grudge that would elapse the two sworn enemies in the span of four consequential years.
A reunion between two old school friends (Sandra Oh and Anne Heche) sparks a no-holds-barred war of attrition, in this outrageously madcap black comedy.