A Japanese American, Jimmy Mirikitani who survives in the streets of Manhattan by selling his paintings (cats) to by-passers for a few dollars, attracts the attention of the director of this movie, Linda Hattendorf. She wants to know his identity, his past and why he is surviving in such a dreadful manner. She discovers that the roots for his depressing situation were laid out decades ago by the racial treatment of people from oriental origin during WW II in the US. Considered as potential enemies and spies, they were incarcerated in special internment camps. Jimmy Mirikitani never recovered from this ordeal after the war. This documentary is edited like a thriller, with the director in the role of a true detective who unravels all the secrets of the main character's life puzzle. Linda Hattendorf has made a most remarkable documentary revealing some nearly undetectable ravages provoked by war on innocent populations. A must see.

This is not something I would normally go and see. The production company did a horrible job marketing it by putting the main character on the poster and I avoided it a couple of times because it didn't look very interesting. But after I read some good reviews and saw it won the Tribeca Film Festival, I couldn't avoid seeing it anymore. I was totally blown away by how good this film was. It was one of the most emotional experiences I've had in a movie theater in a long time. Better than all the Hollywood films I've seen in years. I felt like a little kid as I cheered for Jimmy Mirikitani as he makes an incredible transformation from anonymous street person to important living artist (the "Grand Master" as he so beautifully calls himself). I wish every person could see this story as a testament to what it means to be human and as an example to foreigners that not all Americans are gun-loving, war-mongering, selfish pricks who care little for the fate of other people, especially foreigners. See this film! I promise you won't regret it.

New York documentary filmmaker Linda Hattendorf should be proud of what she did in filming Asian-American artist Jimmy Mirikitani, his paintings, and his telling the stories of his life of living in an internment camp during World War II. This Sacramento-born, Hiroshima-raised artist is frank and occasionally profane in his feelings of what the American government had done to him especially when he had to sign his U. S. citizenship away, which explains why he initially refuses Social Security. Taking place before and after 9/11, Mirikitani experiences some deja vu when he watches television reports of Arab-Americans being treated like second-class citizens. But with Linda's help, he also talks on the phone with his sister who he lost contact with during the war and discovers a poet daughter of a cousin named Janice, who lives in San Francisco. He also gets his own apartment and starts teaching an art class. The most touching scenes come at the end when he and Linda travel back to where he was interned at Tule Lake. Essential viewing for anyone wanting to know how narrow-minded the American government was during World War II and how far we've come since then. Oh, and the title refers to the many cats he paints.

I have seen this movie during the Rotterdam Film festival. The film is a sort of interview like movie/documentary about a Japanese artist (Mr Mirikitani) that was send to an American concentration camp for Japanese immigrants after the pearl harbor attack WWII.After this period he is in the USA but loses his identity/social number etc. He manages to do some work here and there as a cook but eventually goes to living in the streets of new york where he makes drawings/paintings mostly cats (but actually he draws anything). a female reporter (Linda Hattendorf) makes a documentary of his life and then the terrorist attacks (9-11) take place at the world trade center.As ashes and toxic fumes on ground zero emerge, Mr Mirikitani has no place to stay and the female reporter decides to take him into her apartment which creates a lot of hilarious moments ... it is a film with a lot of grief, happiness and humor. that's why i would recommend it to anyone that likes an emotional story with a lot of humor. Probably I fail to make a lot of details in this review and maybe have some facts in wrong perspective but just go see the movie for yourself and give your meaning here too!