Like a stray cat, a street artist is saved when he's finally heard

And on Sept. 11, 2001, when the neighborhood was shrouded in a smoke cloud, she rescued Jimmy from the street, installing him in her studio.

Cats is many things: a film diary of an odd-couple relationship, a profile of a forgotten man who slowly reconstructs his past, and the transcendently moving account of a man on the margins who gets reintegrated into society.

Hattendorf's filmmaking is so organic that the parallels between the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the treatment of Arab Americans after 9/11 is all the more powerful for being implicit.

Contact movie critic Carrie Rickey at 215-854-5402 or crickey@phillynews.com. Read her blog, "Flickgrrl," at http://go.philly.com/flickgrrl.

The Cats of Mirikitani *** 1/2 (out of four stars)

Directed by Linda Hattendorf, with Hattendorf and Jimmy Mirikitani. Distributed by Lucid Dreaming.

Running time: 1 hour, 14 mins.

Parent's guide: No MPAA rating (9/11 imagery, Hiroshima imagery)

Playing at: National Constitution Center at 7:15 tonight, and International House at 7 p.m. Tuesday.