Tom and Jerry 4.0

No, “Tom and Jerry” is not a cartoon. It is an action film for grown-ups. It’s a daring text/show on murder and “compassion - one&greatest enemy”, for those who enjoy strong sensations and especially dark humour. “Tom and Jerry 2.0” resembles an American blockbuster that has it all, à la Tarantino. Badass characters. Extreme situations. Adrenaline. Plus, many other questions (and answers) that have always haunted you. Who killed Kennedy? Or Elvis? Who was Marilyn Monroe&real secret lover? What great role should Al Pacino have played? And not least: how is it possible for a bunch of bloody hitmen to become such captivating characters? Deeply impregnated with contemporary American mythology, in which cinematographic influences, marginal underground characters and the violence specific to the end of 20th-century social context converge in a magnetic fictitious world, Rick Cleveland’s text presents, in an exhilarating fragmented succession, the friendship between two natural born killers who try to conform to the life philosophy imposed by their job. On the line between caricature and gangster (anti)hero, the protagonists in “Tom and Jerry 2.0” offer a cynical foray into the world of those who kill or are killed and who truly believe that friendship can defeat anything. Even though they might be wrong...

”In 2000, I found the play “Tom and Jerry” in a volume of one-act plays (that had been awarded by several festivals). I was amazed by the way it approached a taboo theme: death. I was 30 years old. Death was still very far away. I appreciated the author’s humour (similar to Tarantino’s, yet very original from the standpoint of how it was built and how the story developed). I was happy to discover a man who was able to laugh at death, yet without minimalizing the grandeur of its scythe. In 2020, I’ve lived through times when death seems to have become omnipresent: in the news, in funny online videos, everywhere. People give me the impression that they have grown accustomed to its ever-growing shadow in the general landscape. I believe “Tom and Jerry 2.0” is a good exercise for exorcising the demons that haunt us every day. The healing laughter is the (natural, bio) medicine I confidently always turn to. I think I still have time to make fun of some of the threats that all people face in the end. Too many existential questions vs. too little time. And for the three actors involved in this project, I hope “Tom and Jerry 2.0” is the opportunity to once again play dodgeball, this time as grown-ups. Perhaps their favourite game will soon become the spectators’ favourite, too." Florin Piersic Jr., director