Take Care of My Cat

Rating: 7/10
Year: 2001
Genre: Drama
Director: Jeong Jae-Eun
Cast: Bae Doo-Na, Lee Yo-Won, Ok Ji Yeong, Lee Eun-Ju, Lee Eun-Shil

Take Care of My Cat is a very genuine depiction of the relationship and life of five young women. It does not have any blatant twist, nor does it have any tear-jerking tragic element. The director simply handles the five characters in a sincere and sympathetic way.

After the five girls graduate from high school, they have different encounters. Hae-joo (Lee Yo-Won) works as an office assistant in a brokerage firm; Tae-hee (Bae Doo-Na) works for her parents and a poet for free; Ji-young (Ok Ji-Yeong) is jobless; Bi-ryu and Ohn-jo (Lee Eun-Ju, Lee Eun-Shil) stay together. While each of them has some unpleasant experience working in the society, will their friendship deteriorate?

Why is this film called Take Care of My Cat? Superficially speaking, the cat doesn't seem to relate to the story at all. It does not occupy much time in the film. However, if you examine this film more closely, you'll notice that the cat is in fact a very important motif. The cat symbolizes and summarizes the friendship of the five girls. The vulnerable yet solid personality of the cat reflects the unstable condition of their friendships. On the one hand, they are very good friends and their relationship is solid, on the other hand, they rely heavily on cell phone to communicate, the link is vulnerable and can break easily if the cell phone malfunctions.

As a matter of fact, the cat is also a metaphor of the five girls' personalities. They are active (Tae-hee), arrogant (Hae-joo), helpless (Ji-young) and adorable (twin sisters). All of these are the characteristics that are usually assigned to a cat. Therefore, to a certain extent, "take care of my cat" can also mean "take care of myself" implicitly.

Technically speaking, the soundtrack of this film is excellently produced by M&F. The cinematography is nice too. The comparsion between urban and rural areas is brilliant. In terms of the cast, Lee Yo-won and Ok Ji-yeong stand out among the five actresses, while the twin sisters are also very cute and funny. Bae Doo-Na is the most renowned actress in the film, however, it seems that Korean directors always love to deglamorize their stars, like in No Blood No Tears, Jeon Do-Yeon is deglamorized by director Ryu Seung-Wan. In this film, Bae's role is not as attractive as the other characters. Nevertheless, her performance is still persuasive.

As a directorial debut, Jeong Jae-Eun has done a superb job. Perhaps she is a female herself, she can examine the subject in a very intimate and sincere manner. The depiction is sympathetic yet authentic. It is as if the director is revealing her own story to us. Although it is not a very entertaining flick, Take Care of My Cat is highly recommended for any Korean cinema lovers.

Cool guy(s) - Bae Doo-Na, Lee Yo-Won, Ok Ji Yeong, Lee Eun-Ju, Lee Eun-Shil

Reviewed by: Kantorates